Sustainability has stopped being a differentiator: Here’s how CFOs can stay ahead
CFO Raphael Savalle explores how finance leaders can unite sustainability, AI, and human leadership to drive strategy in a fast-changing world....
CFO Horizons
A vision for navigating volatility: How Mercuria Energy Group’s CFO is driving strategic agility
Guillaume Vermersch, Group CFO and founding member of Mercuria, explains why today’s CFO must put strategic agility at the heart of the finance function.
In today’s energy, metals, minerals, and commodities markets, volatility is the norm. From geopolitical shocks to fragmented regulatory regimes, global trade is increasingly shaped by disruption. And just as some regions shape energy transition policies, others are rowing back on their climate commitments.
For Mercuria’s Guillaume Vermersch, to thrive in this environment entails leaning into complexity, not swerving around it. The ability to respond rapidly and efficiently to global change is the core of Mercuria’s business model.
Founded in 2004, Mercuria is one of the world’s largest independent energy, metals, and minerals trading companies. It has three distinct arms.
- Trading Excellence – Mercuria is a heavyweight of global energy, metals, and minerals markets, trading, for example, the equivalent of over six million barrels of oil every day. It also manages over a million live trades and handles more than 1,700 terawatt-hours of gas and power a year. Its trading portfolio also includes natural gas, electricity, LNG, oil-refined products, environmental products (carbon certificates…), metals and minerals, and some agricultural commodities. Mercuria manages risks dynamically, using more than 3,000 price curves to track market exposures. Its operations are anchored in major hubs including Geneva, London, Houston, Singapore, Shanghai, Calgary, and Dubai, giving it global reach supported by regional expertise.
- Assets and investments Expertise – The company also owns and invests in infrastructure, from storage and shipping to pipelines, renewable power production capacities. Its portfolio includes businesses such as Minerva Bunkering, the largest marine fuel supplier to vessels in the world. These assets give Mercuria visibility, speed, and optionality across the supply chain.
- Energy Transition focus – Mercuria is rapidly expanding into the clean energy and environmental products markets, such as carbon certificates. With capability in energy efficiency, emissions abatement, energy procurement, and carbon offsets, Mercuria supports customers navigating the energy transition.
“We want to be present at every level of the supply chain, from production to end-consumer, to understand where you can add value,” says Vermersch. “This allows us to follow the ‘migrating’ margin from one product to the other. If you’re not present on all those different value chains, you can miss the fact that it’s time to reposition your strategy.”
When you are in that initial start-up phase, the CFO must be an absolute control freak because there’s no margin for error.
A founding team member’s perspective
Vermersch didn’t step into his role mid-stream. He helped build the business from the ground up. “I’m employee number three in SAP,” he recalls. “It’s not that I’m the third most important person in the company. It’s simply day one, we were three!”
Unlike CFOs who join established organizations, founder-CFOs aren’t just finance specialists; rather, they are company ‘builders’ who have helped shape strategy from the outset. They develop a deep, instinctive understanding of capital deployment, resource constraints, and market dynamics.
In the company’s early stages, the demands of the CFO role were radically different from those faced today. “My job has changed five times, at least,” Vermersch says. “When you are in that initial start-up phase, the CFO must be an absolute control freak because there’s no margin for error.” Managing tight resources and maintaining financial discipline were pillars of Mercuria’s early success and still remain.
That experience leaves a lasting imprint. Founder-CFOs typically see finance not only as a control function but as an enabler of growth, an in-house business partner, which requires agility, innovation, and a hands-on approach. Used to making big decisions based on incomplete information, they often have a higher tolerance for uncertainty than CFOs whose careers have unfolded within slower-moving, more mature enterprises.
The modern CFO is a strategic partner
Today, Mercuria is a global force, and Vermersch’s role has expanded from pure financial guardian to strategic architect.
It’s a dynamic dual role, he explains. “You have to bring two mindsets to issues,” Vermersch says. “On one side, you wear the controller hat, focused on costs, liquidity, and, more generally, all enterprise risk management. On the other hand, you take on the role of advisor. This is the more creative aspect: finding ways to project where we collectively agree value exists, and where you can contribute to unlocking that value.”
Vermersch sees building a high-performing finance function as essential to delivering on both sides of that mandate. “Around 60-70% of my time is spent thinking about how the finance organization and I can support, enhance, accelerate, and improve the services we deliver to our internal customers,” he says.
That strategic focus has given rise to two major priorities.
Finance as technology engine
The first is embedding technology and data science deep within the finance function.
“Across the finance organization, we are trying to automate, digitalize, and explore how AI can help us to improve productivity, fine-tune controls, enhance our understanding, and produce information relevant to the business,” Vermersch says.
Automation and advanced analytics are upgrading every financial process, from tax to treasury to internal audit. “You need the right technology to produce the right data and the right expertise, talent, and tech support behind it,” he adds.
“Under Vermersch’s financial leadership, the finance function is helping both to execute and accelerate Mercuria’s sustainability goals.”
Enabling the energy transition
The second strategic priority is ensuring that finance oversees Mercuria’s shift toward energy transition investments. “In 2021, the firm pledged that, by 2025, 50% of our investments would be in the energy transition. In fact, by 2024, we had already achieved that,” Vermersch notes.
One visible example of this evolution is Mercuria’s sale of its stake in ChargeNet, New Zealand’s leading EV charging network, to Genesis Energy. This reflected Mercuria’s success in incubating and scaling clean energy solutions.
“There are strategic choices that will not only influence where we invest but also shape our trading strategy. They will also dictate the type of traders we need, and the expertise we develop in-house to support this strategy,” he says.
Under Vermersch’s financial leadership, the finance function is helping both to execute and accelerate Mercuria’s sustainability goals, while maintaining the operational flexibility the business demands.
Vermersch represents the modern CFO: building systems, balancing risks with opportunities, and anchoring long-term value creation.
Conclusion: The CFO as navigator
In an industry defined by complexity, speed, fragmentation, and risks, Vermersch represents the modern CFO: building systems, balancing risks with opportunities, and anchoring long-term value creation as a reliable in-house business partner.
“I define 60-70% of my role as a strategic partner,” he says. “This means verifying that what has been decided is implemented effectively. But it also means brainstorming on the next stage and the next opportunity to capture value, while staying consistent with our long-term direction.”
Expert
Related
How to succeed as an enterprise co-pilot: Three priorities for the modern CFO
Schindler CFO Carla De Geyseleer explains how today’s CFO acts as a strategic co-pilot, uses sustainability to drive growth, and develops future finance leaders....
At the centre of everything: how CFOs lead through connection, curiosity and data
Finance cannot be perceived as a back-office function, says Swissport’s Nordics & Baltics CFO Sasa Tulikoura. CFOs must strengthen three priorities: inspiring curiosity in teams, connecting across the business, and building momentum...
Inside the CEO–CFO–Board triumvirate: Why vigilant CFOs matter in high-stakes decisions
At critical moments that can shape a company’s long-term future, the balance of CEO ambition, CFO vigilance, and board oversight can determine success or failure. IMD’s Salvatore Cantale outlines how CFOs can...
Learn Brain Circuits
Join us for daily exercises focusing on issues from team building to developing an actionable sustainability plan to personal development. Go on - they only take five minutes.
Explore Leadership
What makes a great leader? Do you need charisma? How do you inspire your team? Our experts offer actionable insights through first-person narratives, behind-the-scenes interviews and The Help Desk.
Join Membership
Log in here to join in the conversation with the I by IMD community. Your subscription grants you access to the quarterly magazine plus daily articles, videos, podcasts and learning exercises.