Meet the CFO-turned-CEO who drove record growth for cult energy drink Celsius

That was the case for John Fieldly, CEO and chairman of Celsius Holdings, an energy drink company founded in 2004. “When I took over Celsius, we had total revenue of $36 million for the year,” Fieldly said. FortuneAudience’s team in a recent video interview. “And just now, in 2023, we’ve done $1.3 billion.”

Celsius is a caffeinated energy drink that is said to burn calories, up to 140 calories per bottle consumed, according to the company. Celsius has more than 10% market share in the energy drink category and is growing, Fieldly said. In the last 18 months alone, the company has doubled in size. And over the last five years, market share has increased 6,290%.

He joined Celsius as CFO in 2012 to work with then-CEO Gerry David. “It was a risky move to get a CFO job at 32,” Fieldly recalls. “I had to go for it. These opportunities only come along once in a while.”

In 2017, when David decided to retire, Fieldly began serving in the dual role of interim CEO and CFO. While serving in both roles, Celsius went public on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol CELH.

“At the time, the company was looking for a CEO,” Fieldly says. “They interviewed a few times. I was, I guess, younger than the person they were looking for. But through my hard work, drive and passion, I was really able to connect with the team and continue to grow the company.”

After the company’s third attempt at hiring a CEO position, “I told Gerry I wanted to be part of the interview process and that I could run this company,” he said. The board included Fieldly in the interview process, and he was ultimately selected as CEO in 2018.

Fieldly shared his pitch for consideration for the CEO role: “Performance, drive, passion, execution. Look at what was accomplished in a year and a half: it was virtually flawless execution. There’s no denying what was built when I was CEO and CFO. I got listed on NASDAQ. I made sure every investor was happy, based on the initial thesis that I joined the company on. And I knew I could take this company even further.”

What was his CEO interview like? He said Fortune:“I gave a full PowerPoint presentation. I talked about the target consumer and how we’re going to approach them tactically to create daily loyalty and connect with them throughout their daily lives.”

Fieldly advises CFOs aspiring to become CEOs to be proactive. “I think you have to sell yourself every day,” he said. “The opportunity presented itself. I had to take it.”

Sheryl Estrada
[email protected]

Ranking

Jonathan Geehan Geehan has been promoted to CFO at Techstars, a pre-seed investor. Geehan has been with Techstars for three years, having previously served in the finance department as Senior Vice President and Senior Controller. Geehan brings more than two decades of experience in finance, including more than 16 years in venture capital and private equity. He joins Techstars from ClearSky, where he was the investment firm’s CFO. Previously, he was Controller at Fairhaven Capital Partners.

Alonso Sotomayor Mr. Sotomayor has been appointed Chief Financial Officer of DynaResource, Inc. (OTCQX: DYNR), a junior gold mining producer, effective immediately. Mr. Sotomayor has over 15 years of professional experience. He began his career in a mining-specific role with accounting firm McGovern Hurley LLP and then held progressively senior leadership roles in the Toronto mining groups of KPMG and Deloitte Canada. Since 2017, Mr. Sotomayor has served as Corporate Controller of Ascendant Resources Inc. and as Corporate Controller of Cerrado Gold Inc. since 2020.

Big deal

In June, short sellers increased their bets against utility stocks (electric, gas and water companies) to the highest level in at least eight years, according to new data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

According to the report: “Short interest in utilities stocks rose to its highest level since 2016, at 3.0% at the end of June, up from 2.8% at the end of May, as the S&P 500 utilities sector fell 5.8% during the month. As of July 17, the sector is up about 9.1% year to date, despite stumbling in June.”

Go further

Who benefits from the Reddit and OpenAI deal? That’s according to a new report published in the Wharton Journal of Economics. Pinar Yildirim, a Wharton marketing professor who studies social media and its influence on society, said the partnership, which allows OpenAI to train ChatGPT on content created by Redditors, is likely to be a boon for both companies.

Heard

“It’s about developing that daily habit. Once you’re on LinkedIn, it’s time to share your knowledge, gain knowledge, get information, and get content.”

—Daniel Roth, LinkedIn’s editor-in-chief, told the The Financial Times in an interview about integrating new attention-grabbing features, like AI and puzzles, on the social media platform.

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