Good morning. There is a growing body of research and survey evidence pointing to CFOs playing a major role in creating value from AI. To gain additional perspective, I spoke with a CFO who is also a former chief technology officer.
Earlier this week in Washington, D.C., I had a conversation with Eimear P. Bonner, CFO of Chevron Corporation. Bonner has a fascinating background that led to the finance chief role. Since joining Chevron in 1998, she has held several key leadership roles across operations and strategy, including general director of Tengizchevroil LLP in Kazakhstan. In 2021, she made history as Chevron’s first female chief technology officer, and, in 2024, was promoted to CFO of the company, which ranks No. 21 on this year’s Fortune 500.
CFOs, as financial stewards of investment decisions, also have the toolkit to help improve performance, Bonner told me.
“We’re uniquely positioned to take a view on whether AI will create value or not,” she said. While AI presents a wide range of possibilities, finance leaders play a critical role in determining which initiatives matter most and prioritizing them, she added.
From Bonner’s perspective, the key question is not whether AI can do a job, but: “How can AI help improve performance or overcome what’s limiting performance?”
Internally, Chevron uses tools including Microsoft Copilot and Anthropic’s Claude. The finance organization at Chevron has roughly 3,500 employees globally. Within finance, some examples of AI use include in investor relations to synthesize and analyze large volumes of data for insights. It is also used in audit functions to support SOX controls, as well as in areas such as forecasting.
Bonner’s goal is to ensure that everyone in the finance function is trained on effective AI usage. On change management, she emphasized reframing the technology: “Think of AI as your partner to glean more insights.” AI adoption is already well underway, both in the workplace and in everyday life.
In her own role, Bonner uses AI for data synthesis and as a sounding board, and she is exploring building a personal AI agent to handle routine tasks, such as preparing for speaking engagements.
“Technology is the air we breathe in a company like Chevron,” Bonner said. It underpins how the company extracts oil and gas and delivers products where they are needed.
Chevron also runs an AI-focused program targeting ambitious, high-impact “moonshot” projects, particularly in exploration and reservoir recoveries, often in collaboration with technology partners, she said. The company has cataloged about 15 enterprise workflows and use cases for AI and advanced analytics, including ApEX, a proprietary AI tool designed to improve how Chevron discovers oil and gas resources.
For Chevron, the intersection of energy demand and growth lies in powering data centers and partnering with hyperscalers, Bonner said. Last year, the company announced a partnership with GE Vernova and Engine No. 1 to develop large-scale power projects for U.S. data centers.
Chevron’s enterprise-wide AI strategy is closely overseen by senior leadership, including CEO Mike Wirth, and Corporate Officers Jeff Gustavson and Ryder Booth. As part of this effort, the company has scaled the small “skunkworks” team stood up a few years ago and is supercharging use of AI across all value chains while building the new AI capabilities for the entire workforce. For Bonner, that shift captures the new mandate for finance chiefs: not just funding AI experiments, but deciding where the technology truly creates value across the enterprise.
Sheryl Estrada [email protected]
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