• Reinforces Wolters Kluwer’s growth ambitions in cloud-based and AI-enabled corporate performance and ESG software
• Leadership transition comes as CP & ESG division prepares for 2025 organic growth aligned with prior guidance
• Appointment reflects rising strategic importance of enterprise ESG data, compliance, and performance solutions for multinational clients
Wolters Kluwer has appointed Maria Montenegro as Chief Executive of its Corporate Performance & ESG division, marking a pivotal shift in leadership at a business unit that anchors the company’s growing ambitions in cloud and AI-enabled enterprise software. Montenegro succeeds Karen Abramson, who is moving on to pursue interests outside the company.
Leadership Transition at a Strategic Moment
Montenegro joined Wolters Kluwer in 2022 as Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer. In that role she helped sharpen the group’s long-range vision and executed several initiatives tied to accelerated product innovation, commercial growth, and acquisitions involving emerging AI capabilities. The company noted that the transition will support the CP & ESG division as it positions for further global scale.
Wolters Kluwer CEO and Board Chair Nancy McKinstry said Montenegro brings a strategic mindset shaped by cross-border advisory and transformation work. McKinstry stated, “Maria Montenegro is a dynamic leader with a strong strategic vision and a proven ability to drive growth and transformation. Stacey Caywood, my successor as Wolters Kluwer’s CEO, and I are confident she will lead the CP & ESG division to new heights. We expect the division to deliver 2025 organic growth in line with previously stated guidance. On behalf of Wolters Kluwer, I thank Karen Abramson for her many years of dedicated service and wish her all the best in her future endeavors.”
Incoming CEO Stacey Caywood, who will assume the company’s top role in February 2026, added context on how the division fits into broader commercial priorities. “The market served by the CP & ESG division is a key part of our strategy and the impact our solutions have for corporate customers over the globe is broadly recognized. The division is well-positioned to pursue global growth opportunities in cloud-based AI-enabled enterprise software. Maria will bring great vision and leadership to CP & ESG.”
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Growing Strategic Stakes for Enterprise ESG Software
Formed in 2023, the Corporate Performance & ESG division provides software and services that enable corporations to manage financial and sustainability performance, integrate operational data, comply with regulatory reporting requirements, mitigate risk, and improve safety and productivity across large organizations.
The timing of the appointment aligns with a broader shift in the corporate software landscape. Boards, CFOs, Chief Sustainability Officers, and Chief Risk Officers are navigating a more prescriptive disclosure environment and a more complex set of investor expectations around ESG performance, material risk, and operational resilience. This has created sustained demand for enterprise platforms that can ingest, normalize, and analyze data across financial, carbon, safety, and compliance systems.
Montenegro’s background positions her at an intersection of strategy, finance, and technology. Prior to Wolters Kluwer she spent nearly a decade at McKinsey advising multinational clients on portfolio strategy, M&A, digitization, and technology transformation, spanning the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Africa. Earlier career experience included investment banking and work with early-stage ventures.
Takeaways for C-suite and Investors
The appointment reflects a maturing market in which ESG-related enterprise software is no longer treated as experimental or compliance-only. Instead it is increasingly embedded in financial planning, audit processes, transactional due diligence, and multi-jurisdictional regulatory reporting. That trend is reinforced by formal sustainability disclosure regimes emerging in the European Union, the United Kingdom, and parts of Asia, as well as standard-setting efforts in the United States and Canada.
For investors, the move suggests Wolters Kluwer will lean further into cloud and AI ecosystems supporting enterprise performance and ESG data. For corporate clients, it signals continued product and capability investment during a period in which harmonized reporting and risk systems remain a priority for multinational organizations.
The closing context is regional and global. With major jurisdictions aligning on climate and sustainability reporting, and with financial institutions seeking more consistent performance data, enterprise software vendors are competing to define the next layer of corporate ESG infrastructure. Montenegro’s appointment places Wolters Kluwer firmly in that competitive field and confirms that the CP & ESG division will remain central to the company’s growth thesis in 2025 and beyond.
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