FEI Home Page

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FEI Newsletter Archive

In This Issue:
FEI Proxy Statement
Deals
Corporate Tax Shelters
PD Session in Silicon Valley
Audit Committee Checklist
Private Equity-Raising Financial Model
FASB Industry Fellows
The Cash Balance Plan Debate
New Officers for the Coming Year
Technology Conference in Vegas
Hosting of Info-Websites for FEI Local Chapters
New Member Welcome
Job Posting - Vice President Financial Operations

Greetings from FEI. Was able to make my first trek to the Masters in Augusta since I wrote to you last. Got there early on Thursday morning and went straight to Amen Corner just to see the setting before the action started. Even more spectacular than I expected. Saw Tiger rip a drive off of number two. Saw Ray Floyd dunk two in the water at 12. Saw Nicklaus, Palmer and Player play the first hole, too. If you ever get a chance, I highly recommend it.

FEI Proxy Statement
Please keep an eye out for our annual proxy statement. It should hit your desk this week. It includes the annual election of officers. Nothing controversial. It requires one or two quick checks and a signature. Thanks in advance for your help.

Deals
FEI Chairman Fred Allardyce was the CFO for American Standard for many years. At the end of his career with the company he had operational responsibility for a group of subsidiaries in the health care arena. Recently he left American Standard and executed a buyout of one of those subs. His CFO days now are past as he carries the title of chairman and CEO of Meretek Diagnostics, Inc. Congratulations, Fred!

Corporate Tax Shelters
The politicians and media have been taking all their least favorite tax incentives and lumping them into a target basket called "Corporate Tax Shelters." With our Committee on Taxation, we recently prepared a letter on this subject to various parties and media outlets. Grace Hinchman, our VP of government relations, was included in an NPR piece on the subject, too. Here's a link to FEI's letter and the audio of the interview.

PD Session in Silicon Valley
Our Santa Clara Valley Chapter and San Jose State University's Accounting & Finance Roundtable are co-sponsoring a full-day program that will include me as the opening speaker and Larry Sonsini of the legal firm Wilson Sonsini as the luncheon keynote speaker. Classes, designed to enhance participants' leadership skills, are organized to deliver thought-provoking commentary on today's most challenging financial topics. The focus will be on the skills necessary for finance professionals to address these "hot topics" throughout the stages of the financial management life cycle (start-up, emerging, IPO, growth, maturing and renewal stages). The classes will be led by joint panels of highly distinguished Silicon Valley CFOs, CPAs, attorneys and investment bankers. For more information, contact San Jose State at 408-924-3460 or visit the SVFMI web site.

Audit Committee Checklist
Frank Borelli is the Picasso of FEI!!! His constant output of tools and contributions to his fellow members is INCREDIBLE. Recently he analyzed all the new rules for audit committees and came up with a new draft audit committee charter for his company. He's sharing it with us on the FEI web site. Just as valuable is his checklist of practices and requirements under the new rules. Frank was one of the few corporate members of the Blue Ribbon Panel that outlined the new requirements. Check out both the charter and the checklist.

Private Equity-Raising Financial Model
This month's Fintranet spreadsheet tool is designed to help borrowers and investors structure private mezzanine issues. It illustrates how equity warrants can be priced to allow equity investors to achieve their return objectives, while simultaneously providing borrowers with growth capital at a reasonable price. The spreadsheet also shows what proportion of the company the investors will own at the end of the investment period and provides a method for determining different exercise prices. Users can change assumptions regarding the company's EBITDA growth rate, valuation multiple, leverage and warrant exercise price. http://www.financialexecutives.org/fintranet/tools.htm

FASB Industry Fellows
The FASB research staff has an open position for an industry representative. This post is generally filled by an up-and-coming staff member from a controller's financial reporting group. The most recent incumbent came from Pete Bible's team at GM. The person should be a CPA, have excellent academic training and communication skills. If you have a candidate in mind, contact Tim Lucas at tslucas@fasb.org.

The Cash Balance Plan Debate
There's been plenty of criticism about the design and implementation of cash-balance pension plans lately in the news, and Congress is stirring. FEI is convening a special teleconference on the subject on April 25 featuring a panel of House and Senate staffers. Frank Becker, senior vice president, Actuarial Sciences Associates, and chair of FEI's Committee on Benefits Finance, will moderate the discussion. To register, visit FEI's Teleconference Signup Page.

New Officers for the Coming Year
You'll see in the Proxy Statement that Bryan Roub, CFO of Harris Corp., is to be the next chairman of FEI. In addition to being a great CFO, Bryan has a long track record of service to FEI. I recently attended the Orlando chapter meeting where Bryan is a still a director, many years after his service as chapter president. Your volunteer leaders put in a huge amount of time on behalf of FEI. What they do is incredible. Past chairmen serve for an additional year in our Office of the Chairman. Jim Abel, FEI chairman last year, is sadly reaching the end of service in the group. Not only did Jim serve as FEI chairman, but he chaired our Financial Leadership Conference multiple times, including the upcoming event in Chicago. Congratulations to Bryan and endless thanks to Jim. Jim's day job is CFO of Lamson and Sessions in Cleveland, Ohio.

Technology Conference in Vegas
This year's Forum on Finance & Information Technology is September 18-19, 2000 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Las Vegas. It's focused on the role of finance in the evolving e-business environment. Our agenda is rapidly taking shape and includes recurring favorites such as Gartner Group's "Industry Trends Scenario" and presentation of the results of the 3rd annual CSC/FEI survey of technology management issues/concerns. We are also lining up an exciting slate of speakers including Charles Wang, CEO of Computer Associates; John Connors, CFO of Microsoft; Larry Downes, author of the bestseller "Unleashing the Killer App"; and Brian Wesbury, leading economist and author of "The New Era of Wealth".

Before we finalize our agenda, we would appreciate your input. Please take a moment to complete our online survey. A drawing will be held from responses received for one free Technology Forum registration. RESPOND BY MAY 1 TO QUALIFY FOR THE DRAWING.

Hosting of Info-Websites for FEI Local Chapters
We're putting the finishing touches on providing turn-key web sites for all local chapters. Some of the page templates available for customization are:

• Chapter New Announcements
• Meeting/Event Schedule
• Automated Meeting Registration
• Chapter Newsletter Archive
• Chapter Leader Listing
• File Download Archive

The published sites can be viewed at www.financialexecutives.org/chapter/. Chapter Leaders can access the online customization tools via the Chapter Toolkit. Contact Debra Mortensen at dmortensen@financialexecutives.org for password information.

New Member Welcome
Congratulations to Mary Jane Reher, VP and Controller, Downers Grove National Bank in Downers Grove, Illinois, and to Mark Jaksich VP, Controller, Valmont Industries in Omaha, Neb.

Job Posting
Vice President Financial Operations for a private health care services company in South Florida. Responsible for day to day oversight of financial operations to include billing and collections management, provider payments and servicing, provider network strategy development, and implementation and strategic purchasing. Prefer someone with experience developing and installing state-of-the-art systems in an e-business environment. CPA desired. Please respond to Recruiting Director at CareMgtSer@aol.com. To view additional jobs, visit: http://www.financialexecutives.org/careers/agreement.html.

That's all for now,

Phil