CFOs in Tune with the Times.

• Author: Millman, Gregory J.
• Position: Chief Financial Officers

Who are the chief financial officers having the most impact on the profession? That's a matter of opinion, not fact, but the editors of Financial Executive recently canvassed their sources to identify a cadre of CFOs whose careers have made a particularly strong impression on rivals and colleagues, as well as the broader financial management community. The names that came up may be relatively unknown outside of the tight circle of their peers, and their contribution to their companies' success has often gone largely unnoticed by the general business press, entranced with star chief executives. But investment analysts who follow their companies' stocks are an appreciative audience.

The results are in, and we chose to highlight seven CFOS in diverse industries and different parts of the country. We asked these "CFO's CEOs" for their perspective on the changes they have seen in the role of the financial executive during the course of their careers, and for their outlook on the future.

In general, they agree that the CFO job has become less about number-crunching and much more about strategic partnering in the overall management of their businesses. So while a solid technical foundation is the price of admission to the finance game, real career progress depends more than ever before on communications skills, good mentors and an ability to identify the right business models.

Technological savvy and breadth of vision aren't often coupled in a single skull, but truly outstanding CFOs must have both. A case in point: one of the most impressive names in the following roster, Tom Meredith, CFO of Dell, took on new responsibilities as this article was being reported. He will be helping to lead Dell's venture capital arm, investing in Internet companies to help Dell, in his words, "avoid the road to irrelevance."

These top CFOs work in very different industries, but they all have shareholders, and some say it can be a challenge to communicate the truth to shareholders who are getting rumors first from Internet chat rooms and other uncontrolled sources. Yet commitment to old-fashioned values nonetheless emerges in some decidedly new-fashioned places -- like Yahoo!, for example. A new business model doesn't mean that everything has to change.

BOB WAYMANE

Executive Vice President and CFO

Hewlett-Packard

In 1969, when Bob Wayman joined Hewlett-Packard, the company was ruled by engineers inside and out. Every manager to whom Wayman reported had an engineering degree, and HP's first product, introduced in 1967, had been a specialized calculator for engineering applications.

Having earned an undergraduate degree in science engineering at Northwestern, Wayman spoke the language of engineers and was more than comfortable manipulating quantitative data. But his MBA training (also at Northwestern) had taught him to think as a businessman. Although hired as a cost accountant, he soon realized that bridging distinct ways of thinking was his real job, and people skills were a core competence that he needed to develop.

Thirty years later, Wayman still stresses the importance of communications skills in a CFO's repertoire. He describes himself as an "integrator" who can systematically view the complex set of forces at work in a company, and a "financial advisor" to the business management team. In that role, communications skills are scarcely less important than technical financial expertise.

"When I joined HP, big-school MBAs weren't that common," he reflects. "I came in with a quantitative understanding of theory and so forth, but I had to learn to work with and respect all kinds of people who didn't have the academic preparation I'd been fortunate to have."

He started out as a cost accountant with a division in Colorado, but just four years later took a big step up when the division controller who had hired him moved to Germany and left Wayman to fill his shoes. In 1976, Wayman moved up again, to the post of group controller for HP's measurement businesses, and in 1984 he became CFO. "I wasn't well-prepared for the CFO job," he says frankly. "I had no treasury, tax or direct international experience, so it was a big gamble on the company's part." Then-CEO John Young encouraged him to spend time with other big-company CFOs, and Wayman found "a network of knowledge, understanding and teamwork" in such organizations as the Financial Executives Institute and the Conference Board Council of Financial Executives.

In 1969, Hewlett-Packard was one of the Nifty Fifty stocks, thanks to its pioneering work in the development of hand-held calculators. Computers accounted for a scant 2% of the company's business -- but during Wayman's watch, computers and peripherals became the whole business, as the company grew at a compounded 18% per year. Managing in an environment of rapid change required a high degree of curiosity, in addition to communications skills. Says Wayman, "It helps to be a curious person because there s 50 much change that when you see something that intrigues you, you have to follow it up."

Wayman joined HP's board in 1993, a move that led him to "think with a bigger mind about how the shareholders want the company to be run" -- but issues of accounting and reporting are still close to his heart. "New accounting standards out of the FASB are demanding more complex and greater exposure," he warns. "I'm very much in favor of open books and clear visibility, but I feel that some of the accounting standards and regulations the SEC is putting in place push it to the point of confusing investors. I think there's too much exposure, too much...