Chapter focus: Houston.

• Position: Financial Executives International

Area Covered: Greater Houston-Galveston metropolitan areas

Year Founded: 1942

Members: Approximately 300, including retired members.

Companies: Continental Airlines, BMC Software Inc., Pappas Restaurants, Cooper Industries Inc., El Paso Corp., Global Marine Inc., Reliant Energy, Halliburton Co., Quanex Corp., Waste Management Inc., Administaff Inc., Sysco Corp., Landry's Restaurants Inc., Baker Hughes Inc., ExxonMobil.

Annual Dues: $250--includes eight monthly dinner meetings, annual spring golf outing, dinner-dance and eight Professional Development sessions, plus a $25 voluntary Scholarship Fund contribution.

Meeting Schedule: Third Tuesday of each month, September through May, beginning with a Professional Development Seminar from 4:30pm to 5:30pm (offering CPE credit), followed by a cocktail hour and a dinner speaker. Meetings are held at the River Oaks Country Club, located midway between the downtown and Galleria areas. Approximately 100 people attend the meetings, with 45-70 attending the Professional Development Seminar. Thought-provoking subjects focus on current topics, such as stock options, document retention and destruction policies and FASB updates.

Special Events: Gala black-tie dinner-dance around Valentine's Day, and a spring golf outing held at one of the Houston area's many championship golf courses.

Sponsorships: Each monthly dinner meeting focuses attention on a maximum of only two sponsors. "We try to target our monthly meetings with a quality forum and not have a meeting overrun with more suppliers than members," says Mark Fehrs Haukohl, Houston Chapter President, who provided information for this feature.

Unique Qualities: Sponsors. Working with an annual budget of approximately $124,000, the Houston Chapter is described by its president as a dynamic group, whose "claim to fame" is its new proactive sponsorship program, now in its second year. The Chapter raises over $60,000 per year from its sponsors by offering two levels of sponsorship:

Platinum. For a $5,000 annual fee, sponsors can provide a one-hour Professional Development Seminar that focuses on a top-caliber speaker or key topic. The sponsor attends the event it hosts; and all sponsors are invited to the Chapter's two social events. In addition, these sponsors receive a full-page ad in the Membership Directory and Chapter Newsletter recognition for the sponsoring month, as well as exclusive recognition at the sponsored event.

The Chapter's Platinum sponsors...