Chapter focus: twin cities.

• Author: Heffes, Ellen M.

Area Covered: Minnesota

Year Founded: 1936

No. Members: 359

Member Companies Represented: 3M, Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, Anderson Corp., Cargill Inc., Carlson Cos., Digital River Inc., Ecolab Inc., General Mills, Mayo Clinic, Medtronic Inc., Thomson/West, US Bancorp, United Health Group

Annual Dues: General, $275; Retiree, $175

Meeting Schedule:

* Host 11 programs, generally the second Tuesday of each month. Typically, there are 7 dinner and 2 breakfast meetings; 2 social events--"Cabin Fever," in late winter, and "Annual Golf Outing" ends the chapter year; and 5 professional development (PD) sessions in conjunction with and preceding a dinner program.

* Special topics are co-sponsored together with Strategic Partners.

* Among the scheduled speakers for our upcoming monthly meetings are: Michael Gorman, Managing General Partner of St. Paul Venture Capital and member of the Itasca Project; Cynthia Lesher, Loaned Executive, Republican National Convention; Pamela Knous, Executive Vice President and CFO, SuperValu; Allison Davis Blake, Carlson School of Business, University of Minnesota; Stanley Hubbard, Chairman and CEO, Hubbard Broadcasting. National (FEI) Awards: Chapter of the Year, 2005-2006 Regional Challenges: Retention of members after five years and retiring members dropping membership.

Recent Highlights:

1. CFO of Year Awards. FEI Twin Cities played a prominent role in the inaugural CFO of Year Awards. Sponsored and led by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, past and current FEI presidents served as judges and two FEI members received awards: Tom Goodmanson, of Gelco Expense Management, for CFO of the Year for Medium Private Companies; and Subran-manian Krishan, of Digi International, for Community Service.

2. FEI Twin Cities Responds to Bridge Collapse. In response to the I-35W bridge collapse on Aug. 1, FEI Twin Cities raised $2,370 for Minnesota Helps Fund.

3. FERF Donation Continues. For the third consecutive year, the Twin Cities chapter renewed its $10,000 Platinum-level sup-port for Financial Executives Research Foundation.

Unique Qualities:

* LEADERSHIP STRUCTURE: Consists of 14 directors and 20 member/Strategic Partner volunteers working on 9 committees, which provides for the constant flow of new ideas; allows the leadership to leverage the unique talents of individual members; and spreads out the workload.

* CHAPTER PROGRAMS AND PROFESSION DEVELOPMENT: A very strong...