Conversations with exemplary financial executives.

• Author: Heffes, Ellen M.
• Position: Dennis D. Dammerman and Donald T. Nicolaisen

Dennis D. Dammerman and Donald T. Nicolaisen, two exemplary financial executives, have been chosen for admittance into an exclusive club: the Financial Executives International Hall of Fame. The two are being inducted into FEI's fourth annual Hall of Fame on Nov. 16 at a gala in New York.

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Since its founding in 2005--in conjunction with Financial Executives International's 75th anniversary--FEI's Hall of Fame committee has selected and honored executives who exemplify the attributes of admirable financial professionals. This year's inductees bring the total membership of this august group to 11. Dammerman and Nicolaisen join Dennis R. Beresford, Susan Schmidt Bies, Frank J. Borelli, F. Gorham Brigham Jr., Thomas E. Jones, Robert W. Moore, Charles Noski, John F. Ruffle and Samuel Siegel.

The finance executive plays a crucial role in a company's success, and it's one that has grown in scope and value to the organization over the years. Though controller or comptroller was formerly the most senior finance position, since the 1960s, the chief financial officer has become the top finance official with the most extensive responsibilities. Besides collecting and reporting financial data, the finance chief has become an important part of the senior management team, adviser to the chief executive officer and board of directors and often a spokesperson to shareholders and the press.

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Selection criteria for entry into FEI's Hall of Fame are stringent, and this year's two inductees are representative of the many ways the finance executive contributes to a structure that maintains organizations, the regulatory regime, the capital markets and ultimately, capitalism.

The two profiled here show how starting with a finance education can take individuals on different career paths. Indeed, the newest members took slightly different paths. One remained in the corporate world his entire career until retirement. He's now using his wealth of experience to serve on several boards of directors.

The second Hall of Fame inductee took the public-accounting route and moved on to the regulatory side. Retired recently, he, too, is serving on several boards of directors.

Dennis D. Dammerman has always had a great deal of intellectual curiosity. Early in his career, he says he wasn't comfortable "devoting my efforts [solely] to the finance side of things." He "wanted to understand how things worked and really understand the business in addition to the accounting that expressed the results of that business."

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He believes he was fortunate to have "the best business laboratory in the world" at his fingertips.

Dammerman began his career in an entry-level finance position with General Electric Co., which is known for its comprehensive financial management program. He had opportunities to be involved both in the accounting and business sides of several businesses under the GE umbrella--from the corporate audit staff to the lighting business and GE Capital, as well as running businesses.

"I started running businesses, and all the things that I thought were easy when I was sitting on the other side of the table as the finance guy ... now I had to solve these problems and make money, lend money and make credit decisions," Dammerman said.

At some point--through a combination of training and experience--he developed what he identifies as "intuition." As he moved through different roles, he got to a point where "if I saw a deal and I didn't like it, I knew why I didn't like it and I knew the things you could do to fix it so I would like it."

But that can take a while to develop. By working in finance and then running businesses, he says, "you only hope you can get up to speed on that pretty quickly."

Apparently he did, as he was elevated to the CFO role--at age 38, GE's youngest finance chief. His list of responsibilities, which was much more complex than the typical CFO portfolio, included managing the brokerage firm Kidder Peabody (a losing business) for a few months before it was sold to Paine Webber. That, he says, "wasn't a lot of fun."

Other tasks ranged from the controller's operation, financial reporting, taxes, investor relations and auditing. The more experience he gained, the more responsibilities he took on, such as running GE Asset Management. After 15 years as CFO of GE, he says he'd gained enormous experience. In 1994, Dammerman joined GE's board of directors, and when...