Donella Rapier.

• Position: Chief Financial Officer of Harvard Business School - Brief Article

What's it like to be CFO of Harvard Business School? If you're Donella Rapier, you enjoy the outdoors as much as the ivied halls, have an affinity for running and the piano, and appreciate a long hike in the Adirondacks followed by an evening kayak paddle. Rapier also spends at least a week each year touring the European countryside by bicycle -- her favorite region being France.

Born Sept. 29, 1957

Married For 2 years to Andy Pickett

Kids Three step-children: Kaitlin, 14; Alex 11, and Jill, 7.

Off hours Running, cycling, hiking, kayaking, cross-country skiing, reading, playing the piano, hosting dinner parties and summer barbecues

Schooling BS in business administration summa cum laude, California State University, Northridge. MBA with honors, Harvard Business School.

Career history Joined Price Waterhouse in Los Angeles in 1984, concentrating in real estate and entertainment. Promoted quickly and selected for a scholarship program that funded her MBA. Spent a summer in the PW National Office in New York and transferred to the Boston office, where she specialized in high tech. Taught first-year accounting courses at Harvard Kennedy School of Government and at Harvard Business School. Named CFO of Harvard Business School in 1996.

FEI Chapter Boston

Favorite lesson from business school "I always thought I was somewhat of a pushover in negotiations, that I was 'too nice.' But in a series of negotiation exercises with a number of different students over the semester, I learned I was much shrewder...