Edwards, Parfet and Salerno Inducted into FEI's 8th Hall of Fame.

• Author: Sinnett William
• Position: GALA

Marie Hollein, president and CEO of Financial Executives International (FED, opened FEI's eighth Hall of Fame Gala at Gotham Hall in New York City on Nov. 18 commenting: "This is a special evening for Financial Executives Research Foundation. Tonight we celebrate the induction of the eighth class into the FEI Hall of Fame."

This year's fundraising event for FERF honored the lifetime achievements of Earnest J. (Earnie) Edwards, retired senior vice president and controller, Alcoa Inc.; William U. (Bill) Parfet, co-founder, chairman and CEO, MPI Research; and Frederic V. (Fred) Salerno, retired vice chairman and chief financial officer, Verizon Communications Inc.

For profiles about these new inductees to the FEI Hall of Fame, read the cover story in the November 2013 issue of Financial Executive magazine.

Edwards was introduced by Paul O'Neill, former secretary of the U.S. Treasury, who described how in 1987 Edwards reduced Alcoa's monthly close from eight clays to three days--a worId-cIass benchmark even today. Later, when O'Neill was appointed Treasury Secretary, he brought in Edwards to do the same for the U.S. government.

Edwards, a lifetime retired member of FEI and past chair of FEI's Committee on Corporate Reporting (CCR), celebrates his 30th anniversary as an FEI member. In accepting his induction, Edwards said that he most enjoyed being a part of molding the accounting standards with the Financial Accounting Standards Board [FASB], and urged FEI to continue to be the advocate for financial executives.

Bill Parfet was introduced by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, who described Parfet's six qualities: Leadership ("give until it hurts"); optimism ("always say 'yes'"); energy ("he must have been the model for the 'en-ergizer bunny'"); integrity ("he always does what he promises); family; and fun ("Bill enjoys everything he does").

Parfet commented: "This is the best day of my life." He...