Focus on the treasurer.

• Author: Heffes, Ellen M.
• Position: Editorial

Our cover story this issue features the role of the treasurer and FEI's reinstated Committee on Corporate Treasury (CCT). To report on today's corporate treasurer, I interviewed treasurers of three U.S.-based based businesses to solicit their views on their jobs and their changing responsibilities in the wake of the financial crisis. They also shared their thoughts on the evolving tools and technologies of their trade, what skills asipring treasurers need and the future of treasury.

One thing is certain, notes DuPont Co.'s Vice President and Treasurer Susan Stalnecker: "We're clearly not going back to the way things used to be." She says that among the lessons she's learned since the financial crisis is "you can never have too much information." Stalnecker chairs FEI's CCT.

Steven Kasok, treasurer for Millipore Corp., says he now thinks more about "counterparty risk among the caliber of institutions that would not have been considered at risk in the past."

And Tom King, treasurer for Progressive Insurance Co., says, "many sophisticated models used to value financial instruments proved to be ineffective," and that tomorrow's treasurer "will need to be able to put aside spreadsheets and engage in qualitative discussions about risk, return and capital."

In another article, Eleanor Bloxham, CEO of The Value Alliance, writes about what skill sets CFOs will need in five years for working with their boards of directors.

This issue also features articles on mitigating the financial risk of product recalls, a state-of-play for the M&A market, the impact of U.S. trade policies on businesses and the five biggest tax breaks companies should be taking but likely aren't.

Also, with the official start of hurricane season just around the corner (June 1), we have an article on business continuity planning for information technology...