From the editor.

• Author: Marshall, Jeffrey
• Position: Editorial

What does it take to succeed as a CFO these days? Obviously, there are a lot of options available--and no single answer. There are duties galore, and the mix of those varies from company to company. We decided to interview four CFOs in very different industries, find out more about their companies and consider some of the varying ways in which success is bred.

One clear key to success is industry knowledge. Gregory Wright, the CFO of Tesoro Corp., an independent oil refinery and marketing firm, has been in the energy business for 34 years, and at Tesoro for 11. He's been in varying segments of the market, and understands the ways to drive results in an exceptionally volatile business that has seen tremendous consolidation.

Another is flexibility. Robert Daleo, CFO of Thomson Corp., has ridden the convulsive changes that have taken the Canadian-American information giant from the newspaper and trade magazine arena to a focus on computerized delivery. Changes like that mean new metrics, new technologies to understand and a business strategy that moves with the evolving nature of information.

Then there is adaptability--in the case of Jack Tierney, finance chief at Dial Corp., to a whole new set of accounting standards. In 2005, Dial became a subsidiary of Germany-based Henkel KGaA, and adopted International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Producing financial statements under those new standards is an obvious challenge, and so is the fact that his German management requires not just quarterly closes, but monthly financial updates.

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A fourth ingredient for success is the ability to leverage specific expertise. Bill Ger-ber, CFO of TD Ameritrade Holdings Corp., did our interview four days after he had been named to the top finance post. Obviously, it helped that he...