Longtime Hand Ascends To Top.

• Position: Bryan R. Roub, Financial Executives Institute - Brief Article

When Bryan R. Roub joined FEI in 1975 as a young controller for the Midland-Ross Corp. in Cleveland, he recalls that a major attraction of membership was "the access it gave me to those who were older and wiser."

A quarter-century later, a period in which he held top posts in a couple of chapters, Roub is stepping up to the chairmanship of FEI, having earned the "older, wiser" label himself. (Like a host of others before him, Roub will serve as the organization's volunteer chairman for a one year term as that began July 1.) A trim man with a home-grown Florida tan and neatly groomed white hair, Roub is soft-spoken and talks modestly about himself and his accomplishments. Few people, however, have a longer or deeper record of involvement with FEI.

Roub built that record first in Cleveland, then in the Orlando chapter, which he joined in 1984 after taking a post as senior vice president at Harris Corp. in nearby Melbourne. He's now chief financial officer at Harris, which in the past year has been shrinking and restructuring into a pure-play communications equipment company -- a process that has called on his skills and those of his staff.

Over the years, Roub has seen FEI evolve as many professional organizations have -- from a focus on peer interaction and networking more to one of professional development, by providing information and tools to help members keep up. "All of our time is so valuable, when we go to a conference, we really need to learn something. FEI has done a good job of keeping up with the changes."

Looking to the coming year and his own stewardship as chairman, Roub sees global accounting standards as a key issue for EEI. "We have to concentrate on how we best deal with the international accounting standard-setting issue -- we need to make certain we represent our constituents, the financial executives in North America. It will be a very big focus for us. An international standards body has been established, and we are uniquely positioned to help in the evolution. We clearly have a place at the table."

Another area of considerable personal importance is "the national linkage with the chapters. Chapters are the lifeblood of FEI." Roub knows the chapter system intimately, having filled a series of positions since 1976 in both the Northeast Ohio and Orlando chapters that's too lengthy to be summarized quickly. In both chapters, he eventually rose to top posts -- president in Ohio in...