Not your father's Financial Executive.

• Author: Heffes, Ellen M.
• Position: FROM THE EDITOR - Editorial

Though not exactly an "extreme makeover," the April issue of Financial Executive certainly charts an exciting new visual direction for the magazine. You'd be forgiven for doing a double take--thinking perhaps you've picked up an issue of GQ--because the issue features a brand new cover and logo, as well as a revised page design. Inside, you'll note, we've also added a few new columns to spice up our presentation of the kinds of incisive news and opinion you've come to expect from us.

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This redesign is the result of many months of research and development. We owe our creative director, Laura Avello, much thanks for her patience during a design phase that included more than one "let's just try it this way, last time" comment along the way. We also thank FEI Vice President, Marketing and Communications Liliana DeVita for encouraging the modernizing. We think the new design will make the magazine easier to read and hopefully grab and hold your attention as you flip through the pages.

In presenting this makeover, we're marking the celebration of the 80th anniversary of Financial Executives International. As part of our contribution--beginning with this issue and continuing through the rest of 2011--we'll have a feature in each edition under the headline of FEI@80. Each story will cover issues that have been testing financial executives since the early days of the Great Depression. We trust they will provide a valuable history lesson about FEI, its legacy, its volunteer leadership and how it continues to fulfill the mission it started in 1931.

We are also debuting two new columns: The Office, which features FEI members who serve as executives at unique or unusual companies, and Global Glance, which will chronicle views of events around the world that have relevance to financial executives and to FEI.

For the inauguration of The Office (on page 16)...