Private company 'Fly-in' hits 26 congressional offices.

• Author: Raab, Marian
• Position: Financial Executives International on the hill

Financial Executives International's Fourth Annual Private Company "Fly-in" landed in Washington, D.C., March 19.

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Staff from FEI's Washington, D.C., office hosted eight senior executives for the two-day event (see above photo). During the Fly-in, FEI staff and Committee on Private Company members split into three groups and visited 26 congressional offices.

FEI's President and Chief Executive Officer Marie Hollein also attended this year's event and joined in the congressional visits. This annual event provides an excellent opportunity for FEI members to meet face-to-face with members of Congress and their senior staff.

This year, the group visited top-ranking members of House Ways and Means Committee, Senate Finance Committee, and the senior staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation and the House Small Business Committee.

They also met directly with Sen. David Vitter (D-La.), Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.) and Rep. Pete Roskam (R-Ill.) as well as other elected representatives.

Private Company members were able to discuss important policy issues with members of Congress that directly affect their firms' business interests. Specifically, Private Company members and FEI staff discussed the need for competitive corporate and individual tax rates; estate tax reform; Last-in, First-out (LIFO) accounting; and modernizing S corporation tax law.

Many of the congressional offices remarked that face-to-face meetings with their business constituents are valuable because it affords them an opportunity to hear specific examples of how critical policy issues affect privately held companies in their districts.

Area Covered: Fort Worth metro and surrounding areas.

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Year Founded: 1973

Number of Members: 87

Diversity: Chapter membership is comprised of more than 20 percent women and one-third of board members are women.

Companies Represented: Alcon Laboratories Inc., Cash America International Inc., Chase Paymentech Solutions LLC, Crescent Real Estate Equities, Hillwood, Jacobs Engineering, Pier 1 Imports Inc., Quicksilver Resources Inc., Sally Beauty Holdings Inc., Texas Christian University, University of North Texas and University of Texas at Arlington.

Chapter Sponsors: AC Lordi, Capital One Financial Corp., Ernst & Young, Haynes and Boone LLP, Higginbotham and Wells Fargo & Co.

Annual Dues: $275 for regular members; $150 for retired and in-transition members.

Meeting Schedule: Third Tuesday...