Putting the 'I' in FEI.

• Author: Hollein, Marie N.
• Position: FROM THE PRESIDENT - Survey

A little more than a decade ago, what Akhad been Financial Executives Institute became Financial Executives International. At the time, the reasoning for the change was that the chief financial officer and other senior level executives were much more engaged in globalizing their businesses.

Our mission didn't change with that late-2000 name change. But, as a result, we were determined to do our utmost to make FEI a genuinely international association.

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The global economy had exploded from the mid-1980s through the end of the century. FEI's board of directors wanted a name that reflected this sea change, speaking not only to who we were but also where we were heading as a 21st century professional organization. To become a truly global association of financial executives, we needed to broaden our international horizons.

Our relationship with Canadian financial executives, starting in 1973, has led to the creation and development of 11 Canadian chapters to supplement the 74 chapters that currently exist in the United States. In addition, we have affiliations with financial executive organizations in other countries, such as Mexico and Australia.

But we're eager and determined to extend our message and influence further abroad. We anticipate exporting our vision to new cultures, new markets and new groups of financial business executives while at the same time tapping into the knowledge and financial acumen of our global counterparts.

Among the countries where we expect to establish new organizational beachheads are India, Japan, China and the United Kingdom. As national borders become more amorphous and our economic futures appear inextricably linked--even more so in these times of global hardship and anxiety--it's imperative that we begin to more formally link our financial fortunes.

We've received outstanding support from FEI members serving on our International Task Force in opening doors to potential new members. Over the past several months, we've made visits to Japan, France, India and Italy. In Japan and India, particularly, we've conducted pilot organization awareness meetings to ramp up interest in our...