Will economic hope 'spring' eternal?

AuthorHeffes, Ellen M.
PositionFROM THE EDITOR

Spring is the time of year when people seem to feel more optimistic than they might during other times of the year. Let's hope this sense of seasonal optimism can carry over to our over-stressed economy, businesses and employment numbers. We're still in the midst of a tentative recovery, but it does seem to be gaining speed based on numbers and reports I read. Now if Congress and the administration can agree on deficit reduction and tax policies, I think we'd all feel a bit more optimistic about the future--and those businesses on the sidelines may begin to reenter the race.

At FEI's 82nd Leadership Summit in Phoenix last month, we saw signs of that optimism. The keynote speakers--David Walker (Comeback America Initiative), Jeffrey Henley (Oracle Corp.) and John Brock (Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc.)--each expressed confidence about fixing the deficit, improving his company's operations and fixing the planet, starting at his own company, respectively.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The closing C-suite panel, moderated by Tobin Smith of Fox News Channel, featured four leading CFOs: Scott Di Valerio, CFO, Coinstar Inc., Patrick Murray, CFO, Sephora USA, C. Bradford Richmond, senior vice president and CFO, Darden Restaurants Inc., and Jim Scilacci, executive vice president, CFO and treasurer, Edison International.

The CFOs shared insights on their companies' approach to business operations in the face of various forces the economy and taxes and environmental and health laws. Those factors seem to make the job of running the business more challenging than simply dealing with a recession or post-recessionary period.

The articles in this issue of FE reflect the broad scope of economic, financial and industry issues that currently challenge financial officers. The cover story focuses on transparency. It's kind of a reminder that once the genie is let out of the...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT