Learn how the latest research findings from CFO Magazine could affect your entire organization.

Keynote speaker:
Mary Driscoll, President of CFO Enterprises

Panelists:
Lee Dittmar, Principal with Deloitte Consulting
Phil Strand, Global Strategist for Financial Intelligence and Corporate Compliance at SAS

This Webcast focuses on the recent research study conducted by CFO Magazine. Hear first-hand how fellow CFOs and finance executives are combating unacceptable performance surprises by expanding performance management beyond financial performance – to include customers, suppliers, the work force and the IT infrastructure.

Through interviews with senior finance executives in the manufacturing, financial services, retail and healthcare industries, among others, CFO Research Services sorted out how companies are altering or planning to alter their performance management processes and technologies as a result of more stringent regulatory compliance; it also identifies the obstacles they face in this transformation.

• Find out what companies are doing to both comply with government regulations and improve the predictability of their operating and financial performance.
• Learn what the most troubling shortfalls are and how companies are effectively finding and preparing for surprises before running afoul of regulators or investors.
• Discover how finance teams are strengthening their relationships with the rest of the organization as a result of regulatory compliance.
• See how companies are making financial improvements by expanding performance management to include non-financial data and find out which important non-financial areas they are measuring.
• Learn how technology supports the convergence of compliance and performance management.

Keynote speaker:
Mary Driscoll is president and editorial director for CFO Enterprises. From 1997 through 1999, she was research director in the Management and Finance Group of the Economic Intelligence Unit. From 1990 to 1996, Driscoll was senior editor of CFO magazine, where she developed numerous cover stories and helped launch CFO’s REACH Awards program in 1995. In 1997, she was editor of the non-affiliated CFO magazine in Australia during its inaugural year.

Driscoll has written several business books, including Cash Management: Corporate Strategies for Profit, and has won several awards for investigative journalism in the area of finance.

Panelists:
Lee Dittmar is a principal with Deloitte & Touche, where he serves as the lead consulting partner and co-leader of the firm's Sarbanes-Oxley initiative. In this capacity, Dittmar develops initiatives to help clients respond to the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, designed to hold CEOs accountable for corporate financial statements. He recently co-authored "The Currency of Good Governance," an article that highlights challenges in the new regulatory environment and outlines actions that companies can take to differentiate themselves.

Dittmar has more than 25 years of consulting experience. He has shown executives how to manage major change, challenges and opportunities. He has helped executives define new visions and the attributes of success to revitalize their organizations. His work encompasses strategy, business process improvement, information technology, and education and training. Dittmar has led consulting engagements for clients in the United States, Japan, Canada and Central America .

He holds a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Drexel University and a master's of business administration from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Phil Strand is the global strategist for financial intelligence and corporate compliance at SAS. He oversees strategy development, product management and product marketing for the company's corporate governance solutions, which help organizations ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. He is also responsible for financial solutions for managing and automating financial information and processes. Strand works closely with the research and development teams, customers and global analysts to first identify financial executives' specific business pains and then solve those pains using enterprisewide financial intelligence.

Before joining SAS in 2002, Strand was vice president at Hyperion Solutions, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., where he led the North American Sales Support team. He managed both sales strategies and product marketing, resulting in an improved market share for the organization. Earlier, Strand served as director of customer support and communications at Global Software and achieved an increase in maintenance revenues and customer satisfaction while streamlining internal processes.

Strand holds a bachelor's degree in business administration with a concentration in mathematics and economics from Gannon University and is a published author.