President & CEO, Ilene Gordon and EVP & CFO, Cheryl Beebe of Corn Products International have formed a productive partnership that has helped to successfully navigate mergers and acquisitions and contribute to large scale organizational growth. Beebe and Gordon will speak about the important elements that make open communication and collaboration possible between a CEO and CFO. They will provide examples of how each leader holds a unique role in creating an effective strategy to achieve economic and organizational health.

Session discovery topics:

· Facilitating open communication between team members at all levels of the organization
· Developing a comprehensive approach to critical business issues
· Unifying priorities to drive shareholder value

Whirlpool has transformed a ‘check the box’ Enterprise Risk Management program into a strategic competitive advantage for its business. With a heightened awareness of the critical role that risk plays in decision making, learn how Whirlpool has embedded Enterprise Risk Management into strategic business processes that deliver real business results.

Session discovery topics:

• Embedding risk management into operating decisions at the tactical level
• Engaging business partners as strategy is formed
• Deliver business performance that can add to earnings and cash flow

David Colistra will be sharing key learning from IBM's substantial share price appreciation based on the fundamental changes that were CFO led and altered the way analysts view IBM. IBM has experienced double digit EPS growth and margin expansion for several years, even during the down economy of 2009 when sales fell. The secret to IBM's success involves shifting the fundamentals of business, operations and expenses.

Session discovery topics:

• Slashing expense is not a long term growth strategy
• The CFO’s role in purposeful organization transformation
• Building a foundation for transformation — developing best practices

Beginning with identification and continuing through valuation and ultimately integration, successful mergers and acquisitions hinge upon numerous competencies that highlight the strategic value of the finance organization. Provided that more than half of mergers and acquisitions fall short in terms of creating economic value, this represents a critical opportunity for finance to guide the business toward opportunity and away from risk. Please join Dan Doheny, Michael Flannery and Abidali Neemuchwala in this discussion of what best practices underlie the most successful mergers and acquisitions.

Join Greg Bylsma, CFO of Herman Miller, Inc. and Glenn O'Brien, Managing Director at Prudential for an engaging session that looks beyond risk management to moving pension risk. The session will provide a comprehensive look at the challenges defined benefit plan sponsors face managing pension risk. Bylsma will discuss Herman Miller’s issues, objections and efforts to create shareholder value along their de-risking path. O’Brien will discuss different pension risk transfer solutions including pension buy-in, how it works, and how transferring risk will allow greater focus on core business issues.

Session discovery topics:

• Putting the pieces together — Asset Assumptions, Liability Assumptions, Accounting Practices and your core business issues.
• Managing legacy liabilities
• Why transferring risk is both a shareholder and participant friendly transaction

New research is demonstrating that CFOs have a far greater strategic involvement at their organizations than ever. This occurs even though the CFO’s mandate for providing robust financial information, effective risk management and timely stakeholder communication remains. How is the role of today’s CFO evolving? How do leading CFOs balance the competing demands on their time? What is the makeup of a successful CFO in our contemporary environment — the “DNA” of the future finance leader? Hear perspectives from a collection of the Midwest’s top CFOs on their current role, their responsibilities — and their careers — based on emerging new research.

Session discovery topics:

• Missions and mandates of today’s top CFOs
• Looking backward and forward — Balancing strategy and business risk
• Developing the next-generation CFO — the critical DNA