America’s largest and most diverse generation, Millennials, are transforming all areas of American culture, from education to entertainment, from the workplace to the home, and from business to politics and government. Morley Winograd and Michael Hais offer in-depth insight on what drives this generation and how their technological sophistication can be harnessed to improve organizational performance.

Session discovery topics:

• Understanding the unique attributes of the Millennial generation
• Identifying the three generations in today’s workforce and how to draw upon the best each has to offer
• The cyclical nature of generations and how to manage multiple generations in the workplace

With many organizations facing consistent escalations in healthcare expenses and a lack of direction from Washington as to the outcomes of the administration’s healthcare reform initiatives, the issue of managing healthcare expenses presents a clear risk and opportunity. This panel discussion, moderated by Jean Moore of Towers Watson, is intended to focus on strategies for the business to mitigate advancing healthcare costs through various insurance and wellness strategies.

Most organizations only perform the basics of risk management. Ernst and Young set out to conduct one of the first studies to correlate how organizations with mature risk practices yield better performance. The research study coupled with key client experiences does in fact suggest that companies with more mature risk practices do better financially. They outperform their peers by making better stronger decisions, more efficiently deploying scarce resources and reducing their exposure to negative events.

Session discovery topics:

• The link between mature risk practices and economic performance
• Viewing risk as an opportunity to generate value and improve an organization’s economic performance.
• How leading companies use risk management to drive financial results, enhance business performance and gain a strategic competitive advantage

Today’s CFO faces increasing expectations to visualize opportunities to create shareholder value and to lead the organization to growth. Known as the conductor of Cisco’s ardent M&A activity, as well as its innovation-focused incubator, Ned Hooper shares insights gained from a career in the driver’s seat of business strategy at one the world’s preeminent technology companies.

Session discovery topics:

• Strategies for investing for maximum impact
• Core acquisition and integration competencies of the world-class finance organization
• The role of leadership in enabling extraordinary results

Promod Haque is managing partner at Norwest Venture Partners and offers CFOs a unique perspective having been a global venture investor for 20+ years, a board member at several private and public technology companies, as well as a former CEO. In his presentation, he will discuss the CFO’s role as one of the key leaders in the organization and provide insights on how a CFO can best contribute to creating a culture that fosters innovation. Haque will touch upon the strategic role CFOs play when companies sell globally, as well as how the use of the latest information technology (including big data, predictive analytics and SaaS solutions) can add significant value to organizations by increasing the bottom line and reducing expenses. Join Haque as he shares how CFOs can apply their business acumen to the identification of high-potential innovation projects within a company and marshal the resources of the organization accordingly.

As financial executives forecast spending and profitability across their organizations, they must determine which areas of the business are most efficient and those that may be underperforming. In the age of social business, the modern CFO wants more than just numbers and statistics — transparency and talent retention are paramount to success. By using enterprise social networking, executives can gain new insight into employee morale, departmental performance and an overall business context for the present financial condition. Enterprise social networking enables greater exposure to the people behind the numbers, further connecting CFOs to the company’s most valuable asset — its employees.

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

Session discovery topics:

• Why slashing expense is not a long term growth strategy
• The importance of the CFO role in purposeful organization transformation
• Best Practices for building a foundation for transformation