Wall Street's View
March 16, 2004

Executives need to understand how Wall Street views their company and what they can do to influence this critical assessment. During his storied career, Paul Karos has appeared on “Wall Street Week” with Louis Rukeyser, and was featured in The New York Time s and several other media outlets, sharing his insightful business analysis. Karos will talk about how analysts and portfolio managers examine companies and industries: what executives should know about both financial and strategic attributes; what factors affect a stock's valuation on a long-term basis; how to be objective about your strategic and financial position within your industry; and the importance of consistent and relevant communication with the Street.

Finance Transformation
April 13, 2004

The role of a finance executive has never been more important or more broadly defined. The CFO and finance area have a responsibility to partner with operating managers to continually improve the entire corporation’s efficiency and effectiveness. Finance transformation is the endless journey to identify and integrate best practices for decision support, planning processes, shared services, business process outsourcing, and more. Different than strategy, finance transformation focuses the finance function on meeting ever-changing challenges. Martyn Redgrave will discuss the journey that he and his colleagues at Carlson Companies are on to pursue excellence through finance transformation.

Capital Management
May 18, 2004

David Moffett, a leading figure in the financial industry, will address several questions that challenge executives. What do stock prices tell us about earnings growth rates? Are valuations driven by sustainable profitability or earnings growth? What's the value-added from increasing the total distribution to shareholders? What are the advantages and disadvantages between buying back stock and increasing the dividend payout? What are the implications of emerging tax legislation? How does the company analyze the repurchase of stock from a shareholder perspective and what are the impacts?

Extracting Full Value
June 15, 2004

Serving as the Secretary of the U. S. Treasury and drawing on his experience as the Chairman and CEO of Alcoa, and President of International Paper Company, Paul O'Neill developed keen insights about extracting full value from the organization's resources. He is very interested in systems thinking, cost containment, and every aspect of quality. O'Neill also believes there is an enormous opportunity for companies to increase the value equation of every part of their enterprise.

Earnings Growth
September 14, 2004

Executives need strategic and tactical ideas that create sustainable growth, particularly in a slow economic environment. Patrick Campbell will explore the categories of new products, pricing, mergers and acquisitions, and cost containment. Drawing on his earnings growth experiences at 3M and General Motors, he will discuss strategies and tactics that lead to sustainable growth.

Integrity: Restoring Confidence
October 13, 2004

High profile scandals in recent years have undermined the confidence of investors and other important stakeholders in the integrity of corporate behavior. Companies have an opportunity to distinguish themselves through thoughtful responses to these ethical matters. Robert Lumpkins will reflect on these issues and the vital role of the CFO in restoring confidence in corporate leadership-both within their organizations and within the system as a whole.

Shareholder Value
November 16, 2004

The principal goal of corporate management is to deliver shareholder return. All critical business decisions today connect to shareholder value: it drives the agenda for every CEO, CFO, and corporate strategist. Executives need to balance expectations and the creation of shareholder value. James Lawrence will speak about General Mills' views regarding shareholder return, the process appropriate to measuring shareholder return, and General Mills' own results.