Washington-Area CFOS Express Continued Optimism About the US Economy During UVA Darden School’s Strategic CFO Roundtable
By Laura Hennessey Martens
Chief financial officers from leading companies in the Washington, D.C., region expressed continued optimism about the United States economy at a recent Strategic CFO Roundtable led by the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. On a scale of zero to 100 percent, the CFOs rated their optimism at approximately 60 percent, which mirrors similar findings in a comparative national survey.
Convened by Darden’s Institute for Business in Society (IBiS) on 25 September 2014 at Sands Capital Management in Arlington, Virginia, the forum took place one week after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen announced federal policies of continued low interest rates and the end of quantitative easing — the introduction of new money into the money supply by a central bank to promote increased lending and liquidity. The majority of CFO Roundtable members said they expect it will take two to three more years for U.S. unemployment to return to pre-recession levels.
Roundtable members are CFOs at publicly traded and private companies from the Washington, D.C. region, representing industries such as aerospace/defense, financial services, media, professional services, retail and technology.
In addition to evaluating the U.S. economy and the performance of their own businesses, the CFOs conduct in-depth discussions on top-of-mind topics such as retaining top talent during economically challenging times, the impact of regulatory and political trends on financial and corporate strategy, and balancing stakeholder interests in corporate decision-making. More information is available in the report “Views from the C-Suite“.
In 2009, Darden Professor Kenneth M. Eades and Jane-Scott Cantus, principal member of ILEX Leadership Associates LLC, established the Strategic CFO Roundtable. In 2013, the Strategic CFO Roundtable was adopted as an important initiative of IBiS.
The next quarterly Strategic CFO Roundtable will convene in January 2015.
The University of Virginia Darden School of Business prepares responsible global leaders through unparalleled transformational learning experiences. Darden’s graduate degree programs (MBA, MSBA and Ph.D.) and Executive Education & Lifelong Learning programs offered by the Darden School Foundation set the stage for a lifetime of career advancement and impact. Darden’s top-ranked faculty, renowned for teaching excellence, inspires and shapes modern business leadership worldwide through research, thought leadership and business publishing. Darden has Grounds in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the Washington, D.C., area and a global community that includes 18,000 alumni in 90 countries. Darden was established in 1955 at the University of Virginia, a top public university founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 in Charlottesville, Virginia.
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