Canadian chair Ed Brown aims for visibility, value, influence.

To Edward J. Brown, FEI Canada's incoming chair, a key challenge for the organization is meeting the basic value proposition: making sure the services and cost, in both money and time, justify joining and staying and building "an involved and stable membership."

"My focus is trying to keep people involved in FEI--we're just one of the choices in people's lives," Brown said in a June interview from his office at Duke Energy Field Services in Calgary, Alberta. "Chapter meetings need to have the necessary value to compete for people's time."

In length of membership--he joined FEIC in 1996 in Calgary--Brown may not be up there with some of the association's volunteer leaders. But he's risen quickly through the ranks, starting with his first position as Chapter Membership Chairman, followed by Chapter Vice President and President. He joined the board of FEIC in 1999, and was Vice Chairman in 2003-4 as well as Chair of the Finance and Audit Committee (2001-2), Chair of the President's Council of FEIC (2002-3) and Co-Chair of the Canada/U.S. Relations Committee (2003-4).

Clearly, he's made a considerable impression. "I've known Ed for 25 years, and I've never heard anyone say a bad word about him," says FEIC President and CEO Isabel Meharry. "I think it's because he's a consummate professional. He always deals with the issues, and he always sees the big picture. He's able to really cut to the chase, and he deals with matters very efficiently. Ed can accomplish in one meeting what it might take other people three meetings to accomplish.

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"The other thing that strikes me about Ed is that he's always been an extremely hard worker, but also a hard player. He's a guy who likes to have fun, and he has a very good sense of humor, and always keeps things in perspective."

Starting as a public accountant with KPMG in 1978, after getting a bachelor of commerce degree at the University of Toronto, Brown took a job at TransCanada PipeLines in 1984 and rose through the finance ranks there as assistant controller, director of evaluation and planning, vice president of corporate services and planning, and eventually as vice president of commercial services. He left in 2002 and spent a year as an executive consultant before joining Duke Energy Field Services earlier this year as controller of its Canadian division.

Brown, who's articulate and informal in conversation, says the Calgary area has become an important hub for service and high-tech companies, in addition to the energy and resources industries. The local FEI chapter is Canada's second largest after Toronto, with 225 members, and has been adding 10-20 members a year in recent years.

The new chair wants to raise the visibility of FEI Canada, and mentions the "CFO of the Year" award that the organization sponsors in conjunction with PricewaterhouseCoopers. In addition to giving someone meaningful recognition, he says, it reminds the public that there are good actors in finance. That awards ceremony, he noted, has become a standalone event. Brown adds that FEIC is actively seeking out sponsorship partners to become more self-sufficient and less dependent on the U.S. organization. IBM Corp. recently signed on as a "North American" sponsor, he notes, which offered meaningful recognition to Canada.

FEIC is striving to build its awareness as well with corporations, think tanks, academia and policy-makers, he says. A new Issues and Policy Advisory Committee (IPAC), comprised of 40-50 members, will be "a huge plus. It gives an opportunity for us to be heard and to influence policy-making," he says, adding, "Standard-setters really look to industry groups for input."

Married to Kathy Bedell-Brown for 14 years, he has three children: Jennifer, 12; Ian, 11; and Andrew, 7. Jennifer is an accomplished dancer, he says, and the boys have gotten involved in hockey and basketball, which he coaches, as well as soccer. One big recreational pursuit is golf, which he says he's played for many years; he gets out once a week if he can at a local club during the short Canadian summer and occasionally plays nine holes with his wife.

During the interview, Brown lamented the volume of emails that had piled up at his office while he was away at the FEIC conference in early June. "I like technology to release me, not to bury me," he quipped, saying the idea of being available 24-7 was less than appealing--a common executive lament these days almost anywhere in the world.