Donna Weston.

Donna Weston expected to grow up to be a homemaker, like her mother. Instead, she's CFO of a major academic research institution and balances her rewarding work with exhilarating outdoor sports and adventures--like competitive rowing. She's pictured with her 2002 gold-medal winning team at the U.S. Rowing Master's National Championships.

Title: Senior Vice President, CFO

Company/Business: The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI)/academic research. Spun-off in 1990 from Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation (formed in the 1920s), the non-profit organization conducts basic biomedical research and post-graduate education in the life sciences, particularly in the fields of molecular biology, cell biology and chemistry.

Born: Upland, Calif., Sept. 18, 1950

Education: AB, English Literature, San Diego State University, 1972; MBA, Accounting, San Diego State University, 1977; CPA license granted in 1979

Career: CPA with Deloitte & Touche, San Diego, 1977-84; TSRI, La Jolla, Calif., 1984 to present

FEI Chapter: San Diego

Leisure: "Rowing (crew), hiking, tennis (the sport I grew up playing), music (still taking lessons in classical piano). I'm very active in rowing; I'm on the competitive women's team and also serve as treasurer of the San Diego Rowing Club. In 2002, our boat won the Head of the Charles Regatta, for women over 50! In April, I competed in the San Diego Regatta Classic--referred to in San Diego as the 'biggest rowing event west of the Mississippi.'

"I train by rowing about three times a week, plus cross-training three other days. I ride my bike to work in good weather, do resistance training and am attempting to prove I'm better than the Stairmaster at the gym. But, I prefer outdoor activities."

Time Management: "There is never enough time--and more projects than anybody could have time to complete. I think I do a good job at managing my time, but sometimes, it just isn't possible.

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"Focus on the mission, a thick skin and a flat, matrix organizational structure helps. About focus: everyone here understands that the needs of the scientists are our priority. While maintaining appropriate controls and procedures, we want the intellectual capacity and imagination of our scientists to be the limiting factor. Not us. About working in a matrix organization: most of my colleagues have been here 25 years or more. We have a good idea of what needs to be done and who can do it best. This is an unstructured and efficient environment--not many meetings, no bureaucracy, essentially--and it works. But, it's not for the faint of heart."

Stress Management: "Poor (that's why I row)."

Favorite Book: "For an English major, it's a difficult choice. I'll say Germinal, by Emil Zola--which covers the plight of others around us; and Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy--which asks, among other things, 'What is happiness, anyway?'"

Best Job: "My current job. Hands down. Upon being recruited, the President said that if I came to work for him, he'd provide an interesting work experience. And he has. Am I lucky, or what?"

Favorite Deal: "I've done a whole lot of real estate transactions of all types. The development of the Institute for Childhood and Neglected Diseases (ICND) at TSRI was the most rewarding. This transaction required wrestling the land from the grip of an unwilling owner, and the design, construction and financing for a laboratory building. The funds for the land acquisition were donated to us, and the improvements were financed with tax-exempt debt.

"I worked with the donor, the state conduit for financing, the owner and just about everyone else in town to make this happen--on time and on budget, of course.

"Also, the State of Florida has just given us a grant of $310 million to develop a basic biomedical research effort in Florida. The County of Palm Beach has given a grant of about $200 million for a facility These resources will allow the development of a campus that will focus on the interrelationship between basic biomedical research, drug discovery and technology development in Florida. This will probably eclipse the ICND deal."

I would like to spend 1 hour with: "Sigmund Freud. As Socrates said, 'The unexamined life is not worth living.'"

Quotable: "That law is tricky 'stuff,' from Thelma & Louise. While directed at the law, it describes just about any technical, regulated area. Take accounting and reporting, for example. It so elegantly and succinctly states what most people think."

edited by Ellen M. Heffes