Editor's page.

Some of you have met Michael P. Cangemi, FEI's new president and CEO, but we wanted to introduce him to the entire membership. Cangemi, who spoke at length with Executive Editor Ellen M. Heffes, has an unusually broad background for a financial executive, with significant experience not only as a CFO, but as a CEO (of a women's fashion company) and as the editor of a technical journal in his specialty area, IT auditing. He offers his thoughts about what he sees as FEI's strengths, as well as key areas he wants to focus on in the months and years ahead.

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It may not be a tsunami, but the private equity wave is mighty large and far-reaching. It's arguably the story of the day in the capital markets, as PE firms continue to snatch up public companies. We have two companion articles in our special report on this subject. The first looks at the private equity firms themselves, the opportunities they see and how they are taking big companies (even household names) private.

The second article tries to get behind the headlines to discern what impact private equity is having on the capital markets at large and why the going-private boom has been as strong as it has. We also tried to collect thoughts on how long it could last--and what future forces could emerge to hamper the movement.

I also want to recommend the terrific article on Rep. Barney Frank by Washington writer Stephen Barlas. Barlas outlines the challenge for a leading liberal who's now in a position of real authority as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. Frank, he writes, is still capable of fierce and witty rhetoric (his trademark), but senses he needs to moderate his views to work with business interests and advance his agenda.

And, the Financial Reporting column features an interview with the SEC's chief accountant, Conrad Hewitt. Still somewhat of an unknown, he talks about some of his short- and long-term goals.

As you go through this issue of the magazine, you'll notice that all the elements--features, columns, departments--have been redesigned. In many cases, the changes are relatively subtle; the departments, for instance, have dropped the images that were on top of the pages, and the columns no longer have blocks of color next to the label. The feature changes are more conspicuous, with a more standardized treatment for the opening, new labels and folios (those lines with the magazine name and page number) and a new treatment of the "takeaways" summary at the end.

The biggest change is on the cover, where you'll now find a brand new logo for Financial Executive, reflecting the lower-case usage that prevails through almost all other FEI communications. And we've added a band at the top that allows us to highlight more articles inside.

All of the redesign has been fashioned over the last few months by Creative Director Laura Avello, with assistance from Graphic Designer Hope Zelinski. The magazine really hadn't had any kind of redesign in years; one objective of this one was to "open up" some of the pages with more white space. Redesigns are something magazines shouldn't do lightly, but my firm belief is that a fresh approach--a new hairstyle or new wardrobe, metaphorically--is a good thing, especially if well thought-out and well-executed. Please email me any comments at [e-mail].