FAF appoints Robert J. DeSantis president and COO.

The Board of Trustees of the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) appointed Robert J. DeSantis president and chief operating officer of FAF. In doing so, they created a new, full-time position with no term limits, such as those that apply to chairmen of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and its counterpart for state and local government, the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB), and other appointments made by the trustees.

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The new position was created, beginning in October, to support the mission of FAF, which is responsible for the oversight, administration and finances of both FASB and GASB. The previous leadership position (executive vice president) focused on the support services FAF provides to GASB and FASB.

"It's a privilege to be entrusted with the leadership of an organization such as the FAF that has such a high degree of not only professional but also public responsibility," said DeSantis in an interview. "It's a great professional opportunity," he says, citing the organization's high levels of responsibilities, "not only with regards to the technical aspects of standard-setting, but the impact that has on the stability of the nation's capital markets as well."

In his new role, DeSantis highlights six areas of responsibility. These include:

1. Represent the foundation (FASB and GASB) with its external constituents--SEC, Congress, media--for the primary purpose of voicing the importance of private standard-setting in the public arena.

2. Continue to lead the administrative functions that support the FASB and GASB. Those include finances, HR, IT, legal, PR, etc.

3. Coordinate the activities of the already very supportive and strong trustee group at FAF.

4. Lead the annual and longer-term planning efforts of the organization to stay focused on what it is doing now as well as planning for the future.

5. Strengthen already strong relationships with FAF's nominating organizations, which include the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Financial Executives International, Securities Industries Association and five others.

6. Create a permanent funding mechanism for GASB (an area he'll work on with GASB Chairman Bob Attmore). DeSantis is looking forward to this aspect, based on his extensive experience creating financing vehicles for various entities. GASB funding has come from a voluntary bond association fee and also from solicitations.

On his Day One, DeSantis plans to focus on the FAF staff, which, he says, historically has been supporting FASB and GASB. He wants to make certain all are in alignment (to carry out the responsibilities FASB has been entrusted with, empowered by the SEC to be the independent standard-setter in the U.S.), and that all are "staying ahead of the curve and not only meeting but exceeding the expectations associated with those responsibilities." That will take some assessment, he says, to determine the current activities and some planning as to whether a change is required and what actions will be implemented, if necessary.

DeSantis, a CPA himself, is a seasoned executive with extensive financial, legal and regulatory experience. He has held senior executive positions in large and small, public and private companies, in both competitive and regulated environments and also in the capital markets in the tax-exempt side. He has been both a preparer and a user of financial statements. For the past five years, he served as CFO of DSL.net Inc., a national provider of broadband communications services, and as executive vice president of Tellium Inc., a developer of optical-switching equipment for the telecommunications industry. He also spent 15 years with Citizen Communications. He began his career in a number of financial and legal capacities with GTE Corp and KPMG Peat Marwick.

DeSantis says he was attracted to the opportunity due to the level of responsibility the organization has been entrusted with. He believes it's going to play an even larger role going forward.