New CEO brings wide perspective: Michael Cangemi brings his financial, technological, editorial and business experiences and insights to FEI as the 75-year-old organization keeps evolving.

When you meet Michael P. Cangemi, likely the first thing you'd notice is his enthusiasm. Next, you sense his genuine interest in hearing what you have to say. Then comes his desire to give feedback--along with an example or analogy from his extensive professional and/or life experiences. For example, in Cangemi's thinking, you can compare leading an organization to playing 10 chess games--simultaneously. "You're tactical and strategic, and making moves with short-term and long-term implications--and all at the same time," he says.

In his new role as President and CEO of Financial Executives International (FEI), the 6-foot-plus, 58-year-old Cangemi has been quick out of the gate. At his FEI headquarters office in Florham Park, N.J., for just a few days at the time of this interview, he'd already been to the Washington, D.C., office and been the featured speaker at FEI Chapter meetings in New York and New Jersey, as well as having had several press calls and two photo shoots. He was planning to attend all three area leadership board meetings in February, in Dallas, Phoenix and Nashville--two of which are practically concurrent. And, you can read his first "President's Page" column on page 6. He says he can't wait to get to the office each day.

"FEI has an awesome reputation, and I am thrilled with the great opportunity provided me by Colleen's departure," he says--referring to Colleen Cunningham, his popular predecessor and FEI chief since April 2003--as he takes his turn in perpetuating the history and helping shape the future footprint of FEI. An FEI member since 1985, Cangemi had become more active over the past two years, serving on the Committee on Finance and Information Technology (CFIT), a natural place for him to contribute his wealth of experience.

For the first time in its storied 75-year history, FEI has a leader that--besides having an exceptional background in finance, audit and technology--also has had extensive exposure to editorial, publishing and media, a quality that could prove essential as FEI moves to capitalize on its vast intellectual property and the new technologies connected with content delivery.

Since 1987, Cangemi has been Editor-in-Chief of the Information Systems Control Journal, a publication of the 50,000-member Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA), in which his regular column "Issues & Comments" has appeared.

Cangemi has also been deeply involved in volunteer associations--often in leadership roles--so he's well aware of, and sensitive to, the contributions (in both time and talent) of FEI's membership. And, uniquely for an FEI chief, Cangemi has extensive operating experience in a consumer-products environment--as a CFO and CEO--which has driven him to develop an intense customer focus.

He can barely discuss any subject or make a business decision without applying his customer-focused orientation. "The purpose of a business is to satisfy a customer," he says, adding, "I never lose sight of that." For every decision a business makes, he says, you need to ask: "What are we doing this for? How will it contribute to the customer experience?"

And, with much experience in finance and leadership for a designer women's shoes and handbags brand (as CFO, then CEO and director of Etienne Aigner Group Inc.), he sprinkles discussions with analogies to shoes and what women want. However, his analogies don't stop there. He's as much an expert in accounting, audit and information technology systems and natural resources as he is in licensing global brands. His other professional experience includes: partner at BDO Seidman, corporate vice president at mining and manufacturing firm Phelps Dodge Corp. and principal at Ernst & Young.

Additionally, he's a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), and is a past president of ISACA, where he says he learned to run a business. "Being a chapter president was like earning an MBA. I learned to run an organization, with responsibility and oversight for the chapter's revenue, expenses, marketing, publications and operations."

FEI Chairman Richard Schrader says he's looking forward to working with Cangemi, with the knowledge that "Michael's varied and successful professional life thus far has provided him with a solid understanding of the issues facing FEI's members and the finance profession today"

Mary Jo Green, Search Committee chair and a former FEI chair, says the search consultant reviewed a large pool of candidates and in-depth interviews were held with a number of candidates and the 11-member search committee. While several were well-qualified, "Michael was selected," she says, "because the committee felt he possessed more of the qualifications that we were seeking." Among those were: CFO experience, technical knowledge and presentation skills. Also, he had great experience with associations and was CEO of a retail firm, so he had had the experience in branding, marketing and strategy that will be particularly relevant for FEI over the next several years.

Cangemi views his FEI position as "a logical next step" in his business life. Indeed, it's a plum assignment that offers an opportunity for him to apply his life lessons. While his role could be viewed as a capstone to an already successful career, he quickly rejects the "capstone" concept, since it connotes an end, and he doesn't see it that way. "I don't like golf. I like to work. I have no desire to retire."

Raise Awareness, Member Focus

FEI, he says, enjoys a stellar reputation in the marketplace and has tremendous strengths--including its national staff that administers services to its more than 15,000 members. He sees no need to fix anything: "It's not broken." What he believes he can do is to apply some of his thinking and experiences to enhance service to members by raising the level of recognition and monetizing aspects of the FEI brand in more ways than is being done currently.

"I'd like to see this organization grow larger. You do that by developing the services and penetrating new markets--based on the members' needs, and the members will come." Where things are done well, he says, maintain them--don't upset the customer that's already happy, and don't change what is successful.

However, he stresses the need to find ways to deliver additional services to current members as well as to sectors that are not served as fully as they could be. For one, he believes FEI can deliver more services to financial executives of private companies, since this segment now makes up about 50 percent of FEI's membership.

He relates that Aigner was known for its "comfortable" shoes--translation: they made their shoes a little wider to fit American women's larger feet. As boots became popular, another manufacturer developed stretch-boots to fit customers' legs--and they got the customers! Thus, he's a finance guy who truly understands the fit between products, marketing and customers. And his customer focus doesn't only apply to the consumer-products world.

Take internal audit. Internal audit, he says, is simple: "Everybody is a customer, and you have to figure out how you are serving them."

In FEI's case, he says, you don't just say, "I want more customers," who, in this instance are members. You need to determine what they are looking for, then figure out how to deliver it. "It isn't a problem of inventing the stretch boot here. We invent stuff every day," he says referring to the volumes of intellectual property (IP) being developed throughout FEI, which he describes as "amazing." So, it's simply just a matter of packaging, delivering and connecting to the right customers--whether the product is shoes, IP or internal audit.

Indeed, it was his interest in internal audit that motivated him to become an author. While corporate vice president at Phelps Dodge, he developed a procedures guide on how to run an internal audit department. When he left to become a partner with BDO Seidman, he took the methodology with him and kept adding to it. In 1993, Managing the Audit Function was published by John Wiley & Sons, followed up with the second and third editions in 1998 and 2003, respectively. (He noted a copy of his book on FEI's bookshelf!)

Earlier, in 1991, he co-authored Auditing in an EDP Environment, published by CVE (now SmartPros).

Cangemi says he truly enjoys writing and speaking--skills he's been developing for over 20 years. Indeed, he's always considered writing his hobby. It's probably his favorite leisure time activity (besides enjoying his family, his Long Beach Island, N.J., beach home and boat and fishing).

The Cangemis are a close-knit family who work and play together. He's been married for 33 years to Maria, an artist, whose work has appeared in books and magazines, and who now works with special-education students. They have two sons, Michael, 29, a graduate of the University of Rhode Island, who is a producer for MTV, and Marc, 23, a Villanova University graduate, who has just begun a career in audit with Ernst & Young in New York. The family resides in Edison, N.J., where they've lived for 27 years. He says his sons are his "best friends," and family time to all is viewed as a "priority."

Always industrious, Cangemi grew up the younger of two children (his sister is older), in Brooklyn, N.Y., in a family of modest means. By the age of 13, he was working in a supermarket (in a trusted position: "They liked me; I worked hard and never stole anything!"), and sold boxed greeting cards and gifts door-to-door.

High school represented a pivotal point in determining his future. He says he began high school as a "typical confused adolescent," until his junior year, when a course in economics--in which, among other things, he tracked the stock market--provided his wakeup call. "I knew then I was going into business."

By 16-1/2 he was working in the cashier's department at Merrill Lynch on Wall Street, where he also worked full-time upon graduation and then moved to Blair & Company Inc. He then applied to Pace University, and went on to graduate and earn his CPA, later adding the designation of Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA).

He describes his career as having two parallel tracks--one side of it to learn and one side to earn money. This "learning side" includes his volunteer activities in professional associations and speaking and writing.

His writing, he says, forces him to "think about the issues I read and write about." He started Cangemi Company LLC as a media and consulting firm while simultaneously pursuing his audit and IT career. Through this company, he has presented seminars and written books and articles.

From his extensive volunteer service, he's earned several awards. Notably, in 2003, he was presented with the Alumni Achievement Award by his alma mater, Pace University's Lubin School of Business. He has served on the university's Accounting Advisory Board and as a Trustee of the IIA Research Foundation and on the IIA Research Advisory Board.

Also, through his experience with ISACA, he's become acquainted with many professional peers who have become life-long friends. One such colleague is John W. Lainhart, a partner who leads IBM Global Business Services's Public Sector IT Governance and Security practice. Lainhart, believes "Michael and FEI are a perfect match for each other. He and I have worked together since the early 1980s with ISACA. He's been a corporate leader all of his life. I could think of no one more qualified to lead FEI than Michael."

Another professional colleague and friend, Marios Damianides, a partner in Ernst & Young's Security and Technology Risk Services practice, says: "Mike is a great leader, innovative thinker, a great communicator and a trusted friend." Also, he says, Cangemi "can always be counted on to find the eloquent solution or get us through a tough discussion in a tense meeting. Not afraid to speak his mind, Mike uses humor to cut through tough situations."

Cangemi got involved in technology through auditing, and generally views technology as "a great enabler that's been let loose." For a long time, he says, it was accounting-related. "We would automate bookkeeping and checkwriting." Now, however, it's a free-for-all, and "everything is changing because of technology."

He wants to capitalize on that change and take it even further at FEI. "That's one of the things I think we're great at, at FEI," he says, particularly citing the website content and the popular weekly FEI Express e-newsletter. "But no organization I ever work for is going to take its eye off the tech ball. I'm very interested in watching that."

One common thread through Cangemi's life and career is his approach to people and the value they bring to organizations. "It's all about the people--the most important element of the business."

Basically, he says his business philosophy can be summed up in three perspectives that apply to any business (read: and/or professional association): 1) everything revolves around the customer (need to connect branding/customer); 2) need to build the business--make it bigger so that it can offer more; and 3) need to provide career success for those working in the business.

As his two most recent predecessors did, Cangemi plans to be active as the face of FEI, speaking before regulators, to the press and more. "At the same time," he says, "I will be out there talking to my customers and learning what is on their minds and how we can help corporate America and corporations do their jobs better." After all, he explains, "FEI says we represent the CFO and financial executives. In reality, through the CFO, we represent their company's interests."