San Jose, Calif., November 3, 2011 – Technology CEOs are Washington’s traditional sounding board for policy initiatives but historically finance executives have not received the same level of attention. The Silicon Valley chapter of Financial Executives International (FEI) is getting ready to raise its Washington profile with its first national policy conference – November 17th – featuring Eliot Spitzer, former New York Governor; Chris Dodd, former U.S. Senator and chairman, Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA); and Tom Campbell, former five-term U.S. Congressman and Dean of Chapman University Law School.

“Silicon Valley CEOs have had Washington’s ear for some time. In this dynamic economic climate, with increased regulatory pressure on Silicon Valley companies, we thought the timing was right to bring together experienced Washington veterans with area CFOs, for a vigorous exchange of ideas on policy initiatives affecting financial management,” said George A. de Urioste, President, FEI Silicon Valley Chapter.

“FEI is encouraging CFOs to attend our conference in Santa Clara so we can bring a stronger, collective voice to Washington policy makers. This is the first step in creating an organized approach to upcoming policy initiatives as well as landmark changes such as the Dodd-Frank Act,” said de Urioste.

Titled “Economic Worlds Colliding? Washington, D.C. vs. Enterprise Growth USA,” FEI’s conference is strictly for and about financial executives. The dinner session will focus on the Dodd-Frank Act and its major impact: a wide-ranging open discussion of whether risk-reform and new corporate governance requirements are helping or hurting economic recovery. Afternoon sessions will also feature subject experts on the panels listed below.

The Dodd-Frank Act (Dinner Panel Session)

It’s been a year since the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Is the reform helping or hurting our economic recovery? Join a provocative discussion as Senator Christopher Dodd and Congressman Tom Campbell examine the merits of each side, moderated by Governor Eliot Spitzer.

• Energy for Growth
  Energy policy and new technologies available: For your company, what new opportunities will impact your bottom line?
  
  
• Cyber-Security
  Professionally organized cyber-criminals now want your draft earning release for preemptive trading. How are they trying to penetrate your Finance department? What you need to know.
  
  
• M&A Valuation Turbulence
  Stock price volatility is like a bouncing ball; if trailing averages lose significance, what’s the new art form of valuation? It used to be cash instead of stock – don’t laugh when you hear the kicker of “warrants derived by the price of gold.”
  
  
• Economic Outlook 2012
  The “herd mentality of fear,” versus economic reality, versus the wild-card of the geopolitical theatre. If history doesn’t repeat itself, does it really rhyme, as Mark Twain tells us? Un-cloud your crystal ball by seeing patterns not previously illuminated.

Silicon Valley FEI Survey

As part of the conference, FEI will be sharing results of its Silicon Valley Chapter survey in which members were asked their opinions on Dodd-Frank, the federal budget and other economic concerns. Two issues that yielded the strongest majority of concern were the impact of European instability on the US economy -- which 91% feel is somewhat or very significant -- and advice on closing the federal budget gap, about which 86% favor deriving some or all of savings from cuts in spending rather than increasing revenues. The third strongest finding is a resounding 79% who are not confident in the federal “Super Committee’s” chances of cutting one trillion dollars from the 2012 national budget. The fears will be justified or refuted barely a week after the conference, as the Super Committee is scheduled to report on November 23.

On the Dodd-Frank Act, 59% of the respondents feel that it would increase the cost of doing business, while 39% feel it will have little impact. In terms of the effect of the legislation on investors, 42% believe the legislation will be either not beneficial or disastrous.

Other survey highlights:

• Senior financial executives are most concerned with: the ability of federal politicians to achieve bi-partisan agreement on economic solutions; balancing the Federal budget and tax reform. These score higher than deficit reduction, Social Security, Medicare reform and healthcare reform.
• Regarding possible outcomes of imposing higher capital requirements on banks, 81% fear negative consequences such as tighter lending requirements by banks. Only 3% feel there would be no impact.
• 72% are concerned that state of the economy will have a negative effect on mergers and acquisition activity.
• A large majority, 75%, believe that Chinese exports are a threat to the US manufacturing sector.

“Silicon Valley CFOs are faced with implementing policy legislation such as Dodd-Frank and undoubtedly 2012 will be a maelstrom of more compliance pressure as the election year stirs up yet more economic debate. For all these reasons, CFOs need to take a larger role in the fiscal impact of Washington policymaking. November 17th is our first, very critical step,” said de Urioste.

Registration for the conference at the Hyatt Regency, Santa Clara, is $125 until November 11th; $150 thereafter. Register at: https://www.123signup.com/register?id=ccdfs or for more information visit http://feisv.org/

About FEI-SV

FEI Silicon Valley is the professional association of senior corporate financial executives from high-profile public companies and venture-funded startups in the greater Silicon Valley. With more than 500 members, the association’s mission is to represent the interests and contribute the insights of its members to address economic issues affecting business and life in Silicon Valley. FEI-SV is the third largest chapter of the national organization, Financial Executives International, which has 15,000 members and 85 chapters in the USA and Canada.