Background

FEI started its mentoring program in 2003, with six prominent chief financial officers mentoring aspiring young financial executives from outside their own companies.  The program has grown significantly since then.  In 2010/11 nearly 60 companies are involved, with 45 mentors/mentorees in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane (click here for a list of mentors and companies involved in 2010/11).

Mentors

The mentors are the Group CFOs of major companies or, in some cases, former CFOs who are now CEOs, COOs, company directors or business unit heads.  The companies include listed entities (which are the majority), the Australian operations of overseas listed companies, private companies and government-owned companies.  Many have been FEI mentors for several years.

Mentorees

Key points regarding the FEI mentorees are.

• The mentorees have to be nominated by a FEI sponsor, who is generally the CFO or other senior executive of a major company in Australia (see corporate sponsorship section below). 

• The quality of the mentorees is critical to the success of the program and depends on the careful choice by sponsors of financial executives with potential and ambition.  Many of them are potential CFOs of the future.  The original intention was for mentorees to be rising young financial executives in their 30s, but in recent years several sponsors have nominated mentorees in their 40s.  We take into account the experience and age of both the mentor and the mentoree in allocating mentors as there is now some overlap in the ages. 

• The mentorees can be in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, subject to the availability of mentors.  In 2010/11 three sponsors nominated a mentoree in another city (in the previous year it was eight).

• A sponsor may nominate two mentorees in one year, again subject to the availability of mentors. 

• A sponsor may also re-nominate a mentoree for the following year or after a gap.  The mentoree is allocated a different mentor or continues with the same mentor, as agreed by the parties. 

• Mentorees are usually employed by sponsor’s company.  In 2010/11 two sponsors, nominated an executive from a client, with the agreement of its CFO.

Corporate sponsorship

FEI is a non-profit association of individual (not corporate) members.  The corporate sponsorship fee is a payment on behalf of the sponsor’s FEI individual members for their annual FEI fees and on behalf of the nominated mentoree for his or her participation in the FEI mentoring program.

Each year some companies continue to pay the sponsorship fee even though they do not have a mentoree in that particular year. 

In 2011/12 FEI’s corporate sponsorship fee will be $4,900 per annum plus GST (invoiced in April / May 2011), covering the costs of one mentoree and up to six membership fees (including the mentoree).  An extra mentoree will be $3,900 plus GST and memberships over six will be an additional $100 plus GST each.  FEI’s normal individual membership fee is $150 plus GST ($75 plus GST in Queensland).  FEI membership enables the member to be notified of and attend the regular FEI lunches at the member rate and provides other benefits as detailed on our website.

The sponsorship fee covers the organisation of the program and the attendance of mentors and mentorees at the April / May lunch that launches the program in their city and at other FEI functions organised specifically for the mentors and mentorees. 

Participation in the mentoring program

Participation is flexible.  It does not require mentors to be sponsors, although many are.  Subject to balancing the numbers of mentors / mentorees in each city, participation can be:

(a) where a CFO is a mentor and he/she nominates a mentoree under the program. His/her company then pays the corporate sponsorship fee as above.  In 2010/11 about 70% of our mentors were also sponsors; or

(b) where a CFO is a mentor who does not nominate a mentoree; or

(c) where a mentoree is nominated by an senior executive a company whose CFO is not a mentor.  His/her company then pays the corporate sponsorship fee as above. 

Time commitment for the FEI mentoring program

The FEI mentoring program starts each April and lasts for twelve months.  The mentor and mentoree typically meet about six times for about an hour and a half each time, so it is a significant but not major time commitment over the year for both the mentor and mentoree.  Some CFO mentors arrange for the mentoree to meet others in the CFO’s organisation, such as functional heads reporting to the CFO or an audit committee chairman. 

We strongly encourage the mentorees to attend the regular FEI lunches to hear interesting speakers and to network with other financial professionals who are members of FEI.

Format of program relies on feedback

The FEI program does not impose a rigid format.  Instead, to help the mentorees and mentors structure their own programs in light of their own needs and experiences, FEI obtains detailed feedback on a variety of matters relating to the program from mentors and mentorees.  This feedback is reflected in the Notes for mentors and mentorees, which is updated annually and issued to each mentor and mentoree at the start of each program.

The Notes for mentors and mentorees covers various practical matters about the program and a detailed list of the topics discussed by previous mentors/mentorees, which typically fall within one of the following categories:

(a) understanding the CFO’s role and how he/she fulfils it;

(b) technical and business issues facing the CFO;

(c) how the CFO handles his/her relationships with other people; and

(d) personal development and career planning.

Feedback on the program from both mentorees and mentors has been very positive.  Some quotes from both mentorees and mentors are on the FEI website and in FEI flyers.  A consistent theme in the feedback from both mentors and mentorees has been that the FEI program has a significant advantage over internal mentoring programs because the mentoring takes place in a “neutral” environment, where issues can be discussed openly.
 
Mentor lunches and mentoree functions

FEI organises two lunches a year for the mentors in each city, providing them with opportunities for input into the program and for networking and discussion amongst the mentors on a variety of topics.  FEI also holds at least one function during the year specifically for the mentorees in each city.
 
Annual timetable

The timetable for the program which starts in April and finishes the following March is:

• In February and March, FEI obtains from existing and new sponsors the names and résumés of their new mentorees.  FEI also obtains up to date résumés of all mentors.
• In April FEI makes preliminary allocations of mentorees to mentors for consideration by individual mentors.  During April FEI confirms the final allocations, having received the approval of each mentor to his/her proposed mentoree. 
• FEI launches the mentoring programs at its April lunches (Brisbane in early May), with a prominent guest of honour as speaker at each lunch. 
• The FEI Secretary gives the mentorees a detailed briefing on the program just before these lunches.

It helps in planning the program to have the commitments of the mentors and of the sponsors nominating the mentorees at an early stage.  It would be ideal to know firm numbers of both by mid-March, as putting the program together is not straightforward.   However, there is usually some flexibility to add or change numbers after this date, and potential mentors and sponsors may contact FEI at any time to discuss this.

Further information

To discuss becoming a CFO mentor and/or becoming a FEI sponsor nominating a mentoree, or to raise ongoing matters related to the mentoring and sponsorship programs, contact FEI’s Secretary, Robin Cumming, on 0418 294 958 (m) or (02) 9420 1305 (b) or at racumming@fei.org.au or racumming@ozemail.com.au.