FEI started its mentoring program in 2003, with six prominent Chief Financial Officers mentoring aspiring young financial executives from outside their own companies.We have grown the program and in 2010/11 we have 61 companies involved, with 46 mentors/mentorees based in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane (click here for the list of sponsors and mentors in 2010/11).
Mentors
The mentors are CFOs of major companies, the majority of which are listed entities, but also include the Australian operations of overseas companies, private companies and government-owned companies. In some case the mentors are former CFOs who have taken on another role in their company or another one.
Mentorees and sponsorship
The mentorees have to be nominated by a FEI corporate sponsor.Key points regarding the FEI mentorees and sponsorship are:
The sponsorship payments includes the payment on behalf of one mentoree to be on the program for one year.Most but not all sponsors have one mentoree.Sometimes, sponsor companies nominate two mentorees in one year (involving an extra fee).
The mentorees are rising young financial executives, typically in their 30s although sometimes older, and many of them are potential CFOs of the future.Occasionally, mentorees are nominated for a second time and may be allocated a different mentor.
Mentorees are usually employees of the corporate sponsor, although a few sponsors nominate an executive from a client or associate.
The mentorees can be in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, subject to the availability of mentors if the mentoree is not in the sponsor’s home city.In 2010/11 FEI was able to accommodate all sponsors who nominated a mentoree in another city.
The sponsorship payment includes payment on behalf of the members of their attendance as mentor and mentoree at mentor and mentoree functions, including the April FEI lunches at which the year’s mentoring program is launched.
FEI is an association of individual members.Corporate sponsorship includes payment on behalf of up to six members for their individual membership fees. Normally, an individual membership is $150 plus GST ($75.00 plus GST in Queensland).Membership enables executives to be invited to attend the regular FEI lunches at the member rate and provides other benefits as detailed on our website.
FEI’s corporate sponsorship in 2010/11 costs $4,750 per annum plus GST.
Participation in the mentoring program
Participation is flexible and can be:
as a CFO who is a mentor and whose company is a FEI sponsor, enabling it to nominate a mentoree under the program.Increasingly, the trend has been towards this form of participation and in 2007/08 about three quarters of our mentors were the CFOs of companies that are also sponsors; or
as a CFO who is a mentor only and whose company does not nominate a mentoree; or
as a company sponsor that nominates a mentoree, but the CFO is not a mentor.
Structure and duration of the FEI mentoring program
The FEI program starts each April and lasts for a year.The mentor and mentoree typically meet five or six times for about an hour and a half each time, so it is a significant but not major time commitment.Some CFOs 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.
Feedback
The FEI program does not impose a rigid format.Instead, to help the mentorees and mentors structure their own programs FEI obtains detailed feedback from mentors and mentorees each year.This feedback is reflected in the Notes for mentors and mentorees, which are updated annually and issued at the start of the program.These notes cover a variety of matters, including the subjects discussed by previous mentors/mentorees which typically include: the role of the CFO; the relationships of the CFO (eg with the board, other executives, others outside the company); and career development to become a CFO.
For the past two years FEI has organised two lunches a year (in May and October) for mentors, providing them with opportunities for input into the program and for networking amongst themselves.
FEI has also organised annual cocktail functions for the mentorees with similar objectives.
Annual timetable
The timetable for putting in place the annual program which starts in April and finishes the following March is:
In the previous December FEI contacts all existing sponsors and mentors to obtain commitments for the following year.
In February, two months before the program starts, FEI emails the existing sponsors and new sponsors requesting the names and résumés of their new mentorees and by mid-March sponsors email FEI these details.
At the end of March FEI makes preliminary allocations of mentorees to mentors and during April confirms the final allocations, having received the approval of individual mentors to their proposed mentoree.It also provides the updated Notes for Mentors and Mentorees to all mentors and mentorees.
In April FEI launches the mentoring programs at FEI lunches in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, with a prominent guest of honour as speaker at each lunch.As many as possible of the mentorees and mentors attend, as well as other FEI members, and there is a briefing for the mentorees just before the lunch.
It helps greatly to have 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-Marchas putting the program together is not straightforward.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.
To discuss becoming a CFO mentor and/or your company becoming a FEI sponsor in order to nominate a mentoree, contact FEI’s Secretary, Robin Cumming, on 0418 294 958 (m) or (02) 9420 1305 (b) or at racumming@fei.org.au.
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