CFOs on the 2012 Most Influential List

The ongoing debate about financial regulatory reform and the looming European debt crisis are two dominant themes in Treasury & Risk's 100 Most Influential People in Finance list this year. The 2012 list includes lots of movers and shakers in Washington, reflecting the efforts there surrounding derivatives and money-market fund regulations, the Volcker Rule, convergence with international accounting standards, corporate tax reform and the federal deficit. There are also a number of global leaders on this year's list as companies watch to see whether the eurozone's problems will derail the global economic recovery. The heart of the list, though, remains the corporate finance executives—CFOs, treasurers, risk officers and others—who continue to come up with better ways to get the job done and innovative approaches to help their companies flourish. For Most Influential CFOs slideshow

Coming up: Finance Pros (6/19/2012), Risk Managers and Bankers (6/20/2012), Complete list (6/21/2012).

Werner Brandt
CFO & Member of Executive Board
SAP
Brandt has led the technology company's finance function through three major acquisitions—BusinessObjects, Sybase and SuccessFactors—in the last four years. Now he faces integrating a fourth acquisition, of e-commerce company Ariba.

Jack Callahan
CFO & EVP
McGraw-Hill Cos.
Dean, who joined McGraw-Hill in 2010 after serving as CFO at Dean Foods, is dealing with McGraw-Hill's split into two public units by spinning off its education unit. The effort involves extensive cost cuts and the disaggregation of the work done by the company's shared services center.'

Jeffrey Campbell
CFO & EVP
McKesson
As finance chief for the massive pharmaceuticals distributor, Campbell is credited with assembling an effective team and leading it well. Prior to joining McKesson, Campbell was CFO of AMR and its subsidiary, American Airlines.

Paul Clancy
CFO & EVP
Biogen Idec
Since becoming CFO of the biotech drug company in 2007, Clancy has coped with proxy battles mounted by activist investor Carl Icahn and turnover in the CEO spot. More recently, he's overseen a resurgence in Biogen's stock.

David Graziosi
CFO, Treasurer & EVP
Allison Transmission
Graziosi joined Allison in 2007, shortly after it was purchased from General Motors, and since then has built the financial infrastructure necessary for a standalone company, improved the balance sheet by cutting debt and played a key role in the company's IPO earlier this year.

Daniel Henry
CFO & EVP
American Express
As other financial firms capsized amid the market meltdown, Henry helped American Express successfully navigate the crisis. And this year, he was recruited to join the board of Groupon to provide accounting expertise after the coupon company had to restate its 2011 financial results.

David Herzog
CFO & EVP
American International Group
Herzog is leading an epic turnaround at the insurer, the progress of which was evidenced by the Treasury's sale of another chunk of its AIG stake in May. The effort to mend the insurer involves a host of strategic decisions by the CFO.

Ronald Jadin
CFO & SVP
W.W. Grainger
As finance chief for the distributor of industrial products since 2008, Jadin worked to contain costs by doing more with less as he steered the company through the recession.

Joe Kaesar
CFO
Siemens
Kaesar gained recognition for responding to the impact of the eurozone crisis earlier than many other finance executives. He also has obtained a banking license for Siemens from the German Financial Supervisory Authority and set up a new financial operating model, One Siemens, that's focused on capital efficiency.

Seturaman Mahalingam
CFO & Executive Director
Tata Consulting Services
A 40-year employee of the Indian IT services provider and its CFO since 2003, Mahalingam has played a key role in Tata's growth into a $10 billion global company that is outpacing its Indian rivals.

Scott Morrison
CFO & SVP
Ball Corp.
Morrison and his team put together an enterprise risk mapping system run on Ball Corp.'s intranet that lets the company assess and prepare for potential risks. He also extended Ball's debt maturities for 10 years at favorable rates, strengthening the company's financial structure.

Peter Oppenheimer
CFO & SVP
Apple
Oppenheimer and Apple made a splash earlier this year by deciding to issue a dividend for the first time ever. As the tech company's finance chief since 2004, Oppenheimer has a reputation for being a strategic CFO with strong people skills.

Vasant Prabhu
CFO & Vice Chairman
Starwood Hotels and Resorts
While steering the company through the downturn, Prabhu managed to cut costs and reduce debt to position the hotel operator for the recovery. Now Starwood is expanding rapidly in markets such as Latin America, China and the Middle East.

Kimberly Ross
CFO & EVP
Avon Products
Since joining the beauty products company last fall, Ross has dealt with turnover in the CEO position and a takeover bid from Coty, while overseeing a finance department dealing with a long-running Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigation. Next up: executing a turnaround.

James Sawyer
CFO & EVP
Praxair
Sawyer, who has held the CFO position for the last 12 years, developed a strategy to better link Praxair's decision making process with its financial objectives, in part by more tightly controlling capital spending resulting in industry leading return on capital. Praxair has provided an annualized shareholder return of 16% over the past decade

Tracey Travis
CFO & SVP, Finance
Ralph Lauren
Travis has served as finance chief for the apparel company since 2005, and over the last year and a half, she has presided over an impressive performance by the company's stock.

Kathy Willard
CFO & EVP
Live Nation Entertainment
Willard has handled the financial aspects of divestitures, spin-offs and more than 200 acquisitions for the giant entertainment company, most notably its 2010 acquisition of Ticketmaster.

See the 2011 list of the 100 Most Influential People in Finance here.

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