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Everyone’s a CFO

Courtesy Northeast Utilities

Northeast Utilities employees tour the floor of the NYSE as part of their class trip for the Financial Excellence program.

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The idea for a new employee-training program at Northeast Utilities System (NU) developed after David McHale, NU’s executive vice president and CFO, finished reading Mavericks at Work by William C. Taylor and Polly LaBarre, which champions the notion of investing in employees to succeed in business. The CFO of the Connecticut-based public utility holding company says that what emerged was the Finance Academy, a two-and-a-half-year program taught jointly by the University of Connecticut School of Business and subject experts from Northeast Utilities. The first graduates completed their studies this year.

The program, McHale explains, offers in-depth training and opportunities for leadership development. Courses range from the electric and gas markets to accounting, finance and case studies on issues important to NU — all of which get students to “think like a CFO” as a way to better understand how their decisions affect NU’s overall business.

Steven Casey, manager of financial development at NU and director of the Finance Academy, says that graduates will be better equipped to make decisions in a quickly evolving industry. “The energy business is now a mix of competitive and regulated businesses with more demanding customers,” he says. “There is a need for employees to understand how our company operates and why certain business decisions are made.”