Finance & Administration Roundtable, founded in 1983, links executives for education, idea-sharing; vendors' role limited

Stangl

Grubb

Like many association chief financial officers, Joe Stangl has a lot more than a balance sheet on his plate.

The VP and CFO of the $5 million-revenue American Society of Consultant Pharmacists handles HR, risk management and insurance, office services, administration and facilities management (The group owns its four-story building in Alexandria, Va., and has a half-dozen tenants).

"It's a lot to keep current on," Stangl said.

One way he keeps up with management trends is through membership in the 32-year-old Finance & Administration Roundtable, a Washington, D.C., 501(c)(3) with 275 members, mostly association CFOs, COOs, human resources directors and IT executives. (Some CEOs also are members.) They hail from every level of group size, from under $5 million in revenue on up.

Stangl joined a year ago, and now sits on the board.

"The friendliness and the willingness of everyone to share information was a bit of a surprise," he said. "And the organization focuses very heavily on education" at its 10 lunch meetings every year, he said.

"I come away with information that I didn't know before, or with questions I need to follow up on. I need to make sure I'm not missing anything that I need to know and this group helps," Stangl said.

Fellow FAR board member Bill Grubb, senior vice president of finance and administration at the $14 million-revenue International Franchise Association, also has a wide range of responsibilities. "I'm the chief cook and bottle-washer," he said.

"There are a lot of CFOs who would benefit from (FAR)," Grubb said.

In addition to the luncheons—which sometimes feature paid speakers—members hold informal breakfasts in their offices about once a month, and the group maintains an active listerv, he said.

"Being able to ask 200 people about an issue—maybe eight respond, but it's better than sending out 200 emails—is almost worth the cost of membership," Grubb said.

Base annual cost of membership is $125, and each luncheon program costs another $45, said FAR Executive Director Cris Collie, chair of association management company The Collie Gorg Group.

Most members buy a bundled package that includes the meals at about half-price.

Vendors can join as resource members, at much higher cost. FAR's policy is to ensure that association executives outnumber vendors at the luncheons by roughly two-to-one. (Vendors make up just a third of the members).

That's important for Grubb and Stangl.

"Vendors who are there are asked not to do sales pitches, and they don't," Stangl said. "That helps the culture quite a bit. They're there to talk to if you have a question. It's more to give advice than to sell something."

There is a waiting list for vendors who want to join (but not for nonprofit executives), Collie said, mainly because FAR has outgrown its traditional meeting place on the top floor of the SunTrust Building on New York Avenue.

The group meets every third Wednesday of the month except for July and August.