"It's been quite a ride here over the last two-and-a-half years," says Liz Claiborne CFO and executive vice president Andrew Warren. Certainly exiting General Electric to join the troubled women's clothing company in 2007, just before the recession hit, could be seen as a case of bad timing. But Warren, who says he left GE after 17 years to be a "bigger fish in a smaller pond," says the move has been a rewarding challenge.

"I feel great about our progress to date," he says. "We have dramatically improved the company's liquidity position and balance sheet while significantly reducing our cost structures and changing the DNA of the finance organization."