Very few finance operations would have been able to jumpconstructively into nitty-gritty operations decisions like whichmining equipment should be bought now and which purchases should bepostponed, but unlike traditional treasury and finance operations,Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold's is metallic.

Finance leaders are more than competent in traditional skillslike accounting, budgeting and forecasting, capital raising andcash management, but where they really stand out is how they tailorfinancial management to metal extraction and production. Manyleading-edge finance operations encourage finance pros to getinvolved with the business units. At Freeport, the line betweenfinance and production can be hard to find.

One sign of the heavy metal beat is the way internal experienceis rewarded. For example, Kathleen Quirk, 47, took her B.S. inaccounting from Louisiana State University to Mobil Oil for a briefstint, starting in 1985. Quirk joined Freeport in 1989 and workedthrough the treasury and finance ranks all the way to executivevice president, CFO and treasurer. Her top treasury lieutenant, BobBoyce, Freeport's assistant treasurer, has worked at the companyfor 25 years. Roger Stack, the director of finance, started as astudent intern in the finance group in 1991 and has been atFreeport ever since, including a stint at the company's mine inIndonesia. CEO Richard Adkerson has been with Freeport since 1989,after earning his spurs at Arthur Andersen and the Securities andExchange Commission.