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.

“Most of the people here have been with Freeport-McMoRan orPhelps Dodge [which Freeport acquired in 2007] most of theircareers,” Quirk observes. “We're a quite cohesive group, and weunderstand the business well. We try to develop from within. Ourstrength is in how well we understand our business.”

Adkerson, Boyce and Stack characterize Quirk's management styleas “accessible,” “upbeat,” “easygoing,” and “open to suggestions.”Quirk's also “very decisive when she needs to be,” Boyce says.“She's able to process a great deal of data without getting boggeddown in the details. She's good at taking in a complex situationand then moving to a clear decision and prioritizing what needs tobe done. She trusts her staff and delegates easily, but she alsoworks herself hard.”

“She doesn't intimidate people, but she takes on tasks withenthusiasm and is willing to do whatever it takes to get results,”says Adkerson.

Quirk dislikes a formal reporting hierarchy. “I pick up thephone and call people who don't report to me all the time. Andother executives do the same with people who report to me,” shesays. “You call whomever you need to talk to to get a job done.It's how we work. It allows us to move more quickly and decisivelythan if we were bureaucratic. We make sure we do our analysisright, but we try to move on to decisions and not overanalyzethings.”

She encourages her people to get involved with operationsgroups. “It's good for them to get that exposure, and it's good forus when operations managers get to know us and gain confidence thatwe can help them. We want to be involved in the decision process,not just the numbers checkers.”

The treasury team currently uses a variety of ERP systems fortreasury management, although an enterprise implementation of SAPis in progress, and relies on in-house and bank-providedinformation systems. Despite the company's global footprint,treasury has a streamlined and consolidated cash managementstructure, which reduces its reliance on complex systems.

The CFO's role at Freeport hasn't changed much in the past fiveyears, but over the long term, the finance chief has taken on moreresponsibility for business development.

“It's more strategic now. Twenty years ago, it was more aboutaccounting and finance,” Quirk says. “You still have to be good atthose things, but there's more to the job now.”

Financial stress has meant more work and longer hours for mostCFOs, but that doesn't bother Quirk, who thrives on work and isn'tespecially tempted by play. “Work has always been my top priority,”she says. “I just enjoy it.”