Sunshine brought Van Bui, the treasurer at Genentech, to SouthSan Francisco from the Windy City, but the challenging treasury workkeeps this former actuary motivated. Bui, 37, joined biotechcompany Genentech in 2000 in computer systems support. A chancemeeting with the company's then-treasurer, Thomas Thomas, who wasimpressed with her actuarial background, shifted her careerpath.

“Treasury was so exciting,” she says. “It brought in thefinancial aspects of an actuary, but it's a different spin onfinance. I was really intrigued by it. The learning curve is almostaddictive for me, and it was huge learning curve.”

Bui's first role in Genentech's treasury was as a portfoliomanager for a $10 billion fixed-income short duration portfolio.When Roche Holding bought Genentech for $46.8 billion two yearsago, Bui led the treasury integration, including cash pooling,foreign exchange and investments.