I am pleased that I was able to attend this wonderful conference given by BoA Merrill for their clients. I enjoyed having the opportunity to be the first speaker at the conference, and was honored that many of the following speakers referred to some of my remarks throughout the day and a half.

You can read about what I talked to the audience about in the press release issued post-conference by BoA Merrill, as well as a summary of the conference.

I wanted to share with you is what I learned attending this conference.

Capitalism – Compassionate capitalism is alive and well. Listening to Peter Markell, CFO at Partners Healthcare Systems discussing how his organization is making money helping people was truly inspiring. My personal beliefs include the idea that making money is good, and doing good makes money. It was nice to hear this confirmed by Peter.

Talent – Talent management, including within finance, as well as at the executive level, is a continuous challenge. Winning companies have the talent challenge figured out.

Personal Brand – Finance executives care about their personal brand. Throughout the conference, people came up to me to discuss their LinkedIn Profile and what they could do to improve their brand. This conference reconfirmed to me that too many finance executives are not sure what to do about their personal brand and therefore ignore it until it is too late.

Digital currency – I finally had an opportunity to understand bitcoin, how it works, the risks as well as the opportunity to change and improve treasury, banking and business payment paradigms.

Latin America – I listened to and spoke with a number of people within the bank and companies about the opportunities and challenges of doing business in Latin America. I walked away with a better appreciation for some of the operating, talent, cash management and cross cultural management issues that companies working in this exciting area face.

I would like to thank the team at Bank of America Merrill Lynch for the opportunity to share some of my knowledge with the attendees, learn new and important information, reconfirm some of my core beliefs, and most importantly, meet wonderful people who enjoy making a difference.

Which one of these points resonate with you?