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SITTING IN a near-empty office in the World Trade Center, surrounded by packing cartons, Rosemary McFadden recalls a recent business trip to Moscow: In the midst of discussions, a Soviet official excused himself from the gathering. To her delight, he went to check his computer screen for the latest oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
McFadden, president of the exchange until a sudden ouster 11 days ago, recalls the incident with pride. She says the same thing happened wherever she traveled on exchange business -- from Singapore to San Antonio -- proving, she says, that under her stewardship the exchange achieved global stature.
In an interview a few days after her resignation, with her desk and shelves stripped bare of the mementos gathered in her travels, McFadden, 40, said she viewed "the international visibility" achieved by the exchange as a highlight of her tenure one of the highest-ranking women in the U.S. futures industry.
Ironically, it was the international travel, the public speaking engagements and social networking that not only helped establish McFadden's popularity and formidable reputation during her five years at the helm of the third-largest U.S. futures exchange, but also helped bring about her sudden downfall.
These activities, some board members, including chairman Z. Lou Guttman, 39, would say, meant McFadden spent too much time away from the office, leaving day-to-day affairs of the 749-member organization to suffer. "The board felt one person could not be in two places at one time," Guttman said...