In a question-and-answer interview with The Daily Record, a newspaper in Morristown, NJ, Martin boasts that the diet-pill litigation has made the drugmaker tougher than Merck and not at all arrogant. Moreover, Wyeth will soon be in a better position to make an acquisition. There was no chatter about mergers, however.

Here’s an excerpt:

Q: What accomplishment are you proudest of during your seven years with Wyeth?

Martin: I’m proud of how the company as a whole, and the financial department, managed through the period of litigation. I don’t take personal credit. It’s something the company did. But the financial group contributed to our getting through.

The CFO can’t be a star. The CEO can. The CFO is a helper. He or she has a lot of influence on everything that goes on around him, with advice and discussions. But he’s just a cog in the machinery. The best CFOs stay out of the limelight.

Read the rest here.