Non Profit CFO AwardTate and TryonWest, Lane and Schlager

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:
Taresa Schmidt, Director of Marketing
West, Lane & Schlager
202-835-7288

Leading DC CFOs honored at 2007 Nonprofit CFO of the Year Awards Luncheon

(WASHINGTON, DC) - Five area executives were honored at the 2007 Nonprofit CFO of the Year Awards Luncheon, hosted by Tate & Tryon and West, Lane & Schlager at the Mayflower Hotel on November 1st.

The event, which is the second annual luncheon, honors financial executives in the Washington, D.C. area for their contributions in exceptional leadership, operational excellence, and a commitment to promoting improved accountability and financial reporting practices.

The Rising Star Award was presented to Abigail Gorman, MBA, Chief Operating Officer of the American Dental Education Association (ADEA). Gorman was nominated by Richard Valachovic, D.M.D., M.P.H., the Executive Director of ADEA.

“Since Abigail came to ADEA five years ago, our organization has been transformed,” said Valachovic. “Her ability to implement the highest standards of financial stewardship and workflow efficiencies, combined with her leadership and visionary qualities, have enabled us to grow from a $7 million dollar organization with a deficit to a $15 million dollar organization running consistent surpluses. Our membership has grown from 2,500 individual members to almost 16,000 with a 90% renewal rate.”

Gorman implemented new financial stewardship and workflow efficiencies early in her tenure. “These included an array of critical financial, organizational and operational building blocks,” said Valachovic. “The new reserve policy five years later met its financial target a year early.”

“Her focus on controlling costs has allowed investment in key staff and technology. Because of these changes and many others, ADEA has been able to maintain high employee morale, a culture of performance, nimbleness, accountability, and most importantly the ability to focus on our members needs,” continued Valachovic.

The Innovator of the Year Award was presented to Usha Chaudhary, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the United Way of America (UWA). Chaudhary was nominated by Richard Ramlall, the Senior Vice President of Strategic and External Affairs at RCN Corporation. Ramlall worked with Chaudhary on a venture that resulted in the UWA receiving a first-of-its-kind $3 million donation of airtime from RCN. “The project gave her an opportunity to step out of the traditional box of a CFO,” said Ramlall.

“What sets Usha among the elite is the job that she has done in enacting safeguards to ensure integrity and transparency and setting a new innovative financial vision for the organization. She established new standards of excellence, which included benchmarks and best practices for the 1,300 UW member organizations in areas of compliance, controls, and risk management.”

To support these standards, Chaudhary developed a financial management infrastructure that focuses on accuracy and timeliness of financial reporting, internal controls and compliance with laws and regulations, and re-engineering of financial systems and processes.

“Usha’s numerous strategic efforts the past two years have had a far-reaching positive impact for the United Way of America,” said Ramlall.

The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Kristen Conte, Vice President for Finance and Administration of the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation. Conte was nominated by Julie Rogers, President of the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation.

“Over the last nine years as the Meyer Foundation’s Vice President for Finance and Administration Kristen Conte has created impeccable financial management as we have grown dramatically,” said Rogers. “She has created excellent systems and fostered an environment throughout the organization of good management practices and strong internal controls.”

Conte remodeled the organization’s financial practices by creating strong procedures, hiring a new outside accounting firm, recruiting and training a staff CPA, and creating an environment throughout the organization that fosters strong financial management and internal controls.

“In addition to fulfilling her duties at the Foundation,” said Rogers, “Kristen is also very involved in her community and is a leader in the nonprofit and philanthropic fields. She gives unstintingly of her technical assistance to foundation colleagues and to grantees who apply for cash flow loans. Kristen is a truly outstanding CFO and a dream to work with.”

Conte is on the board of the Foundation Financial Officers Group, where she is chairing the 2008 Conference Committee. She served as the chair of the ASAE Finance and Business Operations Council, and currently serves as Program Committee Chair of the Finance and Administration Roundtable.

Honorable mentions went to Alice Albright, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial & Investment Officer of the GAVI Alliance and Vickie Barrow-Klein, Vice President of Finance and Information Management of Save the Children Federation, Inc. Although their accomplishments did not fit into a specific awards category, judges felt that their actions were exemplary and experience worthy of recognition.

Nominations were reviewed and evaluated by an independent judging panel comprised of:

  • Andrew S. Lang, CPA, President of Lang CPA Consulting, LLC
  • Donald T. Williamson, Director, Kogod School of Business Graduate Taxation Program, and Accounting Department Chair, American University’s Kogod School of Business
  • Harvey J. Berger, Retired partner, Not-for-profit Tax Services, Grant Thornton LLP
  • Malcolm S. Karl, CAE, Vice President of Eagle Bank’s Not-for-Profit banking group and former Senior Vice-President/Chief Financial Officer for The American Society of Association Executives and the Center for Association Leadership.
  • Kathy McKinless, CPA, consultant for the Archdiocese of Washington
  • Richard Newman, Esp. Partner, Arent Fox
  • Kim Natovitz, CLU President of The Natovitz, Group,

Inc. The event featured keynote speaker Barry Melancon, CPA, the President and CEO of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the national professional organization of CPAs with 330,000 members. Under Melancon, the Institute has spearheaded a number of initiatives designed to benefit not only the profession, but also investors, business owners, lenders and the general public.

Sponsors of the event include Arent Fox, The Potomac Group of Citi Institutional Consulting, Eagle Bank, Payroll Network, Microsoft Mid Atlantic Small and Mid-Market Solutions & Partners and Syscom Services.

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