Given their essential role, no other high-level executive position is more indispensable to a chief executive than the person who holds the top financial position in a business or nonprofit organization.

With that in mind, IB resurrected the annual CFO of the Year Awards in 2023, and this month, we present winners and finalists in our 2024 awards program. Nominations were open to organizations in Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Green, Iowa, Jefferson, Rock, and Sauk counties, and applicants were judged by a panel of four evaluators who have pursued careers in financial management.

Each application was evaluated on two main criteria — contributions to an organization’s growth and profitability and demonstrated leadership within the organization. Nominees did not need to hold the title of CFO, but they had to be the top financial executive at a business or nonprofit organization.

The categories were: Private Company – Medium to Large (revenue over $25 million); Private Company – Small (revenue $25 million or under); Nonprofit Organization – Large (revenue over $14 million); and Nonprofit Organization – Small to Medium (revenue $14 million or under). We also named a Lifetime Achievement winner and recognized an applicant outside of these categories but in the public realm.

The winners and finalists were honored last month at the 2024 CFO of the Year Awards celebration at the Madison Concourse Hotel and Governor’s Club. They were selected by an esteemed judging panel including:

Angela Thomas, CPA, State Controller, State of Wisconsin

Angela Thomas provides executive leadership, direction, and strategic planning in all financial management-related matters of state government. She directs the state’s enterprise accounting, internal auditing, treasury, cash management, and payroll operations, and she oversees the preparation of the state’s annual financial and fiscal reports, including Wisconsin’s annual comprehensive financial report. Thomas also serves as vice chairperson of the Dane County Regional Airport Commission and as a member of the Sun Prairie Community Development Authority.

Tammy Hofstede, President and CEO, Wisconsin Institute of CPAs

Tammy Hofstede has been with WICPA for 31 years and leads the institute’s service to 7,000 members in the areas of professional development, legislative and regulatory advocacy, and promoting accounting careers. She works closely with CPA organizations across the state, and legislators in both Madison and Washington, D.C., to shape the future of the accounting profession. The first woman to serve as CEO of WICPA, she is a past recipient of the CFO of the Year Award and serves on the Governor’s Council on Financial Literacy and Capability.

Terry D. Warfield, PwC Chair in Accounting, Senior Associate Dean, Wisconsin School of Business, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Prior to his academic career, Professor Terry Warfield, who teaches financial reporting courses and conducts research into accounting standards, worked in the banking industry. In 1995–1996, he served as the academic accounting fellow in the Office of the Chief Accountant at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He is co-author of the 18th edition of Intermediate Accounting, and he served as an academic member of the Advisory Council to the Financial Accounting Standards Board (2005–2009) and as a trustee for the Financial Accounting Foundation (2013–2019).

Ami Myrland, President and CFO, Capitol Bank, Madison, Wisconsin

Ami Myrland oversees the IT, human resources, marketing, retail, risk management, and finance areas of Capitol Bank. Prior to joining the bank, Myrland held a variety of career roles, from auditor to controller to CFO, and she had experience with a variety of projects and initiatives. She was named the 2023 Small Company CFO of the Year by In Business magazine and has received the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) 40 Under 40 award. Myrland holds a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting and finance from Edgewood College in Madison.

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT WINNER

Bob Flannery

Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, UW Health

When a global pandemic was declared in March 2020, the economy was shut down, and much of the onus for dealing with COVID-19 was placed, appropriately, on hospitals and health systems. Bob Flannery’s first thoughts were actually somewhat comforting ones about how he could lean on the great partnerships across the organization and peer organizations in other states. He felt this way even though government stimulus would not arrive for several months, non-COVID medical procedures were delayed indefinitely, and several revenue streams were negatively affected.

Suffice to say, it was not the kind of emergency anyone in health care expected to address. “The main goal was to keep our patients, our providers, and our workforce safe, and then from a finance perspective, we needed to focus on liquidity,” he states. “Would we be able to keep enough cash to pay our bills, to keep payroll going, to be working with our payer environment to make sure they recognized what we were going through, and stand up a system that allowed us to function as a major employer in Dane County and beyond, and be that community support system as much as we could?”

Flannery’s handling of that public health emergency is one reason our panel of CFO of the Year Award judges chose him to receive the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award, but it was not the only factor. UW Health has remained profitable when, according to Kaufman Hall, 40% of American hospitals continue to lose money from operations into 2024. UW Health faces the same layers of complexity with reimbursement, upward wage pressure, and inflation that struggling health systems do, but it remains on the positive side of the ledger.

Under Flannery’s direction, an organization with 24,000 employees and $5 billion in annual revenue has built regular financial acumen into a training program for its leadership, including the impact of expensive and preventable hospital errors on government reimbursement. It’s the kind of financial insight that must filter down to care-giving employees, and it evolves by necessity.

“Every month, every year, there are new things that come out,” Flannery explains. “We’re trying to help people understand how health care services are reimbursed. I think sometimes people assume that what we charge is what we get paid, but in the health care industry, that’s really not the situation.”

Flannery protects the organization’s finances in many ways. He has been instrumental in the complex inter-organizational agreements central to UW Health’s strategy of remaining a strong provider system. These include the integration of Swedish American Health System into the UW Health family, the integration of UW Health Medical Foundation with the UW Hospital and Clinics Authority, and the configuration of financial aspects of the UW Health and UnityPoint Health-Meriter joint operating agreement.

“One of the terms used here is strategic bureaucracy, and we’re trying to make sure that we stay on the right side of the operating margin that we need to be on,” Flannery explains. “We have investments that we need to make in our workforce, in our facilities, and in our programs, and we know that in order to do that, we need to maintain profitability.”

Sharing credit

Given that a panel of judges with financial backgrounds are chosen to select the winner, the Lifetime Achievement honor means a great deal to Flannery. “It’s a huge honor to be selected by your peers and be recognized for work that I’ve been a part of,” Flannery says.

“It’s important to indicate that all of these things that may have led to my nomination and eventual selection aren’t things that can be done by a single person. It really is a team of people that has allowed me to receive this award by so many partnerships with others inside and outside of UW Health.”

PRIVATE COMPANY – MEDIUM TO LARGE (REVENUE OVER $25 MILLION)

WINNER

Mike Griffin

Chief Financial Officer, JP Cullen

JP Cullen is a construction management firm founded in 1892, and in five generations of family ownership, it has grown to 750 employees while managing projects over $300 million in size. Much of its recent growth is attributable to Mike Griffin and his multifaceted role as the steward of finance and accounting, which includes oversight of risk management, information technology, and human resources.

Under his guidance, JP Cullen has experienced a 23% increase in its employee base and 75% revenue growth since 2017, enabling the company to expand its operations, invest in innovation, and seize new opportunities. In the past two fiscal years, the company has invested more than $9 million in new, state-of-the-art equipment to enhance the capabilities of its workforce.

Griffin also played a key role in assessing the financial feasibility of acquiring a metal fabricator, which has improved JP Cullen’s ability to meet customer expectations with the timely delivery of miscellaneous metals during supply chain disruptions.

FINALISTS

Kelly Dolphin

Chief Financial Officer, Gordon Flesch Company

Since Kelly Dolphin’s appointment to CFO, the Gordon Flesch Company has been on a buying binge. Dolphin has been instrumental in growing the company with her role in eight acquisitions and by expanding the departments that she oversees — accounts payable, accounting, business process optimization, strategic pricing, purchasing, and contracts.

Gordon Flesch Co., a family-owned business, is one of the largest independent providers of office technology solutions in the nation. With $220 million in annual revenue, GFC employs more than 650 people throughout 30 offices in the Midwest.

Dolphin’s efforts also have been a key part of increasing company sales by over 66% percent. In working closely with Elevity, the company’s managed IT division, she led efforts to develop and implement new operational strategies designed to support continued growth. She also helped develop strategies to develop new processes and maximize the usage of GFC’s call center, reducing call response times.

CHRISTOPHER HARVEY

Business Director, Gebhardt Development & Colonial Property Management

Christopher Harvey’s attention to detail and outside-the-box thinking have been invaluable to Gebhardt Development and Colonial Property Management, the real estate development and property management company best known for the way its mixed-use properties have transformed East Washington Avenue.

More recently, he’s been instrumental in project management for the Colorado Commons apartment building in Sun Prairie, especially when it came to the expertise needed to facilitate the project and meet municipal expectations. Those expectations include a striking architectural profile in addition to contemporary design and a host of amenities — not unlike Gebhardt properties like The Galaxie, The Constellation, and the Gebhardt building itself.

That’s a lot to live up to, but Harvey’s expertise in annual budgeting, new development pro formas, analyzing costs and income opportunities, and general oversight of new construction projects have earned the company’s trust and landed him a spot on Gebhardt’s senior management team.

Mark Henrickson

Chief Financial Officer, Madison Investments

Since assuming the role of CFO in 2018, Mark Henrickson has been instrumental in securing the financial strength and flexibility of Madison Investments, an independent investment management firm that has approximately $25 billion in assets under management. This helps clients and the firm grow in a durable fashion. Over the last five years, the firm’s assets under management have grown from $16.4 billion to $24.9 billion and revenues have increased 30%.

In 2021, Henrickson worked with the firm’s executive team to successfully navigate the acquisition of Reinhart Fixed Income ($4.6 billion in assets under management). In addition he spearheaded several strategic initiatives to enhance operational efficiency and foster sustainable growth — most notably, he led the restructuring of investment portfolio manager compensation to better align with client outcomes.

Henrickson also invested in financial reporting technologies to improve real-time decision making, and he renegotiated vendor contracts to adapt to evolving market dynamics.

Craig Keleher

Chief Financial Officer, Badger Bank

Craig Keleher’s four-year tenure as CFO for Badger Bank in Fort Atkinson has coincided with the community bank’s recent growth, especially in the past year.

The bank currently manages a $52 million investment portfolio, and in the past year alone, it has grown its assets by more than 10%, from $185 million to $204 million — defying expectations in a industry rocked by well-publicized bank failures attributed to mismanagement.

Keleher, a University of Wisconsin–Whitewater graduate, is part of the bank’s senior management team. He is currently the team leader for strategic planning and also is deeply involved with the human resources department, overseeing the entire staff.

In addition to these achievements and responsibilities, he has also served on the board of directors and as treasurer for WayForward Resources, a nonprofit organization previously known as Middleton Outreach Ministry. Keleher donates his time and talents to help guide the organization in its mission to alleviate poverty with food and housing assistance.

Jason Lane

Vice President of Finance and Principal, Hausmann Group Inc.

Advanced forecasting models, comprehensive financial reporting, and instilling a culture of fiscal discipline are all ways that Jason Lane has contributed to the growth of Hausmann Group Inc., an independent insurance agency.

Lane, an ex-Marine, has been with Hausmann Group for nearly six years. In addition to improved financial performance, which enables better decision-making and strategic planning, he oversaw the sale of Hausmann Group’s analytics division in a way that maximized shareholder value. He also leads the agency’s finance committee, meticulously tracks key financial metrics to gauge the agency’s performance, and his proactive financial management upholds the agency’s commitment to sustainable returns.

Lane also implemented applied pay, a user-friendly platform that streamlines the process for clients to pay their insurance premiums. This performance has earned him a spot on Hausmann Group’s board of directors and its executive management team, where he shapes the agency’s strategic direction.

Ben Pechan

Chief Financial Officer, Findorff

In Ben Pechan’s first four years as CFO of Findorff, the construction management firm’s annual revenue grew from $680 million in 2019 to more than $1.3 billion in 2023, the first time its annual revenue exceeded the $1 billion mark.

The 86% increase doubles the percentage increase (41%) of an earlier timeline — the five years preceding Pechan’s arrival.

Findorff’s workforce grew as well, expanding from 865 employees in 2019 to 1,200 in 2024 — moving the firm into the Top 10 Largest Employers in Dane County, according to In Business magazine’s 2024 Largest 100 Employers  ranking.

According to the firm, part of its explosive growth can be attributed to the creation of new roles, including a five-member data and analytics team that is part of Pechan’s department, and to a new company-wide attitude about the use of data to drive strategic decision-making.

States Pechan: “We shifted our mindset from, ‘It’s a cost [to the company]’ to seeing it as a value add.”

Michael Redman

Sr. Vice President, CFO & COO, Gorman & Company LLC

Managing growth and day-to-day operations of a company that has several distinct divisions is challenging, and making sure that each division knows its financial goals and how they can be achieved are critical.

Gorman & Company, a provider of affordable workforce, public, and senior housing nationwide, has enjoyed significant growth within the last two years, and Michael Redman’s leadership and guidance of its financial systems has positioned the company for prolonged success.

Redman has been with Gorman for nearly 10 years, filling the CFO position for the last six. Under his leadership, the company’s liquidity goals, which were set several years ago, have been met and exceeded. Meeting its liquidity goals ahead of schedule has been a major focus of Gorman’s board of directors, and Redman’s strategic guidance and oversight of the company’s entire financial and accounting teams, and his considerable communication skills, have been critical in achieving that goal.

Laurie Winger

Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, TruStage

Laurie Winger has been with TruStage, a provider of insurance, investment, and technology, for 34 years — the last four years as the first female CFO in company history.

In a challenging economic environment, Winger helped guide the organization to another profitable year in 2023. TruStage paid out more than $2.2 billion in benefits to policy holders and achieved 6% growth in operating revenue while generating $140 million in net income.

Winger led the organization through expense management efforts, an executive leadership change, and a rebrand while continuing to invest in initiatives that drove results for the good of customers and employees. The resulting financial strength has made it possible for TruStage to invest back into the communities it serves, including $5 million in grants to community programs through its charitable foundation and $4 million in investments in early stage “fintechs” founded by people of color, women, and the LGBTQ community through its Discovery Fund.

Jesse Wunderlin

Chief Financial Officer, Diamond Assets LLC

Jesse Wunderlin has played an integral role in driving growth and profitability at Diamond Assets LLC through exceptional financial acumen and strategic leadership. Collaborating with other C-suite members, he executed growth and strategic plans that resulted in 39% year-over-year growth.

Diamond Assets, an Apple technology buyback partner, helps schools, businesses, and government agencies create plans that ensure equitable access to technology. The company also helps clients get the most value for their current Apple devices at the end of their life (to fund replacements) and feel secure that their devices have been responsibly upcycled or recycled.

One of Wunderlin’s significant achievements was the successful launch of a new business vertical as he assessed and managed the structure, execution, and risk associated with the venture. He also collaborated across departments to create the Master Service Agreement Incentive Program, which has led to a 150% increase in enterprise business.

PRIVATE COMPANY – SMALL (REVENUE $25 MILLION OR UNDER)

WINNER

Dawn Salzman

Chief Financial Officer, Oakbrook Corporation

Oakbrook Corp. manages over 10 million square feet of residential properties (including 7,500 apartment homes), plus 3 million square feet of commercial properties, and a full brokerage service. When Dawn Salzman stepped into the role of CFO for Oakbrook only two years ago, there were many tasks that needed quick attention.

She rapidly learned the various aspects of the business, including multifamily and commercial property management, brokerage, construction management, and facility maintenance. She evaluated the established processes quickly and prioritized the processes that needed improvement, and she continuously looks for ways to improve or reinvent established processes.

Her efforts to solve the escalating costs of off-site record storage resulted in savings of $8,000 per year and storage savings to Oakbrook clients in the combined amount of $30,000 per year. In addition to monetary savings, the volume of paper records stored at Oakbrook’s corporate headquarters was vastly reduced.

FINALISTS

Kari Apel

CPA, CFO, Director of Taxation, Midwest Financial Group

Kari Apel joined Midwest Financial Group as a part of an acquisition of her firm, Apel Associates, and in just two years, she’s demonstrated her worth as the organization’s CFO after two decades of experience as a CPA and business owner.

The skills and services Apel added to the financial services provider has propelled it forward, especially with the integration of tax and accounting as new services to Midwest Financial Group’s client base and the expansion of the firm over the last two years.

Not only was she invaluable in the merger process — integrating the staffs and improving cross training — Apel was a key cog in the organization’s ability to grow profitability by almost 40% and increase its profit margin by almost 50%.

Without Apel’s leadership and guidance in virtually every financial aspect of the business, Midwest Financial Group’s management team says the firm would not have been able to take the next step and evolve into the firm it wants to be.

Bill Neill

COO/CFO, Carex Consulting Group

Bill Neill wears several hats for Carex Consulting Group, a recruiting firm he co-founded, and that enables him to contribute to growth, innovation, and profitability in several ways.

One way, as CFO, has him researching new tools and negotiating with vendors to ensure that Carex’s 74-member workforce has access to new technology to support or improve operations — at a cost that makes sense for the business.

More recently, he helped implement a software interface that connects its CRM with the vendor management system used by key client partners. Thanks to his efforts, Carex was able

to streamline its job receipt and submission process and significantly reduce the time it takes the team to respond to clients.

In the past year, Neill recognized a gap that could be filled with some existing client partners, and he performed market research and got the Carex team to engage in a new line of business for recruiting scientific and engineering talent.

NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION – LARGE (REVENUE OVER $14 MILLION)

WINNER

Joseph Carpenter

Chief Financial Officer, Wisconsin Housing Preservation Corp. (WHPC)

Rebuilding projects are never easy, but with Joseph Carpenter’s knowledge of software systems and their capabilities, the Wisconsin Housing Preservation Corp. was able to rejuvenate its finances.

WHPC is the largest owner-operator of affordable rental housing in the state. In 2019, the year Carpenter arrived, it had to identify a new data system to begin operations independent of its existing operating model. At the time, the organization’s asset size was $480 million and its annual revenues were $63 million, but now it has a highly functional, sophisticated enterprise resource planning (ERP) software system that will help it earn $100 million in revenue and grow its assets to $649 million in fiscal year 2024.

For WHPC, an optimal financial performance is critical for reasons that go beyond the need for capital to grow the business and provide more affordable housing. It must build trust with more than 20 financial institutions, regulators, property management firms, and private investors, and it’s rated by Standard & Poor’s. 

FINALISTS

Amanda Berg

Vice President for Financial Affairs/Chief Financial Officer, Edgewood College

Financial stewardship of a small, private, tuition-driven college is among the hardest jobs in higher education, but Amanda Berg’s financial leadership has improved Edgewood College’s current financial position while positioning the institution for future growth.

Following a significant deficit in fiscal year 2020, the year prior to her arrival, Berg’s careful oversight of Edgewood College’s finances has been a key part of three consecutive years of year-end cash surpluses.

Berg, a member of the college president’s cabinet and an integral part of Edgewood’s strategic planning team, has been the principle negotiator of two partnership contracts that have contributed to the college’s recent positive profit margins.

Berg also has built a highly functioning financial team and work culture in the business office. She empowers her staff to take ownership of their work and holds everyone accountable for both results and for the working atmosphere in the office. She also leads by example with a positive attitude.

Hope E. Merry

Chief Financial Officer, Ascendium Education Group Inc.

While Hope Merry has been with Ascendium Education Group for 26 years, she has been CFO for the past seven. She has led many process improvement and data integrity projects that have helped make Ascendium a leader in the education finance space.

Ascendium is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to create higher educational opportunities for learners from low-income backgrounds. The organization has four distinct functions, including student loan guarantor, student success and financial wellness, and national education philanthropy.

In her first year as CFO, Merry oversaw two of the largest transitions in Ascendium’s history — the sale of Great Lakes Educational Loan Services to Nelnet, and the transition of Great Lakes to Ascendium. Her leadership in transitioning to a new business model has allowed Ascendium to direct $561.1 million toward its philanthropic mission over the last five years. In 2023 alone, Ascendium directed $100.5 million to postsecondary education and workforce training.

Jennifer Maurer

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Agrace

Agrace, a nonprofit health care organization, provides hospice care, grief support, and other forms of care to people who are aging, seriously ill, dying, or grieving. Every day in southern Wisconsin, more than 1,700 patients and clients trust Agrace to see them through very difficult times.

For 10 years, Jennifer Maurer’s role at Agrace, which employs more than 800 people, has not just been to navigate financial challenges, but also to be an integral part of Agrace’s strategic development and implementation. She oversees its entire technology and business analytics functions, she developed its business intelligence team and its extensive data warehouse, and she ensured the broad adoption of its tools by leaders across the organization.

The result has been a tremendous improvement in accounts receivables, realizing gains that are 10% better than industry standards. In addition, Agrace’s cash exceeds industry benchmarks by 65%, the organization is debt-free, and its net income exceeds budget by more than 200 basis points.

Dr. Sylvia Ramirez

Executive Vice President, Finance & Administration/Chief Operating Officer, Madison College

Dr. Sylvia Ramirez gets high marks for the work she has done this past year with Madison College’s student and parent engagement.

Her work to increase access to affordable child care — a barrier to workforce participation in Wisconsin — to build spaces for student parents to bring their children to the college, and to build policies and procedures modeled after nationwide best practices and research have demonstrated her ability to avoid being pigeon-holed into an archaic “chief business officer” mindset. She understands there is a human element to what she does — one that is creative and goes beyond the technical requirements of the job.

Ramirez uses existing data resources to uncover new insights on how to best serve students. As a result of this data analysis work, Ramirez was instrumental in the two-year technical college receiving the 2024 Strategic Data Excellence Award from the Strategic Data Project (SDP) at the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University.

NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION – SMALL TO MEDIUM (REVENUE $14 MILLION OR UNDER)

WINNER

Erica Hendricks

Finance and Operations Director, WayForward Resources Inc.

Erica Hendricks has been with WayForward Resources Inc. for nine years, the past six as finance and operations director — a period that has coincided with impressive, threefold growth in revenue and, more importantly, the organization’s ability to fulfill its mission.

WayForward Resources, formerly known as Middleton Outreach Ministry, exists to improve food and housing security for low-income people, so her strong performance is vital on several levels. When Hendricks began, she managed an $800,000 budget and oversaw systems for tracking and recording revenue and expenses for nearly $1 million in in-kind donations, primarily food. WayForward’s current budget forecasts more than $2.8 million in monetary support and $3.9 million in in-kind donations.

One example of her financial stewardship is the launch and management of a healthy reserve program totaling $1.4 million, allowing WayForward to have funds strategically saved for unforeseen expenses, capital expenditures, and strategic growth.

FINALIST

Abigail Wallhaus

VP of Finance/CFO, Madison Development Corporation

Abigail Wallhaus not only knows how to manage finances for Madison Development Corp., she also understands how to bring home the bacon.

The organization owns and manages more than 400 units of workforce housing in Dane County and provides loans to small businesses, to high-tech, early stage business ventures, and to workforce housing projects that need gap financing to be built.

With housing, Wallhaus secured over $5 million in grants for MDC’s three recent projects — The Graaskamp, The Lillian, and the Mill Apartments — which allowed it to add 120 units to its housing portfolio.

Since Wallhaus joined MDC in 2018, its housing portfolio increased by 43%, from 263 to 377 units — and another 52 units are under construction.

During that span, there is more proof of her performance in other key metrics. MDC’s annual revenues increased more than 60%, cash balances grew by an impressive 166%, total assets rose by 80%, and net equity grew by 106%.

GOVERNMENT/MUNICIPALITY

FINALIST

BILL BURNS

Assistant City Administrator/Finance Director, City of Middleton

Bill Burns serves the city of Middleton, a municipality of over 23,000 residents, by giving the taxpayers their money’s worth.

Case in point: The work he did to propose, evaluate, redesign, and carry through the financial workings for a recent $770,000 voter-approved operating referendum. Without his diligent and patient effort, a win-win compromise would not have been reached.

As a result, the city was able to raise sufficient additional revenue to fund two additional police officer positions, a much-needed parks maintenance crew member, and a new communications manager position to assist with the city’s overall communications strategy. Burns also has strategically used various short-term and long-term investment vehicles to safeguard and enhance city funds even during an economic downturn. His effectiveness in educating both staff and the city council in the basics of municipal financial management has created a synergy where collaborative decision-making contributes to outcomes that would not otherwise be possible.