The President of the Arizona Chapter of Financial Executives International (FEI) honored some of Arizona’s best and brightest financial executives at the 14th Annual CFO of the Year Awards Thursday night at the Luxury Castle.
Sponsors for the event included JPMorgan Chase, CBIZ MHM, Keyser, Lovitt and Touché and Vaco.
“FEI’s Arizona Chapter holds the CFO of the Year Awards to highlight individuals who have excelled in financial management,” said Mike Day, FEI’s Arizona Chapter President. “We believe this benefits Arizona by highlighting – for those outside of the finance community – how talented and focused finance professionals can and do build better organizations. For those of us who work in finance, tonight gives us the opportunity to learn from their accomplishments to inspire us on how we can improve.
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A total of 25 of Arizona’s most influential CFOs have been selected as finalists for the 2022 CFO of the Year Awards and the total revenue handled by the finalists is more than 23 billions of dollars.
“It’s hard work,” Day said. “The CFO is not only expected to be a financial steward and skilled in operating a high performing finance function, but increasingly to be a strategist providing financial leadership to determine direction and serving as a catalyst to instill an empirical mindset throughout the organization.”
The CFO of the Year awards were presented in five categories. Here are the winners:
Nonprofit: Claire Agnew, Chief Financial Officer, Valleywise Health
ENGAGING ASPECT OF THE WORK: “The most rewarding part of my job is being able to support clinicians. I believe in our mission at Valleywise Health and my daily job is to support them so they can care for patients.
SOURCE OF PASSION: “Valleywise Health serves everyone, every patient, regardless of their ability to pay. It serves the most vulnerable patients, the most vulnerable patient populations, and it does that no matter where you come from, who you are or what you do. For me, how not to love and live from this on a daily basis. It feeds me. I think it feeds everyone who is there. We do it because we love it. I could work anywhere in healthcare, but I really enjoy working for Valleywise Health.
Midsize Private Company: Steve Swonger, Chief Financial Officer, BioLab Sciences
BE A FINANCIAL LEADER: “The most rewarding part of being a finance executive is being able to be involved in all aspects of the business and gaining a deep understanding of what’s going on in the business. What happens in operations? What happens in the administration? What is the big picture so you can ensure that all aspects come together to achieve the best results for the business? »
THE BEST PART OF THE JOB: “The ability to interact with people, find out what their goals are within the business, and help coach people to achieve those goals. As a CFO, you have to touch all the different departments and so you have to fit in. And to do that you have to know the people, get to know the people, who they are, what they do and how they grow up, it’s really a great experience.
Public Company: Megan Faust, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Amkor
THE BEST PART OF THE JOB: “What I love most about my job is that it’s different every day. There is never a day despite the schedule and the planning where I can anticipate what might happen. So I appreciate having a lot of new challenges and unexpected events that keep things interesting and really push me to overcome some of those challenges.
HOW THE ROLE OF THE CFO HAS EVOLVED: “It’s really moved from a role of governance and tactical finance to a commercial and strategic role. There have been a lot of recent events that have moved faster and pushed it, like COVID and having to deal with working from home, especially in the semiconductor supply chain, which is part of the outcome of COVID , really trying to figure out how to overcome the challenges presented to us.
Large Private Company: Linn Shaw, Chief Financial Officer, KP Aviation
THE BEST PART OF THE JOB: “As a CFO, I really enjoy making a difference within an organization. I feel like I always understood math, I understood numbers, even counting coins as a kid in my parent’s car when we were driving somewhere was my hobby that I really loved… That’s what I really loved about the CFO journey, not just understanding the numbers, but how to create the numbers. How do the numbers change? How do they adapt? How do they thrive and where can I have a financial impact as a CFO within an organization? »
CORPORATE CULTURE : “We are co-founded by women, a small organization that has doubled in size this year. We strive to really make an imprint within our industry. And I think that drive to continually improve and be better while having a strong culture is really what drives me every day to do my best.
Sponsors Award: Jason Berg, Chief Financial Officer, AMERCO – U-Haul
ENGAGING ASPECT OF THE WORK: “The most rewarding aspect of being CFO at U-Haul is my ability to help others in the organization who don’t have the same specialty. I have a background in finance and I can help them do things they couldn’t do otherwise.
BEST PART OF THE JOB: “The most fun thing about my job is working with our field crew. We have 34,000 employees in the United States and Canada, and I appreciate that wherever I can fly, someone will pick me up from the airport and I can have lunch with someone who is interested in what i do and i can help them too.
2022 CFO of the Year Awards Finalists
Claire Agnew, Valleywise Health
Troy R. Anderson, Universal Technical Institute
Jason Berg, AMERCO (U-Haul)
Rhonda, Biddix, California Closets
Sam Blackham, eVisit
Margie Burke, Desert Botanical Garden
Michael Chesin, Helios Foundation for Education
Rachael Cordova, ISSA (International Sports Science Association)
Randy Ek, Mercy Care
Megan Faust, Amkor Technology
Mike Fett, South West Health and Behavioral Services
Mitch Gens, Tomcar
Dan Gerelick, Bluum
Ross Grainger, Paradox
Kevin Hull, TYR tactics
Susan Hunsaker, Paramount Building Solutions
Wajeh Khan, solar elevation
James Kohlbeck, Suncrest
Roop K. Lakkaraju, reference
Frank P. Marino, UNS Energy Corporation
Connie Nelson-Askrew, Valley of the Sun YMCA
Lata Quinn, New Beginning Women’s Foundation
Linn Shaw, KP Aviation
Jake Singleton, the joint
Scott Swonger, BioLab Sciences
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