Honoring the best nonprofit finance executives of the year

From left, honorees Carolyn Mollen, Paul Archambeault, Deborah Cowan and moderator Laura Lott took part in a panel discussion at the CFO of the Year Awards luncheon. Photo by Jenny Lehman for Chuck Fazio Photography, www.ChuckFazio.com.

A large crowd of finance executives from the association and nonprofit community braved threatening weather to honor their peers at the CFO of the Year Awards luncheon, last week in Washington.

The luncheon, the first time at the Grand Hyatt, was a resounding success for the event’s 10th anniversary. The awards’ founding sponsors that are still involved are West, Lane & Schlager, and Tate & Tryon. Association TRENDS is the media sponsor.

Honored this year were the 2016 Nonprofit CFO of the Year Deborah Cowan, CFO of NPR; Nonprofit Transformational Leader Paul Archambeault, SVP and chief financial and operating officer, Airlines for America; and Nonrprofit CFO Rising Star Carolyn Mollen, CFO of the Independent Sector. (For full biographies of the honorees, click here.)

Cowan shared her thoughts on being named the CFO of the Year here, and what she believes are the issues facing nonprofit CFOs in the future here.

In a panel discussion, moderated by Laura Lott, CEO, American Alliance of Museums, Archambeault described the relationship between a nonprofit CFO, and the CEO and staff here.

Mollen discussed what is unique about being a nonprofit CFO here.

The luncheon kicked off with a very educational and entertaining presentation by Pamela Meyer, author of the bestselling “Liespotting.” She demonstrated her tips for spotting a professional who is being deceitful by using clips of famous people who were caught on video being deceitful. Among her points: when asked what should happen to a person who had done something wrong, an innocent person would suggest a harsh punishment; a deceitful person would say something such as, “Well, that’s not for me to say, that’s for someone else to determine.”

(Above, Meyer. Photo by Jenny Lehman for Chuck Fazio Photography.)