SEPTEMBER 30, 2019 CUSTOM CONTENT: WOMEN IN ACCOUNTING SAN DIEGO BUSINESS JOURNAL 23 Nicole Albrecht Monetta Allison Lisa Anguiano Jennifer Barnes Jennifer Brown Nicole Carr Magali Cohen Jessica Estrada Kristy Facchini Michelle Flores- Gonzales Katy Frankel Cathy Gonzales Heather Hernandez Jessica Howe-Groat Sara Hyzer Terri Johnson Margie Kuoha Betsy Lemaire Kate Leonard Barbara Lougee Cydney Lucas Kristina Marston Mary McGroarty Bo Monaco Lilia Nevarex Jessica Occhialini Gina Oster Kat Pephens Trinh Pham Erin Polek Barbara Reno Gayle Rios Sheryl Rowling Linda Runyeon Nury Saenz Francesca San Diego Orquidia Schon Jodi Smith Anneke Stender Mason Szuberla Cheryl Tishue Brenda Verduzco Diane Wallace Tara Weisinger The San Diego Business Journal is honored to be recognizing these talented and dynamic women executing on their companies’ goals and pushing their businesses forward. You will find these outstanding San Diegans listed alphabetically on the following pages. 24 SAN DIEGO BUSINESS JOURNAL CUSTOM CONTENT: WOMEN IN ACCOUNTING SEPTEMBER 30, 2019 MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN IN ACCOUNTING Nicole Albrecht Nicole Carr Partner, Financial Accounting Services CFO, Measurabl Nicole Albrecht has been instrumental in growing and expanding her Nicole currently serves as the CFO of Measurabl, the world’s most financial services firm. She is also deeply committed to her community. widely adopted ESG data management platform for commercial real She donates much of her time and money to 9 non-profit, communi- estate. She has been instrumental their success raising venture capital ty empowerment organizations including Michelle’s Place, Rancho (>$30M), guiding the strategic vision, and generally contributing to Damacitas, The Foundation for Senior Care, and The Empowerment the success of the business at every level. Before Measurabl Nicole Center. She is on the board for Rancho Damacitas which empowers spent the majority of her career working with large publicly traded single moms by offering stable homes and opportunities to get back companies. She demonstrates an eye for business model innova- on their feet. What is most impressive about Nicole is that even though she works in the financial tion and go to market strategy. She acts as a trusted advisor to the Executive Team. Nicole’s services business, her main ambition in life is to create as many “WOW” moments as possible. strengths are her integrity, financial savvy, altruism, and positive attitude. Monetta Allison Magali Cohen VP of Finance, InnoVision Marketing Group Senior Tax Associate, Rowling & Associates Monetta Allison is the Vice President of Finance at InnoVision Market- Magali joined Rowling & Associates in January of 2019 as a Senior ing Group. As a strong and passionate leader in the company, she is Tax Associate. She works diligently to prepare individual, trust, and always looking ten steps ahead to make sure to that everything is run- business tax returns. Her excellent people skills and dedication to her ning smoothly as she is consistently committed to pursuing growth and work make her an asset to our team. Being new to the firm means that success within the company. In the past year, she has helped stabilize Magali often brings a fresh perspective when working to resolve client and normalize company functionality after purchasing a new building. issues. She has worked closely with interns and college graduates to With roughly 30 years of experience in the industry, and with a heavy mentor them and develop their tax knowledge. She passed all four background in real estate, Monetta has been a valuable asset to the team. She is always able parts of the CPA exam in under a year while working full time at a top 10 national CPA firm to resolve critical issues regarding financial policies and procedures. and received her CPA license last fall. Lisa Anguiano Jessica Estrada Owner, AAG Tax Partner, PacWest Tax, Inc. Lisa Anguiano has been in accounting for 15 years. We had strug- Jessica refined her skills though 12 years working with Deloitte. In gled to find the right financial person CPA number guru to help us February 2018, Jessica partnered with Kimberly Tavares of PacWest out over the years until Lisa came into our lives. She stepped in as Tax in Newport Beach with the goal of growing PacWest’s tax practice, our new bookkeeper and helped get our accounting up to speed. including expansion into San Diego. Within the first 12 months, Jessica Her responsibilities continue to expand and she is instrumental in more than doubled the company’s business. In 2019 alone, the firm has communicating with our investors. She has helped us with our entity added over 100 new clients. Jessica’s success is attributable to her com- structures and business operations. She is absolutely amazing and mitment to building authentic relationships and her passion for service deserves to be honored for her work. and her craft. Jessica has built her practice on the foundation of passion, skill and commitment to her clients and her profession. Jennifer Barnes Kristy Facchini CEO & Owner, Optima Office CFO, AutoClaims Direct,Inc. Jennifer Barnes is a graduate from the University of Arizona with a de- Kristy Facchini is the CFO of ACD. Ms. Facchini joined ACD during gree in Finance, Accounting and Marketing followed by an MBA from an inflection point as the company was transitioning from startup to San Diego State. She gives back to the community through programs a period of high growth. Kristy immediately analyzed the accounting that encourage younger generations to develop entrepreneur skills operations and reorganized the department to support its trajectory. She and prepare for future careers. She is on the Junior Achievement Board helped ACD on its path to Entrepreneur Magazine’s “Best Entrepreneur- and acts as a mentor for the Lavin Program at SDSU. Jenn recently ial Companies in America E360 award for two years 2016 & 2018”, started her own accounting business in October of 2018 called Opti- SDBJ’s Fast 150 in 2016 and the company has grown profitability over ma Office. The business has grown to 50 employees, with hundreds of clients and now strives 1050% during this time period. Her leadership in this new product is enabling ACD to expand to become the largest managerial accounting firm in the region. revenue opportunities through new channels and open up our software to additional markets. Jennifer Brown Michelle Flores-Gonzales Managing Director, EY VP of Operations, Flores Financial Jennifer is a Managing Director at EY and has extensive experience Michelle is currently heading up the operations of Flores Financial, serving venture-backed companies within the Life Sciences industry. She helping to build a quality, professional team. As a VP of Operations, serves as the lead global client server and issues the audit opinions asso- Michelle started a new offering for the business, developing its Con- ciated with their respective financial statements. A significant number of sulting Division in March of this year. In only a few short months, the Jennifer’s clients have had successful exits through IPOs and acquisitions. department has become the most profitable in the company. Michelle She is a mentor to many of our women professionals within the San Di- has helped create a 24.5% increase in gross revenue. That same year ego office. Jennifer is involved in the business community as a Member of she was honored as a featured panelist for the OLP Women’s Sympo- the Board of Athena (Professional Women’s Association focused on empowering women in STEM sium. Michelle inspires the Flores team by participating in the YMCA adopt a family program, related fields) and her local community through her leadership within the Girl Scouts. organizing food banks, racing for autism, and volunteering for Holiday Angels. SEPTEMBER 30, 2019 CUSTOM CONTENT: WOMEN IN ACCOUNTING SAN DIEGO BUSINESS JOURNAL 25 Spotlight on leadership Leaders are people who work from a core of vision and integrity to create an impact that matters in their organizations and their communities. Deloitte congratulates San Diego’s Most Influential Women in Accounting, including our own Diane Wallace. Deloitte is proud to work with leaders like you! Diane Wallace Partner, Financial Services Deloitte & Touche LLP To learn more please reach out to Ken Weixel, San Diego Managing Partner, at [email protected] or visit www.deloitte.com Copyright © 2019 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved. 26 SAN DIEGO BUSINESS JOURNAL CUSTOM CONTENT: WOMEN IN ACCOUNTING SEPTEMBER 30, 2019 MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN IN ACCOUNTING Katy Frankel Terri Johnson Partner, EY CFO, United Way of San Diego County Katy has over twenty-three years of experience providing tax services At UWSD, Terri Johnson continually raises the level of the people, pro- to private and public companies across several industries. From life cesses, and systems in Finance & Accounting. Her coworkers appreciate sciences and manufacturing, to consumer products and professional and admire her guidance and her extensive knowledge of non-profit services companies. She has served as a Subject Matter Professional accounting practices. Terri believes finance departments should not be in tax accounting under ASC 740, the application of Sarbanes-Oxley. isolated from the rest of the organization. She works with all of the organi- Katy leads the San Diego tax markets and the Advanced Manufac- zation’s departments to understand their business needs, provide efficient turing & Mobility Sector for Tax in the US West Region; she has also reporting, and make sound business decisions. Terri moved seamlessly into served as the Region Practice Leader for Global Tax Services and in that role, Katy has served the role of CFO and now leads the organization’s financial and accounting processes. Terri shares on EY’s Inclusiveness Advisory Council and as a leader for the Professional Women’s Network. her knowledge, grooming her fellow accountants to become top professionals.