AFWA Announces 2020 "Women Who Count" Award Recipients

The Accounting & Financial Women’s Alliance (AFWA) announced the recipients of the 2020 Women Who Count Awards during the virtual Women Who Count Awards luncheon held during the Women Who Count Conference on October 30, 2020 at the AFWA headquarters in Lexington, Kentucky.

This year’s recipients demonstrate a drive to take on challenges and strive for success. They are leaders in their companies and communities. They have earned the trust and respect of their clients and peers, and they show enthusiasm toward their career and the accounting and finance industry.

AFWA Emerging Leader: Anna Raney

Director of Leadership and Culture, Polston Tax and Accounting, Oklahoma City, OK, Oklahoma City Chapter

Anna is described by one of her colleagues, Rachel Mathew, as “A born leader. Her track record of leading every team she has been on whether it be a school project to her collegiate basketball team captain, people just flock to her, they can feel her passion as well as her ability to make people better. Through her career, she is leading daily, she leads a team of professionals as well as the other leaders in the firm. She has this ability to share leadership insights and listen to people to pull out their frustrations and then provide a solution. She is constantly pushing herself as a leader and through the 6+ years I have yet to see her not be able to adapt and help someone grow. Her leadership in her community is also clear, she leads many boards and committees, but I would say my favorite way she leads in her community is her efforts to connect women to other women in the industry. She strongly believes in mentorship and people are drawn to her. She knows that her time can only go so far so instead of turning people away for mentorship, she finds others that would be a good mentor and personally connects them, her big picture view of the community and belief that one relationship can change someone’s life for the better.”

“Thank you so much for the honor of winning this award,” said Raney. “It was a wonderful surprise.”

AFWA Emerging Leader: Emma Caldwell

Controller, Advanced Correctional Healthcare, Peoria, IL, Member-at-Large

Emma is described by her colleague Brittany Krysinski as “A talented leader and holds herself to a very high standard, as well as her team. She has built very strong interpersonal relationships which further contributes to her success. Emma goes above and beyond to ensure the department runs smoothly. She stands up for her team while also holding them accountable for their actions. She is the strongest controller I have ever worked with. Emma is hard working, smart, reliable, and honest.

Emma steps up and takes on the additional workload, so we do not fall behind as a department. She believes that to properly lead her team that she needs to completely understand what they do day to day. She is not afraid to roll up her sleeves and work alongside her team.

Emma has taken ownership over the budgeting process and has put in place the proper checks and balances to ensure our proposals go out to the sales team and clients with the right financial data. She always brings recommendations with any problems that arise – and when you are dealing with people’s money, emotions can run high! Emma is a calming force throughout the problem-solving process.”

“What a wonderful surprise,” said Caldwell. “Thank you so much for the honor.”

AFWA Growth Award: Lauren Akers, CPA

Tax Senior Associate, Allison Mott CPA, Kansas City, MO, Kansas City Chapter

Less than a year after Lauren became an AFWA member, she jumped into board service. In the 2019/2020 fiscal year, she served as Director and Chair of the Membership Committee, and this year she agreed to serve as President Elect.

“I am completely surprised and honored to have been nominated and selected as a recipient,” said Akers. “Thank you AFWA for this wonderful opportunity.”

“Lauren is a Tax Senior Associate at a well-known regional firm in the Kansas City area,” said Katie Minion, CPA. “While I have not had the pleasure of working with her outside of AFWA, I know that she is a strong leader at her firm. She was tasked with supervising the interns in the 2020 busy season and was given project management duties that are not typically assigned to a Senior Associate.

When Lauren took over the Membership Committee, she embraced the responsibility. She created a new system for tracking membership so that at any point a member of our board can obtain information about our members. In addition to keeping our membership information updated and organized, she addresses all questions that prospective members have about membership. She even created a “how to apply” document and gave a talk about the importance of membership on our kick-off event at the beginning of the 2019/2020 year that brought in 10+ new members in a four-month period.

She has also been an amazing support system to our other board members. She always has great suggestions to bring to the table and comes prepared to meetings to get work done.”

AFWA Growth Award: Jennifer Collins

Audit Manager, Grant Thornton, LLP, Tulsa, OK, Tulsa Chapter

“It was a true honor and surprise to receive this award,” said Collins.

According to colleague Somer Torres, “Jennifer has impressed me since the beginning of her career. She is a self-starter and embraces a team mentality. As she has moved into the manager role at her job, she focuses on development of her people and being an example for the younger professionals in our office. This is especially true for our women professionals as she has taken on a board role in AFWA and leads their local efforts at Grant Thornton. Jennifer takes on challenges and new phases in her career and life with positive intent and a make-it-happen spirit, even during ‘busy season’! She makes me excited to watch her continue to succeed.”

AFWA Industry Professional: Andrea Wilt

Financial Advisor, Premier Financial Partners, Kansas City, MO, Kansas City Chapter

Andrea is described by her colleague Katie Minion as “the rock that keeps our organization functioning. With her enthusiasm, positivity and support she has helped so many get through these difficult times.”

“For the 2019/2020 fiscal year, Andrea was the Vice President and the Chair of the Program Committee,” said Katie. “Not only was she tasked with finding speakers and reserving locations, she also coordinated the events day-of. It is a lot of work for anybody, much less somebody whose success at her day job relies solely on her own drive. Andrea is a Financial Advisor at a financial services firm in Kansas City, and her job requires her to reach out to new prospects regularly. It would be understandable if she took some time off when she was away from the office, but she spent that time seeking out new speakers for AFWA and replying to my many [many] emails. She is a hard worker, through and through.”

AFWA Small Business Award: Liz Mason, CPA

CEO/Founder, High Rock Accounting, Scottsdale, AZ, Phoenix Chapter

“I am so honored to have been chosen for this award,” said Mason. “Thank you AFWA. I look forward to a wonderful future with this organization.”

Liz Mason, CPA, was recognized by Practice Ignition as one of the Top 50 Women in Accounting. This is a global award that recognizes women who are leading the charge in advocacy, change, and community within the accounting and bookkeeping professions.

“Liz founded High Rock Accounting with a strong vision – to revolutionize the future of accounting,” said employee Brandy Jordan. “The cause that excites her the most is collaborating with firm owners and accounting tech companies to promote technological advancement and efficiencies to provide significant improvements to our lives. She is a National Xero Ambassador (NXA), where she has had the opportunity to work directly with firms encouraging newer tech stacks, updating business practices, and giving the younger generations a place to grow (and hope). Within her role as NXA, she cultivates a group of writers who are Xero partner firms, to elevate their voices in the greater accounting profession and share best practices. hear feedback from accounting veterans.

“Liz is also the strategic editor of Tax Practice News to share innovative technology and practice management ideas to tax firms seeking new and more efficient ways to practice. She spends a significant amount of her time sharing her experiences with being an early adopter of all technology to the slow-to-change traditional firms. Liz is also an outspoken feminist that addresses female-founder topics and empowers women in accounting. Plus, she publishes loads of content about her ideas and experiences because she believes collaboration brings everyone up. Liz has also started the High Rock Nucleus program which is her direct contribution to the next generation of leaders. Within High Rock she believes that diversity in team members equates to a diversity of thought and a more productive and innovative team overall. To promote inclusivity, High Rock actively sources candidates through underserved communities and community colleges.”

AFWA Academic Award: Madeleine Trimble, PhD.

Assistant Professor, Accounting, College of Business, Illinois State University, Peoria, IL

Madeline Trimble is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Accounting. She completed her doctorate from the University of Mannheim in Mannheim, Germany with a focus on international accounting, specifically, IFRS adoption patterns and IFRS’ effect on accounting quality.

Madeline teaches intermediate accounting and international accounting. Additionally, she serves as co-advisor to the ISU chapter of Beta Alpha Psi.

“Thank you all for this award,” said Trimble. “I am humbled and honored to receive it.”

AFWA President’s Award: Dorothy Ashley

East Mesa Chapter, Mesa, Arizona

“Dorothy joined as a student almost 40 years ago, helped charter a new chapter, served as chapter president, volunteers at our seminars and attended numerous annual, spring and regional conferences,” said AFWA Immediate Past President Laura Mangan. “She is the reason we continue my favorite chapter tradition of recognizing members with perfect attendance. When we shifted to virtual meetings earlier this year, she got a new computer to make sure she could fully participate. Next spring, I look forward to celebrating 35 years of perfect attendance with Dorothy Ashley.”

Dorothy sums up the AFWA experience best in her own words. “The most rewarding part of being a member of AFWA is the friendship of our members. I am proud to be an AFWA member because it is a great place to meet fellow accountants and improve in our field by attending seminars. AFWA has helped me be more able to speak out at meetings, be more confident and outgoing. If it were not for AFWA I would not be fulfilled, would not be a complete person. I would have missed so much of what life can bring.”

Additional Award Winners include:

AFWA Chapter Achievement

Membership: District of Columbia Chapter
Communications: Denver Chapter
Programming: Kansas City Chapter
Scholarship: Denver Chapter
Public Service: Illinois State University Chapter

AFWA Chapter Milestones

New York Chapter: 80 years
Buffalo, New York Chapter: 70 years
Richmond, Virginia Chapter: 70 years
Denver, Colorado Chapter: 70 years
Jackson, Mississippi Chapter: 60 years
Ames, Iowa Chapter: 30 years
Troy, Michigan Chapter: 10

Congratulations to all the 2020 Women Who Count Award recipients. For more information on the annual awards visit the Women Who Count Awards page.