Barbara Goswick, Don Smith Top List of CFO of the Year Honorees

Publisher Mitch Bettis, right, congratulates Don R. Smith of Thomas & Thomas LLP of Little Rock on receiving the Lifetime Achievement in Accounting Award.

Arkansas accounting professionals took an unaccustomed turn at center stage last Wednesday at the Arkansas Business CFO of the Year Awards luncheon at the Embassy Suites in west Little Rock.

Barbara A. Goswick, vice president for finance and chief financial officer of the University of Arkansas System in Little Rock, and Don R. Smith, managing partner of Thomas & Thomas LLP of Little Rock, were given lifetime honors. Goswick received the CFO Lifetime Achievement Award, and Smith received the Lifetime Achievement in Accounting Award.

Other winners were:

• Jim Tull, CFO of Crafton Tull in Rogers, CFO of the Year in the private company category. Other finalists in the category were Jill Beall, CFO and chief operating officer of Legacy Capital Group of Little Rock, and Vince Tate, CFO of Central States Manufacturing of Lowell.
• Marcus Walser, president and CFO of Twin Lakes Community Bank at Flippin, CFO of the Year in the bank category. Other finalists in the category were James Schnoes, CFO and executive vice president of One Bank & Trust of Little Rock, and Jason Taylor, CFO of First Community Bank at Batesville.
• Jim Fink, CFO of Little Rock Christian Academy, CFO of the Year in the nonprofit category. Other finalists were Andrea M. Dobson, CFO and COO of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation of Little Rock, and Cassandra Gilbert, CFO of Arkansas Foodbank, also of Little Rock.
• Benjamin Barylske, CFO and treasurer for the city of Jonesboro, CFO of the Year in the public sector category. Other finalists were Sylvia Ambrogio, CFO and director of finance for the Clinton National Airport in Little Rock, and Karen Scott, CFO and finance director for the city of North Little Rock.
• Diane Newton, CFO and vice president for finance and administration for the University of Central Arkansas at Conway, CFO of the Year in the education category. Other finalists were Kelsey Bailey, CFO of the Little Rock School District, and Bobby Jones, CFO and vice president for finance and administration at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia. 

Winners were selected by an independent panel of judges: Phyllis Rogers, CFO of Delta Dental of Arkansas and CFO of the Year in the large private company category in 2013; Lynn Wright, Arkansas area president for Regions Bank; and Karen Garrett, a partner at Hudson Cisne & Co. of Little Rock.

To read the complete special report on the 2014 CFO of the Year, including profiles on winners and nominees, click here.