Women’s Enterprise USA Magazine Salutes Top WBE CEOs of 2021

Women’s Enterprise USA Magazine Salutes Top WBE CEOs of 2021

by | Jun 17, 2021 | Accounting, CFO, Community, CPA, Entrepreneurs, Finance, Growth, Mentor, SaaS, Small Business, Startups, Technology

DALLAS — Women’s Enterprise USA has released its list of Top Women-owned Business Enterprise CEOs of 2021 — a group of visionary women business leaders who demonstrate the best and brightest of women-owned business enterprises. Women’s Enterprise is an award-winning print and digital publication focused on the development and accomplishments of women-owned businesses.

“These CEOs are leading the way for other female entrepreneurs to bring competitive, collaborative and innovation solutions to a marketplace in motion,” said Kristin Schneider, publisher of Women’s Enterprise. “Our Top WBE CEOs of 2021 have not only built successful companies, they are changing the way the world does business.”

To determine the top CEOs, WE USA’s team of advisors and editors reached out to the regional partner organizations of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council and business leaders throughout the country to identify women business owners who have achieved measurable success, advanced innovation in their industries, become role models and contributed substantial time and effort to helping other WBEs. The following are the WBE CEOs ― in alphabetical order ― who most strongly exemplify these characteristics.

 Juuhi Ahuja, Founder, CEO and President, Wise Men Consultants, Houston, Texas
Imelda Alejandrino, CEO/Creative Director, AP42 Marketing and Technology, San Ramon, California
Dana C. Arnett, CEO, Wicked Bionic LLC, Los Angeles, California
Camille Austin, Owner, Elite Roofing Services Inc., Tampa, Florida
Michelle Aristeo Barton, President, Aristeo Construction Co., Livonia, Michigan
Debra Berry, CEO, Berry Industrial Group Inc., Nyack, New York
Donna Brin, Founder & CEO, bFIVE40, Little River, South Carolina
Gabrielle Christman, President and CEO, Hunter International Inc., Avon, Ohio
Donna Cole, President/CEO, Cole Chemical & Distributing Inc., Houston, Texas
Jacqueline Darna, CEO, Darna & Co. LLC dba NoMo Bands, Tampa, Florida
Iyabo Dedmon, President, ThriveOn Concepts, North Kansas City, Missouri
Dana Donofree, Founder and CEO, AnaOno LLC, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Nathalie Doobin, Owner, President and CEO, Harvard Services Group Inc., Miami, Florida
Leanne Duong-Ma, President/Owner, Direct Source Procurement, Las Vegas, Nevada
Pamela Feld, Founder and CEO, Triumph Technology Group, Tustin, California
Jill Frey, President and CEO, Cummins Facility Services LLC, Prospect, Ohio
Nenette Gray, Founder and CEO, Lemonade Creative Marketing LLC, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Lili Hall, Founder, CEO and President, KNOCK Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota
Linda Hamilton, CPA, CEPA, SYSTEMologist®, Linda A Hamilton CPA PLLC, New York, New York
Kyra Hardwick, MBA, Managing Consultant, The Kyra Co. LLC, Houston, Texas
Jodi Cannon Hohman, CEO, Lagarda Security, Burton, Michigan
Kate Holby, Co-Founder, Ajiri Tea Co., Upper Black Eddy, Pennsylvania
Porcha Johnson, Founder and Publisher, Black Girl Health, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Hannah Kain, President and CEO, ALOM Technologies Corp., Fremont, California
Sharai Lavoie, CEO/Managing Member, Lavoie CPA PLLC, Charlotte, North Carolina
Mary Lawrence, President, Richards Graphic Communications Inc., Bellwood, Illinois
Elizabeth Ledoux, Founder and Head Strategist, The Transition Strategists, Ft. Collins, Colorado
Sandy Lish, Principal & Co-Founder, The Castle Group Inc., Boston, Massachusetts
Betty Manetta, President and CEO, Argent Associates, Plano, Texas
Michelle Manire, CMM, Founder and President, Coast to Coast Conferences & Events, Long Beach, California
Dee C. Marshall, CEO, Diverse & Engaged LLC, Newark, New Jersey
Carol Muszynski, President, Eighth Day Design Inc., Falls Church, Virginia
Carmen Nazario, President/CEO, ELYON International Inc., Vancouver, Washington
Mary Parker, CEO, ALL N ONE Security Enterprise, Atlanta, GA
Lauren Rakolta, President & CEO, DFM Solutions Inc., Detroit, Michigan
Ann Ramakumaran – will send responses, CEO and Founder, Ampcus Inc., Chantilly, Virginia
Angelica Rivera, President and CEO, Colmex Construction LLC, New Orleans, Louisiana
Silvana Rosero, President & CEO, Laguna Media Group, Grand Prairie, Texas
Jenell Ross, President, Bob Ross Auto Group, Bobrossauto.com
Molly Sandlin, Founder and President, CAET Project Management Consultants LLC, Keller, Texas
Rosa Santana, Founder and CEO, Santana Group, San Antonio, Texas
Billie Bryant Schultz, CEO, CESCO Inc., Dallas, Texas
Wendy Spivak, Principal & Co-Founder, The Castle Group Inc., Boston, Massachusetts
Debra Stevens, Principal, The Stevens Group/International Tenant Representative Alliance Global, Boston, Massachusetts
Liora Stone, President, Precision Engineering Inc., Uxbridge, Massachusetts
Amy Tiller, CEO and Co-Founder, Inspired Results Inc., Portland, Oregon
Andrea Tsakanikas, President, CrewFacilities.com LLC, Austin, Texas
Nina Vaca, CEO, Pinnacle Group, Dallas, Texas
Biddie Webb, Partner, Limb Design LLC, Houston, Texas
Liz Whitehead, CEO, 12PointFive LLC, Silver Spring, Maryland

 

For questions, please contact:

Kristin Schneider, Publisher

kristin@wegp.biz

 

About WE USA magazine

Now close to celebrating its 30th anniversary, WE USA magazine is America’s award-winning resource for information on women’s business enterprise and diversity. Reaching an audience of women business owners, corporate procurement managers and executives, education professionals and government representatives, WE USA focuses on value for the readers, advertisers and communities it serves. For more information, visit weusa.biz.

    Strategic Financial Planning In 2 Questions

    Strategic Financial Planning In 2 Questions

    by | Feb 16, 2021 | Accounting, Blog, Budgeting, Business Intelligence, CFO, Community, Competitive Advantage, CPA, Entrepreneurs, Finance, Financial Services, Growth, Lavoie, Planning, Services, Small Business

    Developing a strategic financial plan can seem daunting; however, it can be boiled down into two questions: what are you doing now and where do you want to be? This article walks you through the process of answering these two questions, providing a foundation for developing a financial strategy for your organization.

    Question 1: What Are You Doing Now?

    Every journey has a starting point and an ending point. Before you can implement a plan to achieve your financial goals, it is important to consider where you are now.

    Current State of the Numbers

    The current state of your organization’s numbers are a good starting point when determining your organization’s capability to meet its financial goals.  Some important questions to ask include:

    • Are you in a position of stability? Financial stability is vital to reaching “stretch” goals.  If the organization is not currently financially stable, it is important to identify this fact and develop a strategy for achieving stability as a first step in the planning process.
    • What is actually coming in/out the door? Knowing the size of the company’s cash reserves is not enough for financial planning.  How much revenue is coming into the organization and how much is going out again as expenses?
    • What is fueling the majority of your expenses? While increasing sales is one way of improving the organization’s financial footing, the ability to do so depends on the market and potential customers.  Identifying and minimizing expenses increases profits as well but is less impacted by external factors.

    Culture

    Achieving financial goals requires the support of the entire organization.  Take a moment to consider your organization’s culture and if the company has the maturity and ability to meet its goals.

    • Do your decisions match your vision and mission? An organization’s goals and procedures are important, but actions are even more so.  Are your decisions, both recent and historical, helping to move the organization towards its goals?
    • Would your employees agree? Employees throughout the organization can have different perspectives, insights, and recommendations.  Ask those “down in the weeds” how well the company is following its vision and mission and how they believe things could do better.

    Question 2: Where Do You Want To Be?

    The effectiveness of a strategic plan can only be effectively measured if there are usable metrics.  Before starting to build a plan to improve the organization’s financial position, it is necessary to define success and failure.

    Targets

    The first step in defining “success” for a financial strategy is defining concrete targets.  From there, the next question to ask is what do you need to achieve your targets?

    • Human Capital.  Does your organization have the human capital necessary to achieve its goals?  This not only includes headcount but access to the specific skill sets required now and in the future.
    • Acquisitions. Does your organization have the capabilities that it requires?  Are there areas of your business where things could be done more effectively or efficiently?
    • IT Investments. The IT landscape is evolving rapidly, and new solutions have the potential to dramatically improve operational efficiency and effectiveness.  Are there any IT investments that the organization should make that would help in reaching its targets?

    Expenses

    A failure to properly monitor and manage expenses is one of the most common ways that businesses fail to achieve their financial goals.  Gaining visibility into past, present, and future expenditures is an essential part of financial planning.

    • How can you gain more visibility into your expenditures? Visibility into expenditures is essential to identifying opportunities for optimizations and cost cutting.  How can you achieve a higher level of visibility into business operations?
    • Do you have an idea of your cash flow on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis? What level of visibility do you currently have into your organization’s cash flows?  Examining cash flows at the daily, weekly, and monthly level can help to identify potential inefficiencies and opportunities.

    Beginning Your Strategic Financial Plan

    Answering the questions that were asked in this article enables you to lay the groundwork for developing your organization’s financial strategy.  To learn about the next steps in your financial planning process, download the CEO’s Guide to Strategic Financial Planning.

    DOWNLOAD GUIDE
    Lavoie Secures Kelley Michalski as Partner and Vice President of Operations

    Lavoie Secures Kelley Michalski as Partner and Vice President of Operations

    by | Jan 11, 2021 | Accounting, Community, Entrepreneurs, Finance, Financial Services, Growth, Lavoie, Planning, Services, Small Business

    Lavoie secured Kelley Michalski as Partner and Vice President of Operations. Lavoie is excited to welcome Kelley Michalski to our team as our new Partner and Vice President of Operations in Charlotte, NC. In this role, Michalski will be responsible for managing client operations, maintaining internal control structures, and providing strategic support to our clients and organizations. As Lavoie continues to grow exponentially year over year, Michalski’s leadership will be an invaluable asset in reaching our goals.

    “I am truly looking forward to being a part of an established market leader in the finance field,” said Michalski. “I’m excited to become a contributor to the growth of Lavoie.” 

    Michalski brings with her over 20 years of experience leading strategic financial planning and implementation. Her wide breadth of practice includes everything from overseeing financial performance and organizational governance to managing risk and compliance. She has excelled in creating sustainable, data-driven financial strategies by developing a foundation of analytics to fuel tactical and long-term business decisions. Michalski’s leadership and expertise will be valuable additions to the Lavoie team.

    “We are delighted to have Kelley become a Partner with the company. Through Kelley’s involvement with our team over the years, she has shown herself to be an exceptional leader in the industry,” said Sharai Lavoie, Lavoie’s CEO/Managing Member.

    Prior to joining Lavoie, Michalski was the Chief Financial Officer for a subsidiary of a Fortune 15 organization and the owner of a small business located in Charlotte. A graduate of Iowa State University, Michalski brings with her an entrepreneurial mindset to support organizations of all sizes.

    About Lavoie: Founded in 2009, Lavoie has served as a reliable Charlotte CPA firm that specializes in strategic financial and operational planning for businesses of all sizes. By delivering state-of-the-art strategic support, Lavoie’s clients can focus on growing their business and soar to the next level of greatness. In addition to providing customized solutions for clients, Lavoie prioritizes social justice issues and is extremely involved in the local Charlotte community.

    LAVOIE + BESPOKE SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT CASE STUDY

    LAVOIE + BESPOKE SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT CASE STUDY

    by | Dec 7, 2020 | Accounting, CFO, CPA, Entrepreneurs, Finance, Financial Services, Growth, Services, SMBs

    See why this award-winning Charlotte Sports & Entertainment Marketing Agency uses Lavoie CPA as their financial strategy partner

    EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

    Company: Bespoke Sports & Entertainment

    Founded: 2014

    Specialty: Sports and entertainment consulting and experiential marketing agency

    Location: Charlotte, NC

    With over 50 years of combined experience in Sports & Entertainment Marketing, Bespoke’s founders, have seen their fair share of agencies come and go. They have worked with some of the largest names and most complex brands in the sports and entertainment industry. So, when they started their venture, they knew they needed more than just an accountant to supervise their financial stability. They needed a financial strategist that could confidently run major investor meetings and take control of the company’s future; and a firm that could manage expenses while also augmenting human resource needs.

    Download the case study to learn how Lavoie helped the company grow year over year and work with award-winning brands.
    DOWNLOAD CASE STUDY

    “It’s simple, Lavoie helped us create the infrastructure we needed. From setting up accounts payable and HR policies to recommending affordable technology, Sharai Lavoie and her team were there to give us the day to day insights we needed to keep cash flowing, flexibility to focus on sales, and proactive recommendations that enabled us to scale at the right pace.”

    Mike Boykin

    CEO & Cofounder

    Sage Intacct’s 6 Key Performance Metrics For Subscription Businesses [INFOGRAPHIC]

    Sage Intacct’s 6 Key Performance Metrics For Subscription Businesses [INFOGRAPHIC]

    by | Oct 29, 2020 | Accounting, Analytics, Blog, Budgeting, Business Intelligence, CFO, CPA, Entrepreneurs, Growth, Intacct, Planning, SaaS, SMBs, Software, Startups, Technology

    How Healthy Is Your SaaS Business? These 6 Metrics Will Help You Figure That Out

    As a Sage Intacct certified accounting and implementation firm, Lavoie CPA is excited to share the latest findings for SaaS businesses to become successful in 2021.

    From startups to organizations ready to scale each one of these indicators is an invaluable piece of information to evaluate your company’s overall health — not to mention prep you for that looming board meeting in the near future.

    In this infographic we will dive into why each of these metrics is the difference between getting your next round of funding, scaling year over year, or hitting the wall.

    Get the infographic and learn why you should care, how to calculate, and an interesting fact about the following KPIs:

    • CARR (Committed Annual Recurring Revenue)
    • CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)
    • CLTV (Customer Lifetime Value)
    • Churn
    • Free Cash Flow
    • CCS (Cash Conversion Score)

    DOWNLOAD THE INFOGRAPHIC

    Lavoie CEO Named Goldman Sachs NC Hill Week Captain

    Lavoie CEO Named Goldman Sachs NC Hill Week Captain

    by | Sep 22, 2020 | Blog, CFO, Community, Corporate Social Responsibility, Entrepreneurs, Growth, Mentor, Planning, SMBs, Software, Startups, Technology

    As the election season draws closer and the concerns of small businesses continue to grow in the wake of the pandemic, SMB’s are joining forces to make sure their voices are heard in congress. According to a Goldman Sachs survey released on September 8, 88% of small business owners have exhausted their PPP loan funding; with 43% of Black small business owners depleting their cash reserves by the end of the year. 

    To help amplify US small business needs, Goldman Sachs is using its 10,000 Small Businesses (10KSB) Initiative to serve as a policy platform and community resource center. However, prior to the COVID-19 crisis, the 10KSB alumni collectively represented $12 billion in revenues and employed 175,000 people. More notably, 44% of these businesses are family-owned and 66% are minority and women-owned businesses.

    “The 10,000 Small Businesses Voices initiative is designed to help small business owners in the United States advocate for policy changes that will help their businesses, their employees, and their communities,” according to Goldmansachs.com. “We provide the 10,000 Small Businesses Voices community with the tools, resources, and training needed to make their voices heard and drive tangible impact against real issues.”

    Among the many tools to assist small businesses, the program includes surveys, open letters to congress, and ongoing virtual events to help guide owners through ongoing challenges and the most recent policy changes.

    One of these events was the Virtual Capitol Hill Day held on June 9th -11th. Over three days, 2,100 small business owners connected with Members of Congress through 434 online meetings across all 50 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. Lavoie CEO, Sharai Lavoie, was named a NC Hill Week Captain and lead discussions with congressional leaders and small businesses across the state.

    Lavoie led three discussions one of which was with Congresswoman Alma Adams, representing North Carolina’s 12th District. Discussion topics included:

    “I was thrilled to participate in this initiative,” says Lavoie CEO, Sharai Lavoie. “It’s programs like these that will give SMBs a fighting chance and help promote policies that positively impact the everyday American business owner.” 

    To learn more about the 10,000 Small Business Voice initiative, check out the website to access resources or participate in the many surveys to inform congress of US business owners’ ongoing needs.