Lisa Miller
Doing good then and now
May 2, 2024
Though now settling into retirement — and settling might be the wrong descriptor given the globetrotting and volunteering Lisa Miller is undertaking — the CPA and former CFO didn’t ease into retirement on a whimper.
Miller recently retired after 24 years with Colle McVoy, a leading advertising agency in the Twin Cities and beyond, where she oversaw the organization’s earning of B Corporation certification
It was a decision the agency considered for a while.
“Once we dug into the details, we realized Colle McVoy already significantly operated under [B Corporation] principles and we just needed to formalize our reporting processes and implement some measurement methods to meet the qualification,” Miller said. “It took a few years but the process helped us evaluate what was important and make sure we were spending our energy in places that mattered.”
B Lab, a nonprofit global network, says a B Corporation is a “designation that a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on factors from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and input materials.”
In order to achieve certification, according to B Lab, a company must:
- Demonstrate high social and environmental performance by achieving a B Impact Assessment score of 80 or above and passing our risk review. Multinational corporations must also meet baseline requirement standards.
- Make a legal commitment by changing their corporate governance structure to be accountable to all stakeholders, not just shareholders, and achieve benefit corporation status if available in their jurisdiction.
- Exhibit transparency by allowing information about their performance measured against B Lab’s standards to be publicly available on their B Corp profile on B Lab’s website.
It was a project Miller was pleased to see completed before she moved into the next stage of her life.
“Colle McVoy now has a formal framework to guide investment decisions and report back to internal and external stakeholders on their progress against their goals,” Miller said.
The ‘yes’ challenge
Decades of responsibility over the day-to-day and long-term planning of a company’s viability often comes with a measured, logical approach. Miller is working on changing that method.
“I’m saying ‘yes’ more frequently to new experiences that my working life didn’t always allow,” she said.
Traveling? Check. Coaching a girls’ volleyball team? Check. Long lunches with friends? Check. Having enough time in your schedule to give up a plane seat in the airport for someone who needs to get home? Check.
Miller, who is in her second term on the MNCPA board of directors and volunteers in several other MNCPA capacities like Talk to the Students and the MBAC Task Force, also says “yes” to the MNCPA’s initiative to broaden the pathways to CPA licensure.
“I’m very proud of the MNCPA for pushing to create alternative pathways to become a CPA versus the current 150 limitation,” she said. “I have had a wonderful career and I would not have been able to be a CPA if the 150-hour requirement were in place when I graduated college. My internships and on-the-job training were much more valuable than any additional 30 college credits.”
It’s with those three letters, Miller said, that much can be learned and much can be given, whether related to your work or in your community.
“CPA credentials have provided instant credibility when working with auditors, consultants, clients and industry associations,” Miller said. “The continuing education made sure that my skills were always being refreshed and the in-person events at the MNCPA allowed me to make connections and friends with many other companies in Minnesota that I otherwise wouldn’t have connected with.”
Topics: Member Profiles
Corey Butler
Corey Butler is the MNCPA communications manager, working to enhance the professional reputations of members through content, media relations and public affairs. He's been with the MNCPA since 2013. Corey keeps busy outside of the MNCPA spending time with his wife and children, serving on his local school board, volunteering in his community and catching up on long-lost hobbies. Corey enjoys the works of John Steinbeck and Rankin/Bass Productions, and Paul Bunyan, Robin Hood and Santa Claus lore. You may reach him at 952-885-5530 or cbutler@mncpa.org.
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