Two MNCPA members recognized as CFOs of the Year
Rachel Kats | December 2021/January 2022 Footnote
Editor's note: Updated November 29, 2021
In what has become an annual tradition, the MNCPA is proud to announce that two of its members are recipients of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal’s CFO of the Year award.
Those honorees are Tamera Robinson, CPA, executive vice president and CFO, Delta Dental of Minnesota, and Rebecca Moser, CPA, CFO and chief human resources officer, nParallel.
The Business Journal debuted the CFO of the Year awards in 2007 to honor outstanding financial leaders at Twin Cities companies of all sizes.
“Chief financial officers are a crucial part of a company’s leadership team, but their role in company successes is often overlooked outside their own offices,” wrote Mark Reilly, the Business Journal’s managing editor, in the publication.
The nominees were evaluated by other financial executives and specialists, who scored nominees on their contributions to their companies and the broader community.
Tamera Robinson
As Delta Dental of Minnesota’s CFO, Robinson is responsible for overseeing accounting, regulatory reporting, underwriting, actuarial services, financial controls and building inspection.
“What I like most about my job is that I love what I do, and I work with really amazing and smart people,” she said. “I miss seeing them in person every day since transitioning to a remote workplace due to the pandemic. I am fortunate to have a great team in finance that makes our department both efficient and great.”
In 2018, Robinson led construction of a new operations and technology center in Bemidji and co-led a major systems transformation project to develop new service portals to enhance the user experience, according to Mollee Francisco, contributing writer for the Business Journal.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Robinson led the creation of a dentist financial assistance fund and the distribution of N-95 masks to more than 4,000 dental offices. In response to the civil unrest following George Floyd’s murder, Robinson developed an employee donation matching program to help affected neighborhoods and address statewide food insecurities.
Robinson also serves on the board for the Better Business Bureau of Minnesota and North Dakota, is on the finance committee for Family Wise, and is the president of Delta Dental of Nebraska.
When it comes to the best career advice she’s ever received, Robinson said that it’s OK to not know the answer; it is far better to come back with the correct answer later than to make a guess.
“Establish a network of peers that you can go to with questions, learn from, and who will share their experiences,” she said. “Work hard, do the right thing and follow your passion.”
Rebecca Moser
Moser serves as both the chief financial officer and chief human resources officer at nParallel. She was an instrumental part of the executive team that opted to refashion the company’s business focus from making goods for trade shows to much-needed PPE (personal protective equipment). The move netted an additional $1 million and helped keep the company in business in 2020.
Moser is also active in her community with various nonprofits including MARS, MN Goodworks and Dynamic Connections.
She shared with the Business Journal that her career in finance can be attributed to a love of working with numbers and people.
“Not everyone loves numbers, so it is a fun challenge to make them understandable to other people,” she said. “Also, I can create everlasting relationships with people to ensure their financial needs are met with care and detail.”
When looking back at the challenges of the past year, Moser said that a key takeaway going forward is that it’s important to accept what cannot be controlled.
“In business, there is value in holding firm to your stances, but 2020 forced us to learn how to be more flexible. This flexibility may be in a contract’s cancellation clause or perhaps on payment terms. You had to be flexible on meetings on whether they were in person or remote,” she said. “I definitely improved my ability to run a remote meeting seamlessly.”
Rachel Kats is the MNCPA communications coordinator. You may reach her at rkats@mncpa.org or 952-885-5533.
