Virginia Business names five ‘CFO Awards’ winners

Virginia Business named winners in five categories in its annual CFO awards banquet Thursday night at The Jefferson Hotel in Richmond.

The awards honor chief financial officers whose ingenuity and dedication have contributed their companies’ growth and profitability. The event was sponsored by Dixon Hughes Goodman, Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants, McGuireWoods and Capital One. 

The magazine received 48 nominations this year. The winners were chosen out of 26 finalists by a panel of judges drawn from last year’s CFO Awards winners.

SMALL NONPROFITS: Clyde A. Cornett, CPA, Virginia Community Capital Inc., Christiansburg
Last year, Cornett’s efforts resulted in $250,000 in new revenue for his community development financial institution whose assets have grown 356 percent since 2008.

LARGE NONPROFITS: Farrell E. Hanzaker, Virginia Beach City Public Schools
The CFO has implemented strategies that have saved the school system more than $40 million, helping it avoid layoffs.

SMALL PRIVATE COMPANIES: Robin A. Ransom, CPA, Commonwealth Commercial Partners LLC, Richmond
Ransom recently facilitated a major acquisition for her employer, a commercial real estate company with eight divisions.

LARGE PRIVATE COMPANIES: Joseph D. Cheely, CPA, LeClairRyan, Richmond
Cheely was LeClayRyan’s first true CFO and has helped boost the law firm’s revenue by more than 50 percent in the past four years.

PUBLICLY TRADED COMPANIES: Mark E. Thomson, Measurement Specialties Inc., Hampton
Thomson is CFO for a company, a designer and manufacturer of sensor. In the past five years, its revenue has doubled, and in the past two years, stock price has risen 30-fold.

To learn more about the winners, read the August issue of Virginia Business.