Alaska's Last Frontier Chapter of CFMA P.O. Box 241543 Anchorage, AK 99524-1543 “Construction Financial Management Association”

News for Immediate Release

Construction Financial Management Association “CFMA” wins National Awards

 Last Frontier Chapter wins 6 National Awards at CFMA National Conference

Chairman’s Excellence (Fourth year in a row)
Chapter of the Year (Third year in a row)
Communications/Public Relations
Member Services Award
Distinguished Progress Award
Showcase Award “Job Site Visit”

The Chairman’s Excellence Award is the highest honor a chapter can receive in the Achievement Category of CFMA’s annual Chapter Recognition Program. Awards are presented based on chapter size. The Last Frontier Chapter won the award for chapters with members up to 40.

The Chapter of the Year Award for overall recognition is based on exceptional overall merit demonstrated in five of the categories included in the program (Membership Development, Member Services, Special Events & Projects, Academic/Student Liaison and Communications/Public Relations).

The Last Frontier Chapter was founded 4 years ago and has now received 17 CFMA National awards since its beginning. The Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA) has 90 chapters in the U.S. with a membership of over 7,000. It is the only non-profit professional association dedicated to serving the construction industry. The Last Frontier Chapter is an Alaska based group of construction financial professionals. General membership is open to financial employees of general and sub contractors, developers and special trades. Associate membership is available to anyone servicing the construction industry, such as public accountants, attorneys, bankers, material and equipment supplies, insurance agents sureties, etc.

Monthly meetings are held the last Wednesday of each month starting at 11:30 at Aladdin’s on Old Seward and Tudor Rd. For more information please contact Lisa Vandergriff at lvandergriff@superiorpnh.com

Board Members of The Last Frontier Chapter of CFMA are: 

Melissa Turner               President                        
James Easton               Vice President                
Lisa A. Vandergriff          Chapter Awards
 

Ron Jones                      Secretary                        Ron Jones Enterprises
Dan Rozema                  Treasurer                        KPMG LLC
Tammy Potter                Membership Chair            Megawatt Electric
Diana Morlan                  Programs Chair                First National Bank Alaska
James Easton                 Education Chair                Watterson Construction
Chris Pobieglo                IT Chair                           Business Insurance Associates

The Last Frontier Chapter of CFMA was born out of the vision of founding member Ron Jones who brought together a small group of construction professionals who were CFMA national members looking for a local chapter where they could learn, network and explore concepts and ideas about Alaska’s construction financial industry.

Co-founding member Lisa Vandergriff remembers “10 to 12 folks gathering each month at brown bag lunches with guest speakers bringing relevant topics such as insurance, surety, retirement plans and banking to the table After a few months it was apparent we had enough interest to pursue a chapter and steps were set in motion to bring it about”

“Where most chapters take about 2 years to form, set up and get going our chapter jumped right into it and was official in less then a year” said Ron Jones. “The Chapter lunched with 16 members and in its short four year life has grown to 47.” They meet monthly form September to May at lunch meetings with a guest speaker bringing relevant topics for the times. Also the chapter holds a job site walk thru twice a year with a social following. The last one in December was at the Anchorage Museum addition and won a Showcase award that will be featured at the CFMA National Conference in Las Vegas this May. In addition to a 2-minute feature of the Museum project, Chapter President Lisa Vandergriff will give a talk about the unusual Alaska project.

The Chapter works actively toward educational endeavors that reach out not only to those active in the industry but those working toward a career in construction. The University of Alaska Construction Management Program is one of the Chapters main focus providing guest speakers to its Construction Finance classes.

Also we are working with Association of General Contractors to develop a full day of finance classes at the annual AGC November conference. The programs include panel discussions with banker, surety and a CPA going over a contractor’s income statement, balance sheet and over/under billing reports from their perspective with relevant questions and answers. Chapter Vice President Melissa Turner heads up the development team working on the conference and said “the goal is to present interesting thought provoking programs that will bring value to the attendees.

Each year we provide a one-day “ Basic in Construction Accounting “ class. Plus a second on a variety of topics such as banking, treasury and risk management. The programs are taught by our members who are experts in the areas of training and are very well attended.

The chapter strives to be a good citizen to the Alaska community, donating to Habitat for Humanity and AGC scholarship program. Its members serve on several committees at the National level. Currently we are working on setting up a Satellite chapter in Fairbanks.