Congratulating New Board Members

By Steve Heide, Finance Director, Chino Valley Fire District, Chino Hills, California

The results of the 2020 CSMFO Board elections are in.

Marcus Pimentel has been elected to the office of President-Elect, while Stephen Parker and Grace Castaneda were elected to CSMFO Board of Director seats in the south and north, respectively. Our newest board members will take office at the 2020 Annual Conference at the end of January in Anaheim and will serve three year terms.

After working in various finance positions in city government for nearly 20 years, Marcus Pimentel assumed a new challenge as Assistant Director of Health Services Agency for the County of Santa Cruz in 2019. Marcus currently serves as Chair of the CSMFO Communications Committee and previously served a three-year term on the CSMFO board as a director representing the north, and has volunteered in a number of other CSMFO leadership roles over the years, including as the Monterey Bay Chapter Chair for nearly a decade and on various standing committees.

Marcus is passionate about ensuring that CSMFO’s resources are accessible to all our members and he is excited to implement ideas from our members and leadership to enhance CSMFO. In his three-year executive board term, Marcus will serve as President-Elect for 2020, President in 2021, and Past President in the year thereafter. He will preside over our upcoming San Jose 2021 Annual Conference at the San Jose Convention Center in mid-February of ‘21.

Stephen Parker has worked in city and special district finance departments for the better part of 10 years, after ten plus years in public accounting. Many of you may know Stephen from his long standing role as CSMFO Orange County Chapter Chair and he has also volunteered on a number on standing committees. He is focused on CSMFO’s core values and hopes to ensure in his role on the board that CSMFO continues to provide increasingly valuable professional support to our members through training classes, webinars and a top tier annual conference.

Grace Castaneda has worked on the city side of municipal finance for the past dozen or so years. Grace currently serves as Chair of the CSMFO Membership Committee and has volunteer in a number of standing committee roles over the years as well. She was the 2018 CSMFO Volunteer of the Year and Grace also served as a preschool teacher prior to her career in government finance. Grace has taken an active role in student engagement and is motivated to continually search for innovative ways to increase value for CSMFO members and to engage the next generation of leaders.

As our new directors assume their positions on the board, current Past President Margaret Moggia, and board members Scott Catlett (south) and Jennifer Wakeman (north), will roll off of the board at the upcoming conference. Margaret, Scott and Jennifer’s individual and collective efforts as board members these past three years are to be commended and CSMFO is better for their volunteer service to our organization. Each will continue to stay active in CSMFO, serving on standing committee next year.

Many thanks to Margaret, Scott and Jennifer for their dedicated board service over these past three years and congratulations to Marcus, Stephen and Grace as they assume their new roles on the CSMFO board.

Marcus Pimentel

I believe in open, timely, and engaging communication that brings our CSMFO family closer. I get excited in how we might implement ideas from our members and leadership to enhance CSMFO. I’m passionate about making sure CSMFO’s resources are accessible to all our members.

Following are some of my interests and what we might pursue, following validation by our members and leadership: Grow our collective employment pool by building on successful models like our student engagement work, support a California specific certification program to better prepare our community leaders to deal with the complexity of local government, consider how we might be a vehicle to create more equity in our community leadership, and consider how we might pro-actively support agencies with less resources to implement best fiscal practices.

Our joy is powerfully contagious. Our work is noble. Our staff are amazing. Our lives are fortunate.

Grace Castaneda

Being active in CSMFO has been life changing for me. I’ve benefited from CSMFO’s top-notch educational offerings through in-person trainings, webinars, local chapter meetings, and the premier annual conferences. Being actively involved has allowed me to make meaningful connections with colleagues throughout the state to exchange ideas, advice, and sometimes just a laugh. In my time chairing the Membership Committee, we’ve brought forth membership enhancements in eliminating CPE fees for webinars, offering new benefits for new members, and increasing student outreach efforts. My Scholarships group and I are expanding the conference scholarships to include first-time attendees and students. I’m immensely proud of the work we’ve done to increase value for the whole membership. In recognition of my contributions and efforts, I was awarded the 2018 Volunteer of the Year. It is an honor to serve alongside fellow leaders who give much of their time and hard work to bring the best value for our members.

Stephen M. Parker

CSMFO is the preeminent professional organization for governmental finance, and I am proud to be a volunteer to further their cause. I have had the pleasure of serving as the Orange County Chapter Chair since 2013. I also currently serve as the Senior Advisor of the Membership Committee and am a member of the Administration Committee. My experience on four standing committees along with ad hoc committees and plenty of other CSMFO involvement provides me with insight to serve you well as a South Board Member.

CSMFO’s focus has always been on integrity, professional development and public service. I want to maintain those core values, but work towards providing them in more useful and relevant ways. As a Board Member, my goal will be to provide increasingly valuable professional support through training classes, webinars and a top tier annual conference to promote growth for our members in their profession as they help lead their governments toward a better future.

November 19 marks the close of early bird conference registration for our 2020 Annual Conference in Anaheim.

If you’ve not already registered, you should do so as soon as possible to take advantage of our discounted early bird conference rates, and our preferred Disney hotel room rates.

The full schedule of sessions is now available on the conference website. Be sure to visit the CSMFO 2020 conference website for additional details regarding conference registration, scholarship opportunities, CSMFO Gives Back to the Community, and, of course, information on the great conference training session opportunities. And don’t forget that about the preconference training available on Tuesday for a small additional fee (separate registration required) and the Wednesday morning early bird sessions available as part of regular conference registration.

To quote Walt Disney,

“When we consider a project, we really study it–not just the surface idea, but everything about it. And when we go into that new project, we believe in it all the way. We have confidence in our ability to do it right. And we work hard to do the best possible job.”

Thanks, Walt. While we’re not building a Disney theme park here, we’re working hard to provide superior value and a memorable conference experience for attendees. Please join us for CSMFO’s 60th Annual Conference – Yesterday, Tomorrow and Finance – taking place January 28-31, 2020 at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim.

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Steve Heide is the Finance Director, Chino Valley Fire District, Chino Hills, California.

Over 30 years of professional finance experience, having worked in government and private industry in a variety of finance positions with progressive levels of responsibility. Previous positions in public accounting, healthcare and non-profit/government.

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