Congratulating the Change Agent that Brought Us Our CSMFO Listserve, Webinar Trainings, and Coaching Program.

By Pamela Arends-King

CSMFO’s listserve, webinar, and coaching & mentoring programs maybe the most ubiquitous and valued features of CSMFO.

But in a time before video conferencing and smartphones, and when the fax machine was still cutting edge communication technology, Don Maruska introduced the ideas of a listserve to share best practices across all members, of teleconferencing to bring the most current content free to members, and challenged CSMFO to take charge and development tomorrow’s CSFMO and local agency talent.

Don Maruska has been involved with CSMFO since 1995 when he started as a consultant to the Career Development Committee. His education, professional background and entrepreneurship have been instrumental in making CSMFO a nationally recognized learning organization.

But now, and with deep gratitude for the CSMFO legacy he has created, we say a fond and sad farewell to Don as he takes time to refresh and to explore the next chapter in his talent story.

Don’s work with CSMFO has been particularly rewarding because as an entrepreneur CSMFO provided a platform to innovate and create in a learning culture. “I’ve been able to push the envelope and especially enjoyed finding ways to communicate best practices and make training easy and accessible”, Don shared with us. “CSMFO provided me two critical elements that helped us all thrive, a supportive environment and willingness to use data to track real results”.

Over the past 21 years Don has worked with CSMFO, many members have rolled through CSMFO’s Career Development Committee. But throughout this time, there remained a supportive and very collaborative relationship that created the right setting to experiment and try new, efficient and cost-effective forms of communication.

A first major win was the implementation of the CSMFO List Serve. This was one of Don’s first major projects with the Career Development Committee and to this date still reigns supreme as one of the most valued assets to CSMFO members.

Following the creation of the List Serve, Don introduced and stepped in to expertly moderate the addition of teleconference calls which presented real-time information to members without the need to travel in order to participate. As technology improved, Don pushed to digitally archive these calls on our website and eventually evolved this format into today’s webinars. The webinars have created tremendous value for our members with an average rating of 4.5 and 4.6 on a 5-point scale and an attendance of over 4,000 for 2019. He also is responsible for converting the webinars to MP4 videos for use 24/7.

Don also concurrently challenged CSFMO to take charge of its own talent and established the CSMFO Coaching Program. For nearly two decades, this program has personally benefitted so many members through long-term and short term one-on-one mentoring, speed coaching sessions, supported the enhancement of interview skills, and created a positive and easily accessible networking opportunity for all.

“CSMFO members are special,” Don commented, “because they are supportive of each other and have a willingness to share information which is very distinctive in the finance profession. This willingness to share information and create a learning environment is what attracts other groups to CSMFO like the Government Finance Officers Association, City Manager organizations and our sister states, Alaska, Oregon and Washington.” He also grateful that CSMFO enables members to gain value and support members who have fewer resources and is very satisfied that he was part of making the government finance profession more inclusive.

Throughout his years of service with CSMFO, Don not only worked with the Career Development Committee using technology to provide valuable training and communication tools, he also served as a facilitator for many of the annual strategic planning retreats and spoke at the annual conferences and led many training sessions at the annual conferences.

Don underscores that the steadfast leadership and support of CSMFO’s leadership have been key factors for success for professional development and all of the results. He particularly highlights how Mary Bradley, a past president of CSMFO and senior advisor for the Career Development Committee, has championed the efforts from the very start. Over the years, she has rallied the chairs and members of the Committee to identify important information needs and attract the hundreds of volunteer presenters and coaches who have enabled the webinars and coaching program to thrive.

The Distinguished Service Award was presented to Don at the 2017 annual conference in Sacramento. This award recognizes outstanding service on the part of an individual in the field of government finance. This is the highest honor that is bestowed by our organization. It is not necessarily made annually but is given by the President at such times as a person is judged to be deserving of this honor.

Don’s talents and dedication have been invaluable in allowing CSMFO to meet its mission to “promote excellence in financial management through innovation, continuing education, and the professional development of our members.” On behalf of CSMFO, we want to thank you Don for your talents, dedication, and innovation. CSMFO members are honored to have had you as part of our organization for over twenty years. Your legacy will continue for many years to come.

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Pamela Arends-King is a Past CSMFO President (2014) and is currently the Chief Financial Officer for South Coast Water District in Laguna Beach, CA. Prior to working for South Coast Water District, she was the Business Services Manager and the Chief Financial Officer for Union Sanitary District and the Finance Director/Treasurer for the City of Tustin. She obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in public administration with a minor in urban planning from the University of Missouri, St. Louis; completed post graduate work in accounting at California State University, Dominguez Hills; and in 2009, obtained her MBA from the University of California, Irvine. Pamela also worked as an auditor with Moreland and Associates.

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