MFM To Honor 11 At Annual Conference

The theme for Media Finance Focus 2011, the 51^st annual conference for MFM and its BCCA subsidiary, is “Empowering Growth…Inspiring Progress.” These are also qualities that describe MFM and BCCA’s 2011 award recipients. Their contributions have not only benefitted our organization, they have helped to empower growth and inspire progress for the industry.

Since one of the favorite parts of my job is talking about the members who keep us growing and moving forward, I thought I’d take this opportunity to tell you about 11 special people we will be recognizing when we get together in Atlanta in May. 

Four years ago, we established member awards to honor the contributions made by individuals who understand that associations are the original professional network and the best place to develop and share information and best practices.

This year’s honorees are simply outstanding.

The MFM Rainmaker Award is given to members whose efforts and contributions have helped the association grow. Its recipients:

William Fitzsimmons, SVP, corporate finance and CAO for Cox Communications, and a past chair of the MFM board who currently serves on MFM’s Advisory Board; Michael Denson, VP, network credit and collections for Katz Media Group; C. Robin Szabo, president of Szabo Associates; and Dwight Delapenha, a partner at Grant Thornton.

In addition to setting the bar for new revenue sources when he chaired the MFM 2008 conference and his role in rebranding the former BCFM, Bill Fitzsimmons’ insights on trends affecting business planning and budgeting led to educational programs that have helped to advance financial planning among our member companies and the industry. Bill’s other contributions include leadership roles on both MFM’s Strategic Planning and Cable Committees. 

Mike Denson is leading MFM/BCCA’s initiative to create an electronic clearinghouse to facilitate credit approvals.Today, advertisers are being asked to complete scores or even hundreds of credit applications when they run an advertising campaign — one for each media outlet that carries their message. When fully deployed, this innovation will benefit advertisers, advertising agencies and media companies by providing a one-stop shop for a standard credit application.

In addition to his work on the e-credit initiative, Mike previously served as a member of the MFM board and is currently a member of the Advisory Board. He also continues to serve on the BCCA Committee, where he helps to shape the credit and collections track for our annual conference, and as a member of the Editorial Advisory Committee for The Financial Manager, our bi-monthly magazine.

Robin Szabo is a former MFM Board Member and currently serves on the MFM Advisory Board as well as on the TFM Editorial Advisory Committee, the Emerging Media Committee and Membership Committee. In addition, his company consistently ranks as one of the top supporters of the MFM/BCCA annual conference, regional seminars and TFM magazine. Knowledge is power, and Robin is always helping to empower the industry’s credit and collections professionals by sharing what he’s learned as he works to optimize media industry collections. 

As co-chair of MFM’s Accounting Committee, Dwight Delapenha is an active MFM recruiter. For the past couple of years, he has represented Grant Thornton during the Newcomer’s Reception at our annual conference. A conscientious CPA, Dwight is always on the lookout for new accounting regulations and their impact on the media industry.

In addition, he contributes articles to TFM magazine and frequently leads educational sessions addressing accounting issues for our annual conference and Distance Learning Seminars. He has been particularly helpful in preparing the industry’s financial managers to address changes related to the impending U.S. adoption of IFRS — International Financial Reporting Standards.

The Working Capital Award is given in recognition of members who have made significant contributions to help MFM achieve its goals.

This year’s recipients: Robert Amos, controller, Tampa Tribune; William Waters, controller, Swift Communications; Dean Rohrbaugh, director, Tax Information Systems, for The Washington Post Co., and George Stella, president of CCR.

Bob Amos and Bill Waters were early recruits to the Newspaper Committee formed when members of INFE — Interactive & Newsmedia Financial Executives Association — joined MFM. They both have remained active members of this committee, helping to ensure our educational programs address the needs of financial professionals in the industry’s print media businesses. Of course, newspapers and magazines increasingly share common ground with their broadcasting brethren, especially as we expand our customer relationships via emerging media platforms, such as smart-phones, tablets and connected TVs.

Dean Rohrbaugh, a former member of the MFM Board of Directors, serves on our Advisory Board. Dean is also a member of the Association’s Tax Committee. In addition to his tireless efforts to develop conference sessions for members of the Media Industry Tax Group and tax-focused sessions for MFM members who are not tax professionals, but have a need to know the basics, Dean contributed heavily to the rewrite of MFM’s Records Management Guide. 

A longtime member of MFM, George Stella is a contributor to TFM magazine and a frequent participant at MFM/BCCA educational events. His company has a long history of supporting the annual MFM/BCCA conference, regional seminars and TFM.              

Our BCCA subsidiary presents two awards each year.

The BCCA Contributor Award is given in recognition of an individual or individuals who have contributed significantly to BCCA and the media credit and collection industry. The Peter F. Szabo Career Achievement Award is presented in recognition of a past or current BCCA member whose efforts have contributed to the growth of the association and the industries it serves. This award was named for Szabo & Associates founder Pete Szabo, who truly exemplified a lifetime of contributions to BCCA and the credit and collections profession,     

The Contributor Award is being shared by two recipients, Wanda Borges, an attorney and principal member of Borges & Associates, and Bruce Nathan, an attorney and a member/shareholder of Lowenstein Sandler PC.  Wanda and Bruce frequently volunteer their expertise in legal maters affecting credit and collections, including serving as presenters at the annual MFM/BCCA conference and regional seminars, leading Distance Learning Seminars, publishing articles in TFM and by participating in the association’s “Ask The Expert” program.

Peter Gallo,formerly Director of Credit for USA Today, is this year’s recipient of the Szabo Award. Gallo’s selection reflects his many years of service to advancing the credit and collections profession within the media industry, including his leadership roles within Advertising Media Credit Executives Association International, the National Association of Credit Management and the New York Credit and Financial Management Association.

Our 2011 award recipients have both empowered and inspired our members to advance the profession and practice of financial management within their organizations and throughout our industry. We are looking forward to recognizing their numerous and invaluable contributions at our annual confenence, which will be held May 15-17 at The Westin Peachtree Plaza in Atlanta.

I would be remiss if I failed to mention that, in addition to those listed above, the MFM board just voted at our to present three additional member awards in Atlanta. We will be announcing these in the coming weeks, once we’ve notified the recipients. 

Media Finance Focus, the only event in the media industry that’s fully devoted to financial decisionmakers from media and communications companies nationwide, will feature more than 150 presenters and provide the latest information on accounting, taxes, human resources, technology, and credit and collection issues tailored to the media industry.

Confirmed keynoters for this year’s conference include Sen. Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.); Dennis Lockhart, president-CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta; Jason Bazinet, a senior analyst covering entertainment, cable and satellite equities at Citigroup; and Cox Media Group President Sanford (Sandy) Schwartz.  

When talking about why he encourages his staff to become involved in the association and to attend our annual conference, one of our senior members said, “An adequate employee isn’t good enough  I need someone who knows our business now.”

I urge you to follow his lead and give the people you count on for growth and progress in your companies the opportunity to join us in May. In addition to empowering them with highly valuable knowledge and the inspiring examples of our keynoters and award honorees, Media Finance Focus 2011 provides industry-specific continuing professional education credits (CPE) for CPAs. 

MFM is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. Educational session attendees are eligible to receive approximately 20 CPE credits.

For more information and to register for the conference, visit the MFM website.

Finally, I hope you will join me in congratulating all of our 2011 award honorees. As their contributions to MFM and BCCA demonstrate, their support hasn’t been limited to benefitting the financial performance of their employers and companies. They have helped to empower and inspire better results — and better employees — across our industry.

Mary M. Collins is president & CEO of the Media Financial Management Association and its BCCA subsidiary. Her column appears in TVNewsCheck every other week.You can read her earlier columns here.