Volunteer Of The Year Jennifer Wakeman

Volunteer of the Year Award Jennifer Wakeman

The Leadership of CSMFO feels that recognition is important and that is why we created the Volunteer of the Year Award to highlight an individual who helps us excel. Jennifer Wakeman has been instrumental in moving forward an initiative that has been near and dear to many of us in CSMFO leadership. We all talk about succession planning, and looking ahead in our world of municipal finance, student engagement has been an area targeted for increased focus. She led our Ad Hoc Student Engagement Committee of 12 committed CSMFO members who reached out to students throughout the state resulting in 40 CSMFO student members, some attending this year’s conference. Through her leadership and board updates, she helped shine a light on the future of municipal finance. Jennifer Wakeman has been a remarkable champion of this student engagement effort as lead of the Ad Hoc Committee, to the point that Student Engagement will now be a permanent standing committee. CSMFO Leadership and the organization as a whole, appreciate your time and boundless energy to lead this effort. You’ve embraced the workload, got others involved and did so always cheerfully.

Distinguished Service Award David Cain

The CSMFO Distinguished Service Award recognizes outstanding service on the part of an individual to the field of municipal finance. This is the highest honor that is bestowed by the Society. It is not a competition, and not necessarily awarded annually, but is given at such times as a person is judged deserving of the honor. David Cain has more than 45 years of professional experience in the public and private sector, working in management and finance for cities and special districts, and also as a consultant to local government. As a CSMFO board member and committee chair, and currently a senior advisor to one of our standing committees, David joined CSMFO in 1993. He has served on a number of annual conference host committees, and has been primarily responsible for identifying and securing our fantastic keynote conference speakers over the last several years. David is the retired Director of Finance and Treasurer for the City of Fountain Valley, and his public service career includes work for the cities of Chino and Sierra Madre, Moulton Niguel Water District, and the City of San Bernardino during its bankruptcy proceedings, including being a consultant with Urban Futures. Professor David Cain teaches Public Budgeting and Financial Administration, Public Sector Labor Relations, Public Policy Analysis and Human Resource Management at Cal State University Northridge, Cal State Long Beach and Cal Poly Pomona. In addition to CSMFO, David is a member of CMTA and GFOA, and is a frequent contributor to the CSMFO News. In retirement, David never fails to raise his hand when CSMFO issues a call for volunteers, and David continues to demonstrate his passion for and commitment to local government and public service, through his continuing work in higher education. For outstanding service in the field of municipal finance, we honor David Cain as a 2020 recipient of the CSMFO Distinguished Service Award.