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2021 VOLUNTEERS OF THE YEAR
By Marcus Pimentel
On February 17, 2022, I was proud to introduce to our conference audience our two Volunteers of the Year for 2021. Since our Riverside conference in 2018, CSMFO has received nominations from across our volunteers leading to selection of the Volunteer of the Year awards. It is meant to spotlight those outstanding CSMFO volunteers who made a lasting or significant impact during the prior year. Those who went above and beyond the call of duty for the benefit of our members or in support of our mission to serve all government finance professionals through innovation, collaboration, continuing education and professional development. The two members who were honored for their service in 2021 were:
Amber Johnson, Chief Financial Officer for County Connection (Central Contra Costa Transit Authority) and
CSMFO Student Engagement Committee Chair.
Mark Petrasso, Senior Vice President - Business
Development at Zions Bank and co-founder of CSMFO Commercial Member Roundtable.
AMBER JOHNSON STUDENT ENGAGEMENT COMMITTEE
Amber Johnson is being recognized for her extraordinary leadership of CSMFO’s Student Engagement Committee during the pandemic. Under her leadership, CSMFO’s student engagement efforts thrived, reaching college students at twelve colleges across California, building a partnership with schools around San Diego to leverage our 2022 Conference, and developing a resources rich communication plan to guide future school engagements efforts. From the words of her former City Manager Craig Middleton (City of Belvedere), “It was my privilege to be part of Amber’s ongoing professional journey. She is truly exceptional.” He continued with “Amber, I am so proud for how you always found ways to improve our processes. You came to the City with a fresh perspective, a willingness to learn and to challenge the status quo, with tremendous integrity, and an interest in engaging with colleagues. These qualities made you not only a wonderfully productive employee, but also a great collaborator and friend.” Amber brought these same qualities and passion for student engagement and her commitment to CSMFO was infectious. Her can-do attitude, natural passion to serve, ability to get things done well, and willingness to do whatever is asked is a great example for all of us and is an honor to our past award winners .
Amber Johnson and Mark Petrasso
Mark Petrasso, our first Commercial awardee, also embodied the give back spirit that makes CSMFO so strong. He co-founded with Membership and Neil Murthy (Chandler Asset Management, Inc.) CSMFO’s Commercial Member Roundtable, creating a forum to engage with more commercial members. Mark helped develop the scope, recruited attendees, and served as a panelist and facilitator during these commercial member meetings. He gave our members the space to learn about the benefits CSMFO offers and how to align with our government membership needs. When in 2021 CSMFO’s Career Development Committee led the re-launch of our CSMFO Mentorship Program, Mark volunteered more of his time to help reimagine this program, actively participated in planning meetings, and helped market this new program to members and mentors alike. And, when help was needed in Student Engagement, Mark was there to offer any assistance he could provide. Since joining Zion’s Bank in 2012, Mark has been a regular supporter of CSMFO Chapters, attending chapter meetings in person across the State. “Mark’s dedication and contribution to the California municipal market has spanned decades. Many local governments have benefited from Mark’s exemplary service, and his commitment to these communities is to be commended,” said Twyla D. Lehto, SVP and Director at Zions Bank. “We are so proud of Mark and genuinely extend our thanks for his outstanding work these many years and for representing the gold standard for customer service in our organization.” Mark’s journey to California and CSMFO started in Connecticut and after obtaining his Economics degree from Trinity College, he worked for Wells Fargo Bank in Phoenix and was active in Arizona’s state finance association, GFOAz. If you doubted Mark’s commitment to CSMFO, he met his wife Debbie Rosales (2020 Volunteer of the Year) at the 2014 CSMFO Conference in Palm Springs and in true CSMFO fashion, they married at the Disneyland Hotel in 2019.
Our two awardees embodied our success at supporting current and future members who were most impacted by the loss of traditional in person events. We’ve all experienced how the loss of in-person meetings has impacted college students entering the job market, those who were just starting their government finance career, and our commercial members who relied on in-person meetings to help local governments thrive. It seems only fitting that for their contributions in 2021, Amber and Mark were both added to our list of former Volunteer of the Year awardees.
