A round of applause for the 2024 CFO of the Year honorees!
Julia Shiota, MNCPA communications coordinator | December/January 2025 Footnote
Our members are a point of pride for the MNCPA, as key figures in the industry and engaged pillars of their communities. Their dedication often leads to broader recognition, such as the annual Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal’s CFO of the Year Awards. The award recognizes financial executives and specialists for their contributions to their companies and the broader community. The MNCPA is proud to see multiple members honored each year and 2024 is no different.
This year, we’re giving a standing ovation to Carol Houghtby (CFO of Delta Dental of Minnesota), winner in the Health Care category, and Angela Riley (formerly CFO of CommonBond Communities), winner of the Career Achievement Award.
The duo took time out of their busy schedules to reflect on their careers as CFOs and the lessons they’ve learned from their leadership experiences — including the importance of work-life balance.
Carol Houghtby, CPA, CFO, Delta Dental of Minnesota
Tell us a bit about your role. What do you enjoy the most about it?
My current role as CFO of Delta Dental of Minnesota provides me with a tremendous amount of variety and involvement with our day-to-day business. However, the aspect I enjoy the most in my role is working alongside our very talented finance and accounting team to meet the needs of our business. Continually looking for better and more effective ways to support the organization in its growth, while also contributing to each team member’s personal growth, is the most fulfilling aspect for me.
What is one thing you learned from your time as a CFO?
While having a plan is extremely important, being resilient — personally and as a team — is what can make the difference in how well the plan is executed. In today’s business environment, which is changing on a daily basis, if your plan is too rigid, there there’s a chance that some great opportunities may be missed simply because they weren’t part of the plan. The best prepared presentations won’t help guide and shape the way forward if we aren’t open to seeing the changes on the horizon.
The CFO role comes with a lot of responsibility and pressure, but work-life balance is important. What things outside of work are you passionate about?
I enjoy spending time gardening and finding reasons to be outside — in the nonwinter months! I have also recently taken up Pilates, which is a great way to help balance out the work thoughts that often creep into my head, even when not at work. I also enjoy reading.
Angela Riley, MBA, Former CFO, CommonBond Communities
Tell us a bit about your most recent role. What did you enjoy the most about it?
Prior to my recent retirement, my last four CFO roles were broad-based and included accounting, finance, HR, IT, supply chain, facilities, venue management, risk management and legal. The diversity of the roles is what made the positions challenging and enjoyable for me!
What is one thing you learned from your time as a CFO?
Resilience and adaptability are requirements, given our rapidly evolving world, current work force dynamics and so on. Moreover, early identification of issues and course correction is essential for success. You also need to create a diverse team of talented professionals to be successful — it’s important to remember that finance and accounting is a team sport!
The CFO role comes with a lot of responsibility and pressure, but work-life balance is important. What things outside of work are you passionate about?
Travel has always been my escape from the day-to-day. That, along with regular exercise, has been essential to my overall wellbeing.
