The Society of Defense Financial Management held its 2023 Professional Development Institute, recognizing professionals in the fields of comptrollership, accounting, budgeting and finance.

St. Louis, Mo., June 29, 2023 — The Society of Defense Financial Management (SDFM) held its hybrid 2023 Professional Development Institute (PDI) for the defense financial management (FM) community with 7,500 total attendees, the largest number of attendees in the organization’s 75-year history. PDI is SDFM’s premier training event and was held in person in St. Louis, Missouri with co-host SDFM Land of Lincoln Chapter from May 31 – June 2, 2023, with a virtual option available.

“I can’t thank our staff, volunteers, government leaders, corporate sponsors, and all of our members enough for making SDFM the best professional association to be a part of,” said CEO Rich Brady. “We are excited to see everyone again next year for PDI 2024 in Phoenix!”

The Honorable Michael McCord, Under Secretary of Defense (comptroller)/chief financial officer was the keynote speaker. SDFM President Audrey Davis, director of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, presented awards for outstanding performances in defense FM.

The 2023 PDI Individual Achievement Award winners and Team Achievement Award winners are:

  • National President’s Award – Honorable Caral Spangler, Assistant Secretary of the Army, (Financial Management and Comptroller)
  • National President’s Award – General Larry Spencer, U.S. Air Force (Retired)
  • Ernest J. Gregory Comptroller of the Year – Dr. James E. Moyer, CDFM-A, U.S. Army Forces Command
  • Distinguished Comptroller of the Year – Lieutenant Colonel Carl Chen, CDFM, Air Education and Training Command, U.S. Air Force
  • Meritorious Comptroller of the Year – Colonel Michelle Williams, CDFM, 18th Airborne Corps, U.S. Army Forces Command
  • Accounting Distinguished – Shawn Copeland
  • Accounting Meritorious – Tanya Gilliam, Renea LeGuillon
  • Acquisition/Cost Distinguished – Josh Winner, CDFM
  • Acquisition/Cost Meritorious – Alex Porter, James D. Morrison
  • Auditing Distinguished – Cristina Nunez
  • Auditing Meritorious – Jonathan S. Peoples; Charles W. Edson, CDFM; Eric S. Bockhorn
  • Budgeting Distinguished – Captain Jasmin Solis, U.S. Air Force
  • Budgeting Meritorious – Jason Arellano, CDFM; Major Christopher O’ Dell, U.S. Air Force
  • Contractor Distinguished – Andrew Walker
  • Contractor Meritorious – John Trimboli, Rori L. Turnquist, Michael D. Noble
  • Finance Distinguished – Asima Humayun
  • Finance Meritorious – Douglas Danbery, Teresa Gholston, Jeffrey Hedrick
  • Intern/Trainee Distinguished – Sarah L. Gwaltney
  • Intern/Trainee Meritorious – Madison M. Hart, Lekeisha D. Clayton, Jessica McElwain
  • Resource Management Distinguished – Andrew C. Rapp
  • Resource Management Meritorious – Robert Briede, Randall Abbott
  • Small Team Distinguished – U.S. Department of Navy Financial Management Data, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy
  • Small Team Meritorious – Advana Improper Payment Detection Team – Expansion to GFEBS
  • Large Team Distinguished – Task Force Dragon Team, 18th Airborne Corps
  • Large Team Meritorious – Business Integration Planning and Budgeting Team, J8, Defense Health Agency

A full list of award winners, including Chapter Recognition Awards, Corporate Member of the Year, Essay Contest Winners, Recruiters of the Year and more can be found at https://asmconline.org/membership/awards/2022-2023-award-winners/.

The PDI 2023 program included 112 educational workshops and 14 DFM certification courses focused on DFM competency areas. Speakers discussed current issues in the DoD and U.S. Coast Guard financial management operations. Mini courses provided participants the
opportunity to obtain direct credit toward meeting certain defense FM certification requirements. SDFM administered 108 certified defense financial management (CDFM) exams at the PDI.

2023 PDI sponsors included: Aeyon, SDFM Small Business Committee, BDO, CALIBRE, Deloitte, EY, Guidehouse, IBM, Kearney & Company, KPMG, J.P. Morgan, Lodestar Consulting Inc, Lynch Consultants LLC, Macro Solutions, Management Concepts, OneStream, Oracle,
OneStream, Sales Force and UiPath.

About SDFM

SDFM is the non-profit educational and professional organization for persons, military and civilian, involved in the field of defense financial management. It represents over 14,000 professionals in the defense financial management community, 105 chapters, and 70 corporate partners. SDFM promotes the education, training, and certification of its members, and supports the development and advancement of the defense financial management profession.

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