Part of becoming an extraordinary organization is building a top notch leadership team. The Crisis Center of Tampa Bay is fortunate to have great volunteer and staff leaders! Each role is crucial to ensuring the Crisis Center continues providing help, hope and healing to people in our community facing crisis and trauma.

The Chief Financial Officer at the Crisis Center serves as the financial expert and authority in the organization, ensuring financial stability and transparency. For the past three years, we have had the honor of having Maria Porto Duarte serving in the CFO role. It wasn't surprising when Maria was named a finalist in the Tampa  

Bay Business Journal's CFO of the Year Awards.

The awards aim to recognize financial professionals, who have a proven track record of outstanding performance in the role of corporate financial stewardship. Finalists were chosen by a distinguished panel of judges in the business community and were honored at a special awards luncheon held at the A La Carte Event Pavilion on February 26th.

Maria's financial knowledge, skills and abilities are critical to Crisis Center decision-making and strategic planning. A nonprofit's stability and longevity are only as solid as its balance sheet. Upon assuming the CFO roll, Maria established a new and comprehensive chart of accounts. She evaluated all vendor relationships and made changes where necessary to benefit the overall financial health of the Crisis Center.

Everything Maria does is predicated on her commitment to the mission of the Crisis Center and service to the community.  But for her, community service isn't just something she does from 8am to 5pm.  For example, she recently delivered gifts  

to elderly shut-ins on a Saturday morning after a long week at work.  She frequently stops after work to deliver food or other assistance to clients and is always quick to volunteer if someone needs help. Maria sets the bar high both personally and professionally and it's obvious that it motivates those around her to reach the same level of compassion and dedication.