Cali veteran controller, Barbara Reno, has been recognized by the San Diego Business Journal as one of 44 of the region’s Most Influential Women in Accounting. The honor calls out “talented and dynamic women executing on their companies’ goals and pushing their businesses forward.”
Barbara (known to her friends and colleagues as Barb) has served an integral role at CALI during some of the company’s most transformative years, overseeing revenues soar from $13 million to over $131 million. She joined the team in April 2012 as its Accounting and HR manager, but soon took the lead on Facilities as well. In 2014 she was named the company’s Controller and refocused on directing accounting processes and growing the team.
Today, Barb oversees monthly reporting, the general ledger and cash, day-to-day AR and AP operations, annual audits, enhancement of the current ERP system, implementation of new financial software, and much more. She’s known throughout CALI both for her dry, uniquely “Barb” sense of humor and her diehard work ethic, frequently clocking 50-60 hours a week. Barb is a very hands-on manager and fully capable of doing any of the six positions on the team she runs — a skill which makes her an especially valuable mentor to those she trains.
A master of details and efficiency, Barb makes a habit of working hard, but smart. She has on several occasions built out new systems to optimize tasks in compliance with general accounting practices. For instance, she designed CALI’s tax collection process from the ground up, using tax engine software to automate the process, manage state registrations, and improve resale certificate procedures. Her personal dedication to both the company and her department, knack for creative, well-implemented optimization, and mastery of the accounting system she helped to design solidifies her as one of San Diego’s Most Influential Women in Accounting.
