Haymarket woman wins nonprofit CFO prize

Moira Fathy Baker, a Haymarket resident and chief financial officer of the National Science Teachers Association, was recently chosen to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Nonprofit CFO of the Year Awards Luncheon, hosted by Tate & Tryon and West, Lane & Schlager.

"Moira's natural ability to see the big picture has been vital to the financial success of the association," said NSTA Executive Director Dr. Francis Eberle. "On behalf of NSTA, I offer my congratulations and thanks to Moira. We are all proud of her and know that this award reflects a life-time commitment to business management discipline and operational excellence."

In her role as CFO and chief operating officer, Baker oversees the divisions of business and finance, sys-tems development, information technology, membership, human resources, operational research, informa-tion center and facilities.

Since joining NSTA in 1996, Baker has worked on several strategic initiatives and developed business models that have brought key increases in revenue to the organization and additional member benefits to its stakeholders.

At a time when many associations have experienced a decline in membership, Baker developed a program that focused on students and new teachers. She worked with the membership department to establish stu-dent chapters in schools across the country and provide special pricing for early-career teachers. As a re-sult, NSTA today has more than 100 student chapters -- and students and new teachers make up more than 20 percent of NSTA's membership.

Baker also worked with fundraising consultants on the establishment of a development office. In 2005, NSTA hired its first development officer and a year later began its first fundraising campaign. Since its inception, the development office has raised more than $10 million in grants and contributions to support new programs.

Additionally, Baker has made numerous and substantial operational improvements to the NSTA infrastruc-ture. She set up a cost accounting system that encompasses all functions and gave management and operat-ing personnel instant access to project cost records.

The annual awards ceremony recognizes financial executives in the Washington, D.C.-area for their out-standing contributions in exceptional leadership, operational excellence and commitment to the profession while promoting improved accountability and financial reporting practices. The 2009 winners were selected from open nominations submitted to Tate & Tryon and West, Lane & Schlager. Nominations were re-viewed by an independent panel of judges made up of greater Washington metropolitan area industry ex-perts and academic leaders.

-- Press release