Phyllis holds a BS in Accountancy from Clemson University and an MBA from Duke University and is a licensed CPA in Illinois.
Phyllis began her career in public accounting providing tax, audit, payroll, and bookkeeping support for a variety of local nonprofits, businesses, and individuals. Phyllis spent most of the next 15 years progressing through education publishing companies, including supplemental (Tribune Education), K-6 (Pearson Scott Foresman), and Higher Ed (McGraw-Hill Education). Phyllis worked directly with Ed Tech groups to develop and manage revenue and expense budgets for growing online platforms and products.
In 2015, after spending the last two years as Controller for the Higher Ed group, Phyllis refocused her career on providing accounting, budgeting, tax, payroll, and other services to small nonprofits, including a small college, an affordable housing nonprofit, and a local symphony. In 2017, Phyllis became a part-time Controller for the Python Software Foundation and, later, in 2018, Open Source Initiative. The last several years were spent helping these open source 501(c)(3)s improve transparency to the Board, fiscal sponsors, and donors/members/sponsors; and develop compliance with accounting, IRS, local governance, and charitable solicitation. Phyllis’s extensive training and experience in the nonprofit accounting industry have given her institutional knowledge about various topics. This allows her to identify potential problems before they arise and present creative and cost-effective solutions in a timely manner.
In her spare time, Phyllis is the Treasurer and Trustee for the Cook Memorial Public Library and volunteers in the Spring as a tax preparer for the IRS/AARP program supporting low-income and senior taxpayers.