AGE: 37
POSITION: Senior tax manager, Kahn, Litwin Renza & Co. Ltd.
RESIDENCE: Richmond
LIFELONG AMBITION: To balance work and life without guilty
FAVORITE BOOK: The “Harry Potter” series, by J.K. Rowling
GUILTY PLEASURE: Golf
Laura Hurteau DaLomba used to prefer working quietly at her desk rather than networking and going out into the business community. Then, in 2003, she joined the Rhode Island Society of CPAs federal and state taxation committee, and she was forced out of her shell.
The committee chairwoman volunteered DaLomba to be a panelist on PBS Channel 36’s annual tax planning forum TV show.
“Needless to say, I was terrified,” DaLomba recalled in her 40 Under Forty application. But with her colleagues’ guidance, she made it through her 10-minute segment.
Every year since, DaLomba has returned as a panelist, and now she also participates in Channel 36’s annual “Tax Forum” show, which allows audience members to call in for free tax advice.
“I am very proud to be a part of this tradition,” DaLomba wrote. And she has taken on a leadership role in the Society of CPAs, chairing the E-Filing Users Group and representing Rhode Island at the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ Young CPA Forum.
The experience she has gained, DaLomba said, has helped her become “a better leader and a better communicator,” the two key ingredients to advance to the partner level in accounting.
DaLomba didn’t start strong. She dropped out of college when she was 21, moved to Florida and took a job, but after two years, she was ready to go back to school and earned a degree in accounting. She’s been with Kahn, Litwin, Renza & Co. Ltd. since 1997 (she actually started at Casten, Victor & Co. LLP, which merged with that firm), rising from staff accountant to manager to senior manager. And in 2001, she got her M.S. in taxation from Bryant University, not only earning a valuable credential, but emerging with skills and knowledge that she said help her every day in her profession.
In her free time, DaLomba is busy with what she calls her guilty pleasure: golf. She is a board member of the Rhode Island chapter of the Executive Women’s Golf Association, which not only has provided plenty of opportunities to go out on the course, but also has helped her make “terrific” friends and business contacts.
