2022 C-Suite Awards: Enterprise company | Michelle Brodeur, The Fogarty Center, chief financial officer
Michelle Brodeur, chief financial officer at The Fogarty Center in North Providence, has been busy.
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Already dealing with a large staffing shortage before the COVID-19 pandemic, which only exacerbated the problem, Brodeur has had to manage a host of new job responsibilities as federal and state government grant money funnels into the center.
“We quickly had to learn how to apply, process and prepare detailed accounting records for these governmental grants,” Brodeur said. “We were now required to prepare a single audit report with our regular audited financial statements, which was more intensive and expensive than in past years. This was the blur of 2020 that I remember. The finance and human resources teams were taxed with the burden of processing numerous staff bonuses and reporting on them within a short turnaround period.”
Created in 1952, the private, nonprofit agency provides an array of services and support to children and adults with intellectual, developmental, or other disabilities, including residential opportunities.
The center merged with Ocean State Community Services in 2017, where Brodeur had served as financial director since 1999. During her tenure at Ocean State, the organization grew from two employees to 25 and annual revenues jumped from $2 million to $60 million.
Brodeur says that while many of the benefits of the deal are now being realized, the process faced its fair share of hurdles.
“Even though both agencies had been in this field for over 25 years, there were many differences,” Brodeur said. “Project sustainability took its toll on the original Fogarty Center. Within the next several years, the deficits started adding up.”
Brodeur said the new finance team quickly went into research mode.
She said the team found that many clients requested additional funding, which increased revenue going forward. “The team also started educating upper and middle management about the finances of the program and informed them that everyone needed to make progressive changes to get back on track,” Brodeur said.
The team took to the challenge, Brodeur said, “and jumped right in to understand the importance of staffing patterns, monthly budgets and how to account for various funds.”
Fogarty Center CEO David Reiss, who has known Brodeur for more than 25 years, says she is widely respected and called her the heart and soul of the center.
“Thoughtful and precise, Michelle is a good judge of character and would never ask anyone to do something that she wouldn’t do herself,” Reiss said. “She not only has great accounting and auditing skills; she is a master at data systems and organization management. Michelle is constantly looking to improve her own skills and to improve the agency.”
Reiss said Brodeur does not shy away from a challenge.
“During our tenure together, we have had a few corporate mergers and without Michelle, these would not have been successful,” he said. “As CEO, I often am the public face of the agency and receive many of the accolades, but it is the strong leadership skills, commitment and vision of Michelle Brodeur that is truly the strength of the Fogarty Center.”
Brodeur is currently working with the state regrading rate methodologies and billing system changes to simplify the billing process – something that hasn’t been done in more than 10 years.
The center is also implementing new software to ease data collection for its Options program, a self-directed program in which clients are set up as their own employer and have control over creating a funding plan that works best for them.
“We realize that people are the authorities of their own lives, and our role is to empower them to be safe and achieve their dreams,” Brodeur said. “The Fogarty Center works with each individual to create a person-centered plan to discuss goals, challenges, community and employment ideas – whether it be a helicopter ride over Newport, assisting with opening a small business, getting an assistive technology device, or going to a concert. These moments bring such joy to those we support, as well as inspiration to our staff.”
