Leveraging a formative love for numbers and helping others, certified public accountant (CPA) Lisa A. Gioia naturally desired to enter the field of accounting. She has thrived as a CPA for more than 40 years and began as an independent financial management and accounting consultant in 1990 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and then has been in Kansas City, Missouri, since 1998. As a CPA licensed in Missouri, Ms. Gioia specializes in serving nonprofit organizations as an accounting contractor as well as serving as a financial officer for several nonprofit organizations. As part of her responsibilities, she helps nonprofit organizations with accounting, audits, tax returns, budgeting, cash flow preparation, grant proposals, and other needs. Ms. Gioia also prepares financial statements for the nonprofits with whom she has worked and trains nonprofit staff members.
Prior to her current position, Ms. Gioia worked in Philadelphia as an independent auditor and tax professional with numerous nonprofit organizations for eight years, including spending two of those years as a contract trainer, designing and teaching graduate-level courses for The Pew Charitable Trusts. In addition to these stints, she imparted the many facets of her expertise as an adjunct instructor of graduate programs at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania, a contractor for continuing education at The Center for Professional Education, a contract discussion leader for the Foundation for Accounting Education, and a senior fellow and teacher for the Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
In 2024, Ms. Gioia was elected to the Board of Trustees at Avila University in Kansas City. This membership position is special to her, as she graduated summa cum laude from the institution in 1981 when it was Avila College, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in accounting, French, and international management. The year Ms. Gioia graduated, she began working with Laventhol & Horwath. She held key roles at the firm through 1990 as an audit supervisor in Kansas City and then in Philadelphia as a manager in the national accounting and audit department executive office and as an audit manager. After spending many years working in her industry and sharing her knowledge with students and other emerging professionals, Ms. Gioia received a Master of Public Administration in nonprofit management from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 2007.
Having enjoyed academic and professional careers entrenched with notable milestones bolstered by an extensive list of individual honors and recognitions, Ms. Gioia is particularly proud of working with nonprofit organizations and rising through the ranks of success during her journey. After her years working for an international accounting firm, she continued to enrich her knowledge base as time progressed until she felt comfortable being a self-employed accountant. As such, she has received commendations for her industry performance, which she has always combined with caring for people. In 2023, Ms. Gioia won the Distinguished Worldwide Humanitarian Award. The same year, she earned the Northfield Village Good Neighbor Award, having previously won an accolade from Ingram’s Local Heroes in 2022.
Moreover, in 2007, Ms. Gioia was named to the Phi Kappa Phi National All-Discipline Honor Society and to the Pi Alpha Alpha National Honor Society for Public Affairs and Administration. Making her mark early, she was named Accountant Advocate of the Year by the Small Business Administration, received the Volunteer Achievement Award for Accountants for the Public Interest, and was named the Community Accountants Volunteer of the Year—all in 1992. Foundationally, in 1981, she was listed in Who’s Who Among Students in Universities and Colleges. Looking forward, Ms. Gioia aims to continue volunteering with nonprofit organizations to help advance their missions.