The Supporting Strategies team utilizes our collective business experience, accounting and other operational management skills to provide each client with a unique set of services to support its strategic objectives.
Leslie Jorgensen, Founder & President
Paul Audet, Managing Consultant
Lisa Auger, Financial Operations Associate
Susan Cline, Financial Operations Manager
Carrie Decatur, Financial Operations Associate, Client Services Team
Karen Fafara, Financial Operations Associate
Kristen Ford, Financial Operations Associate
Debra George, Financial Operations Associate
Liz Homem, Financial Operations Manager
Lisa Jacques, Financial Operations Manager
Diane Looney, Financial Operations Associate
Jennifer McGrath, Financial Operations Manager
Jeanne Richards, Financial Operations Associate
Dee Sabelli, Business Manager
Jennifer Willner, Financial Operations Associate
Lisa Wood, Financial Operations Associate
Leslie Jorgensen, MBA
Founder & President
Leslie has been providing operational support to small businesses since 1997, including development and implementation of support infrastructure for several start-up organizations. Her background includes accounting, financial reporting, payroll, benefits administration and office management. An entrepreneur herself, Leslie has an in-depth understanding of the unique challenges faced by small businesses and start-ups. She holds an MBA from Boston University and a BA in English from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Paul Audet, MSF
Managing Consultant
Paul has 15 years of experience supporting high-tech, manufacturing, consumer electronics, and professional service companies. He has developed diverse business experience dealing with companies from early stage to over $1 billion in revenues, through his progressively responsible financial management roles. Paul has an extensive background in financial modeling, budgeting, forecasting, reporting, accounting, and analysis as well as experience preparing financial statements in compliance with generally accepted accounting principles. He has a demonstrated ability in the development, implementation and management of financial reporting and controls. He has developed strong business partnering relationships in each of his roles with a demonstrated ability to work with all levels of the organization. Paul hails from Bose Corporation, Macromedia, Cisco Systems, Lotus/IBM, and Parametric Technology. He holds an MS in Finance from the McCallum Graduate School of Business at Bentley College and a B.S. in Economics from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Lisa Auger
Financial Operations Associate
Lisa has over 12 years of experience working within banking and public accounting. For the past 8 years, Lisa worked as a staff accountant for a regional public accounting firm located in Burlington, and in this role, assisted with the completion of audits, reviews, and compilations, as well as with tax preparation. She also assisted the firm with outsourced bookkeeping services for its clients. Lisa holds a B.S. in Accounting from Salem State College.
Susan Cline, CPA/MBAr
Financial Operations Manager
Susan has over 20 years of public and private accounting experience. Susan has served as controller within the manufacturing industry, and has 10 years of public accounting experience assisting with audits as well as tax preparation as senior accountant within two regional accounting firms. Most recently, Susan has assisted small businesses with the implementation and training of Quickbooks, as well as offering them outsourced controllership services. Susan is an adjunct professor at North Shore Community College where she teaches Accounting I and II, and is involved with several not-for-profit organizations. She holds her B.S. in Accounting from Northeastern University and her MBA from Suffolk University.
Carrie Decatur
Financial Operations Associate, Client Services Team
Karen Fafara, MBA
Financial Operations Associate
Karen has gained 10 years of accounting experience through progressively responsible corporate financial roles at Teradyne and Cingular Wireless. Karen began her career as an accountant for Teradyne, assisting with accounts receivable, sales order tracking, and collections. She then moved into financial analyst positions, providing management with information on performance results versus forecast, as well as helping to calculate and track deferred revenue and sales commissions. Karen also served as project leader for implementing Hyperion Pillar budgeting software for a $300 million division. At Cingular, Karen was responsible for facilitating all aspects of the annual budget and quarterly departmental expense forecasting process for a $60 million annual budget. Within this role, she also prepared monthly and quarterly financial analysis reporting packages for management. Karen has her B.S. in Accounting and M.B.A., both from Bentley College.
Kristen Ford
Financial Operations Associate
Kristen has worked in the accounting field since 1992, and has experience working within organizations small and large, private and public. She spent several years at Strato Medical, a 150+ employee subsidiary of Pfizer, where she assisted with the month-end closing process and payroll administration, and moved on to a similar role at Centra Software, a publicly traded software company. Kristen gained start-up experience at Axya Medical, where she managed the accounting function for the company – her responsibilities ranged from AP and AR management to preparing monthly reporting and assisting management with cash forecasting. She holds a B.S. in Business and Accounting from UMASS Lowell.
Debra George
Financial Operations Associate
Debra has been working in the accounting field for almost 20 years. She has spent most of her career at Converse as a Senior Tax and Capital Budget Accountant. In this role, she assisted with tax audits including state and federal income taxes, sales tax and transfer pricing, and prepared and filed property tax returns, annual reports and business licenses for multiple jurisdictions. Debra also prepared and tracked the company's capital budget which included calculating internal rates of return. Debra has also held other accounting support roles, assisting companies with their tax filings and related activities. Debra holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Merrimack College.
Liz Homem
Financial Operations Manager
Liz has 15 years of accounting experience, most gained from her experience in various accounting roles at The Gillette Company. Prior to joining our team, Liz served as a Supervisor in corporate accounting, where she managed a staff of 3. In this role, she supervised detailed activities involved in maintenance, reporting and reconciliation of the legal books for Commercial Operations US, Canada and Oral B Laboratories, Inc. in SAP and Hyperion, and was responsible for monthly preparation of balance sheet statements and issuance to business units. Prior to this position, Liz was a Financial Analyst in various divisions, including Oral B and Braun. Liz earned a B.A. in Mathematics from Regis College, and holds an Accounting Certificate from Northeastern University.
Lisa Jacques, MBA
Financial Operations Manager
Lisa has over 15 years of experience serving as Accounting Manager for private organizations, mostly within the professional services industry. In this capacity, Lisa managed accounting staff in the successful and timely completion of month-end and annual closes, provided financial reporting, and ensured efficiency with regard to the functionality of the work flow processes within these accounting departments. In her most recent role as Accounting Manager for a multi-location forensic accounting firm, Lisa wore many hats – in addition to managing the firm’s accounting function, Lisa also managed all aspects of the firm’s HR administration including payroll and benefits administration. Lisa has her B.S. in Accounting from Merrimack College and an M.B.A. from Suffolk University.
Diane Looney, MBA
Financial Operations Associate
Diane has over 16 years of experience working in the accounting field. Most recently, Diane managed her own firm, providing bookkeeping and accounting services to small businesses on the South Shore. In this role, she provided general accounting support, and managed accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll and banking relationships. She also prepared financial statements, and worked with her clients to prepare for their annual tax return filings. Prior to that, Diane held various positions at Blue Cross Blue Shield, including Financial Analyst, where she administered all aspects of account billing in accordance with underwriting guidelines and corporate policies, and managed 80 accounts representing $30 million dollars in accounts receivable monthly. Diane holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Providence College, and graduated Magna Cum Laude with an M.B.A. from Suffolk University.
Jennifer McGrath
Financial Operations Manager
Jennifer has several years of experience assisting start-up technology companies with their accounting needs in the role of Accounting Manager. Prior to joining Supporting Strategies, Jennifer worked for NaviMedix, where she managed a team of 3 to handle the daily/monthly accounting activities for the company. This included performing the month-end closing process, and preparing financial statements, and analyzing trends, costs, revenues, and financial obligations against budget. Jennifer also managed all revenue reporting/reconciliations in accordance with GAAP, and assisted with the preparation of the annual audit. She held similar positions at Interwise and Curl Corporation, where she was the project manager for their implementation of Oracle Financials. Jennifer holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Worcester State College.
Jeanne Richards, CPA
Financial Operations Associate
Jeanne has over 15 years of accounting experience working in both public and corporate accounting. She started her career at KPMG Peat Marwick, where she was involved in the management of client audit engagements. Jeanne then worked at Staples, Inc. in various accounting roles, including Accounting Manager, where she was responsible for the preparation of external consolidated reports including 10K and 10Q for this $5.2 billion, NASDAQ traded company. While at Staples, Jeanne was an instrumental participant in the conversion and implementation of the Oracle General Ledger package. Jeanne graduated Cum Laude from UMASS Amherst with a B.A. in Accounting.
Dee Sabelli
Business Manager
Dee has over 23 years of accounting experience. Her business exposure ranges from working for large corporations such as London Fog, to smaller firms, including Hestia Creations, located in Marblehead, MA. At London Fog, Dee supported the controller with various tasks including accounts payable and accounts receivable management, payroll processing, and account analysis. At Hestia Creations, Dee supported the business owners by managing all aspects of the business' bookkeeping function, including month-end close and preparation of month-end financial reports. Dee also has experience an a entrepreneur - she owned and operated J.Higby's Yogurt & Ice Cream Shoppe of Marblehead for over 12 years. Operating her own company allowed her to gain considerable knowledge in retail sales, inventory and internal controls, management and budgeting.
Jennifer Willner, MBA
Financial Operations Associate
Jennifer has both an accounting and financial analysis background. As Financial Analyst at a large Boston law firm, Jennifer prepared financial statements and analyzed firm performance by branch and by partner. She also assisted in budgeting and forecasting for this $40MM firm. Prior to that, Jennifer spent 8 years at Inc. Magazine, where she managed the monthly closing process for a $50MM division of the company in her role as Senior Staff Accountant, and also served as a Financial Analyst to the Products Director. She received her MBA with honors from Bentley College and holds a BS in Business Administration from the University of Vermont.
Lisa Wood
Financial Operations Associate
Lisa has over 20 years of accounting experience. She spent roughly half of that time at The Gillette Company in various accounting support roles, including General Accountant and Budget Analyst for their Braun Division where she was responsible for reconciling and maintaining major accounts, including managing intercompany accounting between the U.S. and Germany. She also served as an Inventory Analyst in the company's South Boston Manufacturing Center, and as a Sales Forecast and Budget Analyst for their Stationery Products Division. After leaving Gillette, Lisa worked as a freelancer assisting small businesses on the North Shore with their accounting support needs. Lisa holds a B.S. from Johnson & Wales and has a Certificate in Accounting from Salem State College.
