Stephanie C. Stokes, CPA, FPAC - Founder, Consultant

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Stephanie C. Stokes is the founder of Structured Leaders, a consulting firm focused on improving financial performance for small to medium sized companies in Texas.  

A resourceful, seasoned executive with over 25 years multi-national experience working in Financial Reporting, Operational Finance, Financial Planning and Analysis, Accounting and Internal Audit, Stephanie is recognized as an operating partner focused on metrics and analytics with a proven track record of successful value creation and cost reduction initiatives. She has experience interacting with Boards, Audit Committees and PE firms while communicating complex accounting and tax related issues and has worked with companies through various financing, sale, divestiture and recapitalization activities.
 
She holds both Certified Public Accountant and Certified Corporate Financial Planning & Analysis certifications and a BBA in Accounting from Baylor University.
 
For the past nine years, Stephanie has worked with independent insurance agents as CFO of The Nitsche Group since 2014, a family-owned and operated, independent insurance agency based outside of Austin and the CFO of the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas (IIAT) from 2017-2020.  In August 2019, she relocated from the Jersey Shore back to her home state of Texas to be closer to her clients and extended family.  Since her transition to Texas, she has grown her practice to support the Construction industry.
 
Prior to moving back to Texas, Stephanie worked in New York for over ten years as a finance and accounting leader in various roles including:
  • Vice President of Accounting and Controller for Insight Communications, the 9th largest cable operator subsequently acquired by Time Warner.
  • Assistant Controller for Moody’s, a provider of credit ratings, research, tools and analysis.
  • Director of Finance and Administration in New York for LSG Sky Chefs, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lufthansa Airlines, during the challenging period post-9/11 when the airline service industry underwent significant restructuring and transition. 
 
Stephanie began her career at Arthur Andersen LLP in Dallas, Texas where she was an Audit Manager focused on Business Process Risk Consulting which included risk assessments and the outsourcing of internal audit functions. She later joined LSG SkyChefs where in addition to her time in New York she held other various leadership roles including:  Global Project Controller (Frankfurt, Germany), Director of Financial Analysis, U.S Core Operations and Director of Audits.