An Interview with Darlene Malaney.

• Author: Fu, Elizabeth
• Position: IN PRACTICE: INTERVIEW

For more than 30 years, GFOA's Women's Public Finance Network (WPFN) has fostered the careers of women in public finance. WPFN is a networking group open, at no cost, to all active GFOA members who are interested in helping women advance in the profession through education, networking, and mentoring opportunities. GFOA's Elizabeth Fu sat down with WPFN President Darlene Malaney, special projects manager, Collier County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller for the City of Naples, Florida, to talk about her involvement with GFOA and WPFN.

For the love of finance and the passion of public service

Darlene is a self-described finance geek, but she is not an accountant. Using the analogy of cooking and baking, she describes herself as someone who loves to cook and is pretty good at it, but who hates to bake. As a cook, she is able to use a dash of one ingredient and a splash of another to make a delicious meal. A baker, however, must follow the exact recipe to have a delicious output. Understanding this, she enjoys the gray space that is finance and appreciates the talent of her accounting colleagues.

Darlene decided to focus on the field after college. She saw a newspaper classified ad for a position at the Florida League of Cities and applied, securing a role as a financial analyst. The role introduced her to a career in public finance as well as to GFOA. At the Florida League of Cities, Darlene helped support the investment and retirement programs that the League administers on behalf of cities in the state. Because the Florida League of Cities provides association management functions for the Florida GFOA, Darlene learned of the national GFOA and used its best practices on investment policies and retirement plans for the programs she was supporting. Darlene worked at the Florida League of Cities for many years, eventually becoming the associate director of Financial Services, marketing the League's investment and retirement programs.

From there, she went on to a legislature-created entity called Citizens Property Insurance, where she served as the finance director, providing coverage after a series of storms had insurance companies pulling out of the state. In that role, Darlene continued to focus on investments, until additional legislation was passed that restructured the entity. She moved to the Bogdahn Group (now AndCo Consulting), an investment consulting firm that at that time catered to small local governments. Her prior work...