Announcing the 2020 GFOA Scholarship Winners.

• Position: SCHOLARSHIPS

GFOA is proud to announce the recipients of its 2020 scholarships. Our mission is to promote excellence in state and local government financial management, and these scholarships are one of the ways we accomplish this.

Carmen Avila-Yiptong is the recipient of the SI 5,000 Goldberg-Miller Public Finance Scholarship, funded by the Girard Miller Foundation. She is a research and policy analyst at the Privy Council Office, Ottawa, where she supports efforts to attract foreign direct investment into Canada. Previously, Carmen worked in the Debt Management Division at the Bank of Canada, providing research and policy assistance for the bank's role as fiscal agent for the government.

She holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of Ottawa with Honors in International Economics and Development. Carmen is pursuing a Master of Arts degree in International Economics and Finance from Johns Hopkins University--School of Advanced International Studies.

Dachel Carmelo Payrol Gomez and Mimi Livermore are the recipients of the two Frank L. Greathouse Government Accounting Scholarship awards (funded by GFOA). Each will receive $10,000.

Gomez currently works for Miami-Dade County, where he was recently promoted from accountant II to budget administrator at the Transportation Planning Organization department. He graduated in 2019 with a Bachelor's degree from Florida International University (FIU), Magna Cum Laude.

He is a full-time student at Florida Atlantic University, where he's pursuing a Master's degree in the Executive Accounting program; he expects to graduate in December 2020. He is also working on attaining a CPA license in the state of Florida.

Livermore is the finance director for Adams 12 Five Star Schools in Thornton, Colorado, where she's worked for 15 years, including prior roles as budget analyst and accounting manager. Mimi holds a Bachelor's degree in Finance from Metropolitan State University of Denver and is currently pursuing a Master of Professional Accounting degree from Colorado State University-Global Campus; she will graduate in November 2020.

Donny Hernandez received the $10,000 Minorities in Government Finance Scholarship (funded by GFOA). Hernandez is a Budget Analyst with the New York City Department of Housing Preservation & Development (HPD), the largest municipal housing development agency in the nation. He works on housing issues that affect the city's most disadvantaged communities, such as affordability, quality, and...