Stavinoha brings an extra dose of financial expertise to CFEF board

Cypress-Fairbanks Educational Foundation (CFEF) board member Dennis Stavinoha’s expertise in the finance and banking industries shines through when he describes his greatest hope for the foundation and its future goals.

 “I’d like to see us increase CFEF’s resources and investments by increasing CFEF’s awareness in the community,” Stavinoha said. “Our biggest challenge in raising money is to raise enough to combat the rising costs of college expenses and keep pace with the student growth in Cy-Fair ISD.”

 “I’d like to see us provide more scholarships for students in the future,” he said.

 A relatively newcomer to the board – he took his seat as a trustee in June 2007 – Stavinoha’s experience is put to task on the board’s finance committee, which supervises and oversees the foundation’s investments, receipts and expenditures.

 Stavinoha is a Certified Financial Planner^®, and has owned his own company since 1991. Dennis Stavinoha, Inc. specializes in working with business owners and families who are concerned about having enough, having it protected and transferring it responsibly, he said.

Prior to that he worked eight years in the banking industry.

 He graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University with a BBA in Accounting in 1984, and completed the CFP Residency Program in 1998 at University of California – Berkeley.

 “I began developing unique insight towards money after I swallowed a quarter during a 3^rd grade class, and have not looked at money the same since!” Stavinoha said.  “Money can be a source of great joy, and indeed, great pain.”