Meet ABA’s Accounting Department Staff
- By Liz Button
Printer-friendly versionFor the latest installment in our profiles of American Booksellers Association staff, Bookselling This Week spoke with the five members of ABA’s Accounting Department, which is led by Chief Financial Officer Robyn DesHotel.
DesHotel, who joined ABA in March after working as PEN American Center’s director of finance and administration since 2010, explained that, from an accounting point of view, “ABA is perhaps a bit more complicated than people might think.” Handling accounting for the trade association “is only the tip of the iceberg,” she noted. Among other projects, the department does all the accounting for IndieCommerce and coordinates the annual external audit of all the association’s entities. “Our goal is to achieve an unqualified audit opinion for ABA’s accounts,” she said.
DesHotel oversees four team members: Accounts Payable and Payroll Manager Maureen Parise, Accounting Manager Margaret Bartolini, Accounts Receivable Coordinator Ana Gonzalez, and part-time Billing and Collections Specialist Annemarie Majeau.
“There is a lot of expertise in the department, as several staff members have been here for a number of years,” said DesHotel. “And, like the rest of ABA staff, everyone in our group is also readily available to answer questions and willing to do whatever is needed for the good of the association and its members.”
In addition to directing the Accounting Department, DesHotel provides financial and budgetary guidance to ABA’s senior staff for all programs and initiatives, provides HR support to all staff, and manages the organization’s banking relationships, including with ABA’s investment advisor, Merrill Lynch, the manager of the association’s endowment. She is also the staff member responsible for overseeing the organization’s captive insurance company, LIBRIS.
“That’s one of the things, at least from my point of view, that is really different,” said DesHotel. “We actually operate a captive insurance company for the benefit of members because we can offer a lower-cost insurance product than other brokers can, and we have tailored it specifically to our members’ needs.”
DesHotel can be reached at (800) 637-0037, ext. 7515, or [email protected].
Maureen Parise, who has worked at ABA for 17 years, handles accounts payable and payroll.
Parise began working at ABA in a part-time position with the Membership Department. After three years, she transitioned to a full-time position handling accounts payable and all payroll-related matters.
Parise’s duties include issuing checks and making sure the association’s bills are paid. She also has personnel-related responsibilities, including tracking staff contributions to their 401k plans and medical and dental payroll deductions.
Before coming to ABA, Parise, who has a business degree, worked in the Accounting Department at UPS’s corporate office.
Parise can be reached at (800) 637-0037, ext. 7521, or [email protected].
Margaret Bartolini was ABA’s assistant controller for three years before becoming the organization’s accounting manager, a position she has held for the last six years. Prior to joining, Bartolini worked in accounting at Carpenter and Pelton, an insurance company.
In addition to overseeing the day-to-day operations of the Accounting Department and the annual external audit, Bartolini does journal entries, creates financial reports, works on the general ledger, and manages quarterly and annual membership dues deductions.
Bartolini told BTW that she enjoys working at ABA. “I like being independent and knowing all the deadlines and priorities, and doing what needs to get done,” she said.
Bartolini can be reached at (800) 637-0037, ext. 7524, or [email protected]
Accounts Receivable Coordinator Ana Gonzalez has been with ABA since 2010 and reports to Accounting Manager Bartolini.
Before coming to ABA, Gonzalez worked in accounting at a pharmaceutical company.
“I receive deposits and all payments, and I update them in the different ABA databases for membership, publisher sponsorships, and events, including the ABC Children’s Institute and Winter Institute,” Gonzalez said. “I also distribute funds to all of the IndieCommerce stores that use ABA’s merchant account to process their payments for online credit card sales.”
The mother of two children, Gonzalez said she enjoys working at a family-oriented company like ABA.
Gonzalez can be reached at (800) 637-0037, ext. 7522, or [email protected].
Billing and Collections Specialist Annemarie Majeau, who has been a part-time employee of ABA for close to three years, also reports to Bartolini.
Majeau’s responsibilities include billing publishers for expenses and sponsorships related to the ABC Children’s Catalog and Children’s Institute, Winter Institute, the Red and White Boxes, and other marketing initiatives. She sends invoices, runs related financial reports, and follows up when money is owed to the association.
Before ABA, Majeau, who has a degree in marketing, worked at AT&T for 20 years as a secretary for various district managers and was also a results manager in the company's provisioning center. Majeau said she likes the flexibility and convenience ABA offers to its staff, as well as the independence she has in her work.
“We’re all professionals, and so as long as the work gets done, that’s good,” she said.
Majeau can be reached at (800) 637-0037, ext. 7523, or [email protected].