Gina Altri
Gina Altri is the Bioengineering Group's Chief Financial Officer and serves on the Executive Management Team. Her 20+ years experience in accounting and financial management has been almost exclusively in the ever-expanding engineering/consulting industry. "I have helped similar companies manage their explosive growth so I feel I'm well prepared for what's happening here."
Gina's career began at VHB, Inc., an environmental, transportation, planning and engineering consulting firm. During her decade-long tenure there, the company grew rapidly from roughly the scale of where the Bioengineering Group is today to become a highly respected leader with multiple offices, $60 million in sales and 450 employees. "VHB was only 7 years old when I started. We quickly expanded to 7 locations throughout the East Coast. Managing that dynamic growth from all the different offices was a rewarding challenge. I had a lot of autonomy to develop and put into place a number of reporting systems which gave the owners access to the financial data they needed. I knew I had become a highly trusted team player when I was nominated to become an associate."
When the opportunity came to become the Accounting Manager at Wakefield Materials, Gina was ready for a new challenge. "I knew I would have to build the department totally from scratch. Here was this $80 million dollar concrete manufacturing company that had been in the same family for two generations with practically no formal accounting systems to analyze their business! I was given carte blanche to develop a number of reporting systems which allowed us to compare profitability by division and by location." Having 15 divisions and 25 locations didn't faze Gina at all. With her staff of 22 people, Gina was able to transform this once unsophisticated function into a smoothly operating financial department. "I was determined to have the financial data we needed to make key business decisions. Plus - I loved being part of the management team and being responsible for interviewing, hiring and training key personnel across all the remote locations."
Gina's industry background made her the perfect candidate to run the accounting department for the Bioengineering Group. Plus, she was extremely familiar with adding regional offices as well as the problems and solutions related to small business growth. Last but not least, she was very much liked and respected by the rest of the management team who diligently persuaded her to believe in our potential. Finally lured away, Gina joined the company five years ago to help us grow and evolve based on her broad experience and leadership.
Gina's skills have allowed us to significantly streamline the accounting function. Under her direction, we efficiently generate and share timely and accurate monthly financial data. Her department not only handles all the financial information, her group is the main interface for legal, banking, and HR policy questions. In addition to ensuring our financial 'well being', Gina shares her leadership via our strategic planning process and key management decisions. She has worked to help even the most junior staff recognize and contribute to the financial success of the firm, and to understand the business of managing their personal financial health through good 401k habits.
Now she's looking forward to what lies ahead: "It's an exciting time here and I feel proud of the work our people do and believe it is of true importance to our country. We have a terrific group of motivated and talented people who want to make a difference for our planet - it's very inspiring to watch their dedication. And I know providing accurate financial data is a big factor in allowing them to perform the work that they do."
Gina and her husband, John, who is a talented chef, spend a lot of time entertaining friends and family in their home in Peabody. "Everybody always wants to come to our place because the food John creates is better than a five star restaurant." Like others at the Bioengineering Group, Gina loves being outdoors and doing all sorts of activities with her husband and their 7 year old son.