Teresa Polley Named President and CEO of Financial Accounting Foundation
The board of trustees of the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) has approved the election of Teresa (Terri) Polley as its president and chief executive officer (CEO). Polley is the first person to hold the title of CEO in the 38-year history of the FAF, which is the independent, private-sector organisation responsible for the oversight, administration, and finances of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB), and their Advisory Councils.
“As president of the FAF, Polley has demonstrated outstanding leadership of its mission to ensure the independence and integrity of the standard-setting process,” said John Brennan, chairman of the FAF. “Her commitment, success and expertise in this area are unrivaled, and her appointment as CEO is very appropriate recognition of the positive impact she has had on our organisation.”
Since being appointed president of the FAF in 2007, Polley has played a key role in positioning the foundation and its standard-setting boards to successfully meet the challenges of rapidly-changing economic and regulatory environments. This includes implementing initiatives to enhance the Foundation’s outreach to investors and other key constituents, establishing partnerships with professional accounting organisations to address issues in private-company financial reporting, and working to achieve permanent funding for the GASB critical to its continued independence. Recently, Accounting Today named her as one of its ’10 Worth Watching’, a designation honouring women in leadership roles in the accounting industry.
Polley brings more than 20 years of experience with FAF and FASB to her current role. Prior to being appointed president, she served as executive director of advisory groups for the FASB, acting as the primary liaison between the board and its constituent organisations that provide input into its decision-making processes. From 1990 to 1999, Polley served as controller of the FAF. She joined the FASB in 1987 as a technical associate from Arthur Andersen in its Stamford, Connecticut office, where she was a senior accountant.
Polley earned a BA degree, summa cum laude, in accounting and French from St Francis College in Loretto, Pennsylvania. She is a certified public accountant (CPA) in the state of Pennsylvania and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Connecticut Society of Certified Public Accountants (CSCPA).