Elizabeth Gonzalez will tell you that she likes numbers because numbers don’t talk back. They are honest. They give direction. And when something is wrong, as she puts it, “the red starts shouting.”
It is an unexpectedly funny explanation from a woman who has spent much of her career building financial systems, strengthening organizations, and ultimately rising to the role of Chief Financial Officer. But spend a little time with Elizabeth and it becomes clear that the numbers have never really been the whole story.
People are.
Long before the titles, master’s degrees, board positions, and professional recognition, Elizabeth was a young mother trying to build a life for three daughters. She knows what it is like to stretch what you have. She remembers times when there wasn’t food in the refrigerator. She remembers the people, family, friends, and church community who stepped in when she needed them. She has not forgotten what it feels like to be on the receiving end of someone’s generosity.
Today, as CFO of the Food Bank of the Golden Crescent, that experience gives her work an entirely different meaning.
For Elizabeth, good financial stewardship isn’t simply about balancing accounts. It is about making sure an organization entrusted with caring for its community has the resources to continue doing so. During her tenure, she has helped strengthen the Food Bank’s financial position from years when resources were painfully tight to nearly $3 million in reserves.
She is proud of that number. Very proud.
But perhaps what makes it matter so much to her is that she understands exactly who sits on the other side of it.
“I know how it feels to be on that receiving end.”
More Than the Numbers
An Unexpected Path
At 22, a company restructure moved her from data entry into accounts receivable, a job she will readily admit she hated. So she did what would become a pattern throughout her career: she found a better way to do it. Elizabeth created systems to stay ahead of collections, built relationships with insurance adjusters, and turned a role she disliked into an opportunity to become exceptionally good at solving problems.
That first unexpected step into accounting led to bookkeeping and, eventually, a desire to understand the work at a much deeper level. The inspiration came from an equally unexpected place: watching Breaking Bad. Seeing accounting used to investigate systems and uncover what was happening beneath the surface sparked an interest in auditing and forensic accounting.
With three young daughters depending on her and an ambition to build something more, Elizabeth went back to school. What began as a desire to move beyond bookkeeping ultimately grew into multiple degrees, an expanding career, and the foundation for the executive leader she would become.
For years, Elizabeth knew how to keep the books. But eventually, knowing how was no longer enough. She wanted to understand why. She wanted to dig deeper into financial systems, internal controls, auditing, and the problems hidden beneath the numbers.
The inspiration came from an unlikely place: Breaking Bad. Watching Skyler White work through accounting and internal control issues introduced Elizabeth to a side of the profession she hadn’t experienced yet. She remembers thinking, I want to do that.
At the time, pursuing that ambition meant more than advancing her career. Elizabeth was raising three young daughters, and every decision about her future was also a decision about theirs. She needed to provide, but she also wanted to show them what it looked like to keep reaching for something more.
So she went back to school.
A bachelor’s degree eventually led to an MBA in Accounting and a Master of Science in Management focused on Organizational Leadership and Change. Each step expanded what Elizabeth knew, but perhaps more importantly, expanded what she believed she was capable of becoming.
She didn’t wait for life to become less demanding before deciding to grow. She grew in the middle of it.
“I had three little munchkins that I needed to feed.”
Choosing to Grow
Becoming the Leader
When Elizabeth joined the Food Bank of the Golden Crescent in 2016, she brought years of accounting experience with her. Nonprofit accounting, however, was new territory. Restricted funds, government programs, compliance requirements, and the responsibility of stewarding resources entrusted to a nonprofit required her to stretch beyond what she already knew.
And she did.
The Food Bank became more than another stop in her career. It became a place where Elizabeth could learn, test herself, take on greater responsibility, and grow alongside an organization she came to care deeply about.
It also brought her back into the orbit of Robin Cadle, whom Elizabeth credits as one of the most important mentors in her professional life. Robin saw potential in Elizabeth, gave her opportunities to use it, and, in Elizabeth’s words, “poured so much into me.”
Bookkeeper became Business Manager. Business Manager became Controller. Controller became Chief Financial Officer.
On a résumé, that progression takes a single line.
In Elizabeth’s life, it represents years of learning unfamiliar systems, accepting greater responsibility, developing people, making difficult decisions, finding her voice, and slowly becoming comfortable occupying spaces where she once would have quietly listened from the sidelines.
Finding Her Voice
There was a time when Elizabeth could walk into a board meeting and barely say a word.
She was comfortable behind a computer. Comfortable with the numbers. Comfortable being the person making sure everything worked behind the scenes. Standing in front of the room was something entirely different.
Joining the American Business Women’s Association and the Victoria Professional Express Network began changing that.
Elizabeth deliberately challenged herself to step outside the mold she had created. She met new people. She spoke up. She asked questions. She accepted leadership opportunities that made her uncomfortable. Eventually, the accountant who once quietly listened in boardrooms became president of an organization of more than 50 professional women.
Of all her accomplishments, that transformation is one of the few that can still bring her to tears.
The awards matter. Being named one of ABWA’s Top Ten Business Women matters. But earning the trust of accomplished women she admired, leading them for a year, and realizing they now looked to her for guidance meant something different.
It gave Elizabeth tangible proof of just how far she had come.
“I’m not that accountant that hides behind anymore.”
Let’s Connect
Every meaningful opportunity starts with a conversation.
Whether it’s finance, leadership, board service, community involvement, or simply an opportunity to connect, Elizabeth believes in the value of relationships and the possibilities that can come from them.
Let’s start a conversation.
