Trisha Higgins, CPA, vice president and CFO of the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation, was presented with the Lehigh Valley Business CFO of the Year Award in the category of Small Non-Profits (24 or fewer employees) on Sept. 17.

Higgins received the award at a ceremony held at DeSales University. Awards were presented in seven different categories and honor financial executives in the Greater Lehigh Valley who have demonstrated significant impact on their companies and have contributed to the region's economic growth and stability.Higgins was nominated for the award by the community foundation's staff. She was selected as a finalist by a panel of independent judges and then chosen as the winner based on the judges' ranking of three criteria: career achievements, impact of the nominee's contributions and leadership in other areas of management.Higgins joined the staff of the community foundation in 2002 as its first director of finance and administration when the foundation had a total of 108 different funds and assets of over $14 million.In 2013, she was promoted to vice president and CFO. Today, she oversees all the financial and operational administration of the foundation, which now has 180 funds, over $40 million in assets and makes over $2 million in grants to nonprofit organizations in the Lehigh Valley and surrounding communities on an annual basis.