#010-Creating Impact In The Industry As Part Of COPAS with Melissa Gruenewald
In today’s episode, Tom and Phil are joined by Melissa Gruenewald, founder and CEO of Green Forest Financial, PLLC, a CPA and advisory firm, and sitting vice president of Council of Petroleum Accountants Societies (COPAS). They discuss the many benefits of being an active member of COPAS, and how it has helped Melissa develop her career skills, relationships and leadership abilities. They also talk about things you can do to invest in yourself during the pandemic and making decisions moving forward.
Highlights:
2:41 Why Melissa decided to start her own firm in the middle of the Pandemic
4:20 How COPAS has benefited Melissa’s career in oil and gas
6:09 How COPAS helps in your day to day duties
9:03 Developing leadership skills
13:17 Why consensus is a big part of the process at COPAS
13:58 The true value of networking within an organization like COPAS
17:56 Ways that members can be involved in COPAS
20:53 Getting started in oil and gas even when you think you need more experience
23:03 The value of attending local and national COPAS meetings
29.55 The importance of patience in the current industry downturn
37:33 Decision making and planning for the future during the pandemic
41:07 Melissa’s vision for the coming year as president of COPAS
About Melissa Gruenewald:
Melissa Gruenewald is the founder and CEO of Green Forest Financial, PLLC, a CPA and advisory firm. For 24 years, Melissa worked at large and small oil and gas companies with varying accounting responsibilities including joint interest, revenue, joint venture audit, gas balancing, payout, compliance, and financial reporting. Melissa is currently on the Board of the Council of Petroleum Accountants Societies (COPAS) and serves as the Vice-President. She also currently serves as the COPAS-OKC Audit Committee Co-Chair. Melissa received a Bachelor’s in Accounting from Southern Nazarene University and a Master’s in Accounting from DeVry University. She is a licensed Certified Public Accountant, Certified Management Accountant, and Accredited Petroleum Accountant.
Connect with Melissa:
About SherWare, Inc.
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SherWare creates software to simplify your accounting needs so you have more time to do the things that matter. We serve independent oil and gas operators, accountants and investors with a platform to manage their distributions and joint-interest billings on a platform — and we’re the only software on the market that can integrate with your QuickBooks company.
Click here to watch a demo of the software in action right now.
About COPAS:
COPAS provides expertise for the oil and gas industry through the development of Model Form Accounting Procedures, publications, and education. We are a forum for the active exchange of ideas which result in innovative business and accounting solutions.
Quotes
Quite honestly, you can go and you can get a degree or you can read a book, but growing in your leadership really comes from doing it.-Melissa Gruenewald
COPAS is not just documents, it’s people. It’s a group of people, they create documents, they create kind of the framework around how oil and gas accounting is done.- Melissa Gruenewald
Being involved in the organization gives me access to the people who can help explain the why. And that makes me a better oil and gas accountant. – Melissa Gruenewald
You know, leadership is not about getting out there and telling people what to do, you’ve really got to listen and understand and serve other people.- Melissa Gruenewald
And I just think it’s important for our listeners to know, you know, you’ve got to just jump in somewhere, you can’t just sit there and go, well, when I get enough experience, I’ll be able to contribute.- Tom Wierman
#002: How to Use Your Knowledge Network to Grow
Most of us in the business world know that our network is like gold. But are we actually using it effectively? And what do we do in 2020, when the world has ground to a halt with COVID19? Today’s guest, Dan Trienzenberg, accredited petroleum accountant and controller at Wolverine Gas and oil Corporation, is here to show us how to maximize our networks to help grow our careers, roles and businesses as we dive into how to use knowledge networks.
On this episode we talk about:
– Dan’s love of Pickleball (2:28)
– How Dan’s Knowledge Network saved his company thousands of dollars per year recently (6:25)
– How to find the right people for your Knowledge Network (8:12)
– The difference between informal and formal Knowledge Networks and why both are valuable (and easy to build) (11:10 & 18:07)
– What makes a good networker (20:41)– How to build your own Knowledge Network (29:14)
– How to make the most out of virtual and (one-day-again) in-person events (31:14)
Connect with Dan Triezenberg:
Dan has been with Wolverine Gas and Oil Corporation since 2005. He has 15 years of experience in numerous areas of oil and gas accounting including joint interest, revenue, tax, and financial reporting. Dan is a Michigan Certified Public Accountant and a graduate of Calvin College where he earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Accountancy. He also earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Grand Valley State University and is an Accredited Petroleum Accountant. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Michigan Association of CPAs. He is also an active member of the Council of Petroleum Accountants Society of Michigan. Dan married his high school sweetheart, Beth, and they have three children- Andrew (18), Anna (15), and Simon (13).
Connect on LinkedIn
Connect on Facebook
About SherWare:
SherWare creates software to simplify your accounting needs so you have more time to do the things that matter. We serve independent oil and gas operators, accountants and investors with a platform to manage their distributions and joint-interest billings on a platform — and we’re the only software on the market that can integrate with your QuickBooks company.
Click here to watch a demo of the software in action right now.
About COPAS:
COPAS provides expertise for the oil and gas industry through the development of Model Form Accounting Procedures, publications, and education. We are a forum for the active exchange of ideas which result in innovative business and accounting solutions.