Meet Partner, JoAnne Berg!

By Paul Thiel

After years running her own business and raising a family, JoAnne Berg is finally seeing some free time…and so she’s filling it by joining SDSVP. “My youngest just left for college and my employees are mostly running the company now,” she says. “I knew I’d always get more involved on a philanthropic level because I really enjoy it.”

A CPA by training, Berg ran her own firm catering to closely held companies when she and her husband formed their own manufacturing firm, Spectrum Concepts Inc., to make the plastic injection-molded pieces that fit inside furniture to hold DVDs, CDs and the like. Spectrum’s pieces can be found in fine furniture such as that made by Drexel Heritage and Ethan Allen.

Berg’s husband, Tom Hunt, is still deeply involved in the business, while her children are building their own futures. Step-son Josh Jones, 31, is a professional bass player in Las Vegas, while daughter Sara Hunt, 18, is in her first year as a creative writing major at Chapman University in Orange County. That leaves Berg with capacity to give back to the community through SDSVP.

Berg’s background, in addition to accounting and manufacturing, extends to purchasing, logistics, real estate development, finance and risk management – all areas of expertise she hopes to bring to bear for SDSVP’s clients. She expects her biggest impact will be in helping non-profits advance their financial acumen.

“No one knows how to manage the books,” she jokes. Seriously, she says, “financial management for non-profits is twice as difficult as it is in the for-profit world. You think it’s a simple little business model, but it’s anything but that.”

The challenge, Berg says, is in tracking a matrix of revenue streams and expenses that provides accountability for both the non-profit itself as well as for its various constituencies – the state and federal governments, foundations and other grantmakers, etc. – many of whom have very specific requirements.

“Even for the $350,000-in-revenue groups we work with, it’s really hard because everything they do have different requirements,” Berg says. “It is much more complicated than my business, and my business is built to do $10 million to $20 million. But we do one thing, so it’s much more scalable.”

“Those people have a lot to offer for-profit executives, and vice versa,” says Berg. “I see a convergence of business models coming. We really have a lot to learn from the non-profit sector, and them from us,” says Berg. “There is a huge learning curve on both sides, but we are all in this together.”

JoAnne came to SDSVP when a friend introduced her to Alan Sorkin, knowing that she had done a great deal of ad-hoc work for non-profits over the years. Berg says the aspect she enjoys most about working with non-profits is meeting people who have a much different view of the world than she does. “It’s pure joy, just in terms of enhancing your life, to meet these people who have given their lives to making the world a little better place,” she says. “They have a whole different perspective. So many wonderful people.”

Come meet JoAnne as she leads the “Finance and Legal Affairs” session at SDSVP’s Partner Bootcamp!