Partners
Tom Varga - Managing Partner
Tom Varga founded CFO Selections after twenty years of extensive experience working with small and growing businesses. He began his finance career with GTE, Inc. and spent eight years in various positions including operations development, accounting, finance, business development, mergers and acquisitions, and customer service.
In 1994, he became COO and CFO at Peopleware, Inc., a software company where he was responsible for a successful turnaround strategy. He then became VP of Operations and CFO for Northwest Nexus, an explosively growing internet service provider with over 10,000 customers. After selling Northwest Nexus to Winstar Communications in 1998, he continued with Winstar until 2000, serving as director of business development and finance.
After leaving Winstar, he was named CFO of Network Computing Architects, Inc., overseeing strategic and day-to-day operation in the areas of finance, accounting, human resources, and administrative operations for the West Coast-based technology reseller. He also acted as general manager for the telecommunications division. Beginning in 2001, Tom served as president of 1NService, Inc. a national alliance of network technology and security vendors, at which he led the development and growth of this select group of highly-certified IT professional services organizations.
Described as an impassioned and visionary pioneer in outsouring financial services, Tom successfully launched CFO Selections in 2002.
He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the CFO Selections Foundation. The Foundation's goal is to provide "time, talent, and treasure" to Washington children in need. It was launched in 2007 by the partners of CFO Selections, all of whom strongly believe in the concept that even small companies have an obligation to re-invest in the communities from which they earn their living.
In addition to his board work with the CFOS foundation, he has formerly been a director of Spiritwood Assisted Living Center in Issaquah, a director and treasurer of LOMA (Lutheran Outdoor Ministries Association), and a board member of the finance committee of Seattle SCORES. Other past board appointments have included director and treasurer of the Northwest Student Exchange, a non-profit international high school exchange organization, and finance committee member at the Bellevue Arts Museum.
Tom holds a BS in Finance and Accounting from John Carroll University, and an MBA from The University of Notre Dame. He lives in Issaquah with his daughter and enjoys climbing and teaching mountaineering in his spare time.
Rich Leo - Partner
Rich is CFO Selections' Partner in charge of search and recruiting and he continues to serve as a Senior Recruiter, directly placing senior level accounting and financial professionals for the firm. Since leaving his position as an Auditor with the public accounting firm Arthur Andersen in 1994, Rich has enjoyed more than 15 years of success in the executive search and recruiting business. With his business and accounting background, he is truly able to understand the needs of his clients. In 1997 Rich co-founded HCA Executive Search, a regional retained search firm based in Seattle, with current Partner Mark Tranter. In 1999 Rich and Mark raised $2M from a Seattle area venture capital firm and launched an Internet recruiting portal, partnering with hundreds of accounting and finance associations across the US, including the WA Society of CPAs and the Financial Executives Institute (FEI); their portal served as their partners' online job board. Since 1997 Rich has placed hundreds of accounting and finance professionals for emerging growth, mid-market and Fortune 500 clients. A sample of positions placed include CFO, Corporate Controller, Director/VP Finance and other senior level finance positions for clients such as BECU, Celebrate Express, T-Mobile, Alaska Air Group, Nuprecon, enseQuence, and Radiant Research.
Rich holds a BSBA in Business with an emphasis in accounting from the University of Arizona. He and his wife Jennifer have four children, Jessica, Gabriella, Nicholas, and Joshua. In his spare time, when he's not chasing around his four young children, he squeezes in a round of golf and a game of racquetball.
Mark Tranter - Partner
Mark Tranter has the distinction of having the most fun job at CFO Selections – he is responsible for business development. He organizes, hosts, and attends a large number of networking events, ranging from one-on-one meetings to roundtables, seminars, and forums.
In the 10 years before joining CFO Selections, Mark Tranter helped national companies of all sizes with their executive search needs. For the past 2 years he was in charge of Paladin Partners' executive search division. His executive search career followed several years in sales management in the fledgling wireless industry, notably at McCaw Cellular and NEC America.
In 1997 Mark, along with Partner Rich Leo, co-founded Human Capital Advisors to provide companies with top executive talent and help thousands of successful executives around the country with their career progression. Mark speaks around the country monthly helping executives in transition get to their next career level.
Mark holds a B.A. in Finance from Central Washington University and in his spare time, he enjoys traveling, golf, and playing the drums.
