Chapter Overview

The Last Frontier Chapter was founded several years ago and has received several CFMA National awards since its beginning. The Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA) has 94 chapters in the U.S. with a membership of over 7,500. It is the only non-profit professional association dedicated to serving the construction industry. The Last Frontier Chapter is an Alaska based group of construction financial professionals. General membership is open to financial employees of general and sub contractors, developers and special trades. Associate membership is available to anyone servicing the construction industry, such as public accountants, attorneys, bankers, material and equipment supplies, insurance agents sureties, etc.

Monthly meetings are usually held the second Wednesday of each month (Jan through April) starting at 11:00am. The location of the meetings are a mix of virtual and in-person. For more information please contact us at alaska@cfma.org. 

History of Alaska's Last Frontier Chapter

The Last Frontier Chapter of CFMA was born out of the vision of founding member Ron Jones who brought together a small group of construction professionals who were CFMA national members looking for a local chapter where they could learn, network and explore concepts and ideas about Alaska’s construction financial industry.

Co-founding member Lisa Vandergriff remembers “10 to 12 folks gathering each month at brown bag lunches with guest speakers bringing relevant topics such as insurance, surety, retirement plans and banking to the table After a few months it was apparent we had enough interest to pursue a chapter and steps were set in motion to bring it about”

“Where most chapters take about 2 years to form, set up and get going, our chapter jumped right into it and was official in less then a year” said Ron Jones. “The Chapter launched with 16 members and in its short four year life has grown to 47.” They meet monthly form September to May at lunch meetings with a guest speaker bringing relevant topics for the times. Also the chapter holds a job site walk thru twice a year with a social following. The last one in December was at the new UAA Sports Center.

The Chapter works actively toward educational endeavors that reach out not only to those active in the industry but those working toward a career in construction. The University of Alaska Construction Management Program is one of the Chapters main focus providing guest speakers to its Construction Finance classes.

Also we are working with Association of General Contractors to develop a full day of finance classes at the annual AGC November conference. The programs include panel discussions with banker, surety and a CPA going over a contractor’s income statement, balance sheet and over/under billing reports from their perspective with relevant questions and answers. Current Past-President and Education Chair James Easton heads up the development team working on the conference and said “the goal is to present interesting thought provoking programs that will bring value to the attendees.

Each year we provide a one-day “ Basic in Construction Accounting “ class. Plus a second on a variety of topics such as banking, treasury and risk management. The programs are taught by our members who are experts in the areas of training and are very well attended.

The chapter strives to be a good citizen to the Alaska community, donating to Habitat for Humanity and AGC scholarship program. Its members serve on several committees at the National level.  In addition, the chapter established a scholarship fund at the University of Alaska-Anchorage (UAA) in the name of Ron Jones.