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City's Purse Strings In Good Hands

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By JOYCE McKENZIE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 30, 2008

TEMPLE TERRACE - Family members portray Diane Reichard as an upbeat, energetic woman who is extremely capable of overseeing a municipality's finance department, as well as handling the responsibilities of running a home. They also say she is dedicated to her other role as a pastor's wife.

"Her whole life really does center around the Lord," said her husband, John, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Wesley Chapel and the man to whom she has been married 32 years.

Reichard, 51, was hired in November 2005 as finance director for the city of Temple Terrace, having earned bachelor's and master's degrees in business administration and the designations of Florida certified public accountant and Florida certified public finance officer. She accomplished those benchmarks while holding down a full-time job for the city of Leesburg and raising her son, Mark, now married and also a pastor.

The Wesley Chapel resident recently added the title of nationally certified public finance officer to her portfolio after a five-year self-study program with an equal number of tests to evaluate her level of expertise in government finance issues. Topics included accounting, auditing, cash and debt management, operating and capital budgeting, pensions and benefits, risk management and procurement. The program is sponsored by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada with the support of the Governmental and Nonprofit Assistance Center at Radford University.

"There is just so much to learn; you never stop learning," said Reichard, who is quick to admit she is a stickler for being precise and doing things right. "I'm a black-and-white-type person."

In addition to her commitment to attend three of her husband's church services a week, Reichard serves as a board member of the Florida Government Finance Officers and the Central Florida Government Finance Officers associations and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

"There is nothing she can't do if she puts her mind to it," her son, Mark, said. "When she applied for her first position in the clerk's office in Leesburg, they told her they wanted someone with shorthand skills. So she went straight to the library, read a book and within a couple of days had taught herself shorthand."

Temple Terrace City Manager Kim Leinbach commends Reichard for her can-do attitude.

"I congratulate her," he said. "Not too many of her peers have attained this level of achievement, and I think it's to her benefit and to her credit to have worked so hard to obtain the same."

Reporter Joyce McKenzie can be reached at (813) 865-4849 or jmckenzie@tampatrib.com.

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