Get to Know Harrington Group Partner: Tonetta Conner

Here at Harrington Group, we pride ourselves on being a little family unit. We each play our own role and we come together as a strong team. This week, we are shining the spotlight on one of our most valuable team members, managing partner Tonetta Conner.

Tonetta’s passion to become an accountant started at the age of fifteen, when she took her first accounting course in high school. Here, she managed and prepared “mock” corporate books and developed a desire to help others manage their business operations. From here on out, she was hooked. She went on to major in Business Administration, with an emphasis in accounting at the University of California, Berkeley. Then, of course, she later became a licensed CPA.

Early in her career, Tonetta worked as a Controller for a design-build firm and then as an accountant at a Los Angeles based CPA firm. Tonetta joined the Harrington Group family in June 1997. This is when she was able to combine two of her greatest passions: accounting and the wonderful opportunity to serve nonprofit organizations. Over her many years with the firm, she has drawn upon her extensive experience to provide accounting, auditing, tax, and management advisory services to our clients. A knowledgeable professional, Tonetta has developed her expertise in working with a range of nonprofit organizations—from privately funded community organizations, mental health agencies, foster care organizations to private and charter schools. Tonetta truly believes in the focus of the firm to be “a trusted nonprofit partner.” Outside of work, she is a philanthropist herself, supporting various nonprofits through donations and contributions.

Tonetta stands strong in her leadership role at this company and beyond. Her tenacity and her captivating public speaking abilities support her in leading others. She has shared her insights as a speaker at the California CPA Education Foundation’s Nonprofit Organizations Conference and as a speaker for CompassPoint on nonprofit finance.  Tonetta is often the speaker at the firm’s “NPO Symposiums” which are hosted quarterly on a variety of nonprofit topics and she provides tailored nonprofit management training to the Boards of her clients.

Tonetta is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the California Society of Certified Public Accountants (CalCPA). She also holds a Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) designation from the AICPA.

Outside of her professional pursuits, Tonetta enjoys spending time with her family, attending sporting events and traveling the world. Those who know her well would say she is a “daredevil” and a “world traveler”, which are truly supported by her many traveling adventures—ziplining over the rainforest in Costa Rica, bungee jumping in Australia, driving an amphibian dune buggy through the Dominican Republic, and being up close and personal with “big game” on safari in Africa.  Tonetta loves to travel the world not just for the adventure, but also for cultural enlightenment. “We live in a society made of up people from various backgrounds and cultures. Seeking to know more about other cultures is to embrace that fact.”