Laurel LoCastro is currently the Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Secretary and a Board Member of Peerless Electronics Inc., an Employee-Owned company. She has served in the role of CFO for 6 years and was previously an independent Board Member for 4 years. Laurel is a CPA, and CGMA licensed in New York and Florida with over 25 years of experience. Much of this time was spent in the healthcare industry working for an organization in the tristate area that was also Employee-Owned. In total, Laurel has 16 years of experience working for Employee-Owned entities. Laurel began her career as an auditor with Price Waterhouse Coopers, one of the top accounting firms in the nation. After leaving the firm, she held various positions in private industry from Controller, to Vice President of a public company, to Chief Financial Officer. Laurel also has extensive experience as a Board Member; serving for two non-profit and two for-profit ESOP organizations for a cumulative term of over 20 years. She has received various awards from her employers throughout her career for her ability to project manage domestic and international finance and accounting initiatives, and for the high level of customer service her finance teams have provided to their internal customers. Laurel was also the recipient of the Long Island Business News 2011 CPA of the Year Award for private companies with revenues above $50 million. Laurel has broad knowledge in cash flow forecasting, treasury functions, ESOP transactions, budgeting and business modeling for several different industry sectors, and is well versed in project planning and developing IT solutions using technology to automate the workplace. She has directly managed accounting/finance, warehouse/logistics, IT and HR departments throughout her career.