The People Behind the Numbers: The 2026 Finnies Award Winners

It was more than coffee that brought energy back to the crowd in the post-lunch afternoon on day one of ElevateAEC 2026. The debut of the Finnies on the Elevate stage gave a jolt of excitement to the crowd as SNZweig’s Alyson Fieldman and Brad Wilson took the stage to present the inaugural Financial Leadership Awards. 

Known simply as the Finnies, these awards celebrate the financial leaders helping move AEC firms forward. From nine finalists across three firm-size categories, three winners emerged, each showing that strong financial leadership extends well beyond the numbers. 

Small Firm: Maria Silvana Mori, CSI USA Group 

By the time 2025 ended, two of CSI USA group’s operations had turned a difficult financial outlook into a year that exceeded expectations. At the center of that turnaround was Maria Silvana Mori, whose ability to solve problems beyond the finance department earned her the inaugural small firm Finnie. 

Both operations had been tracking behind budget, prompting company leadership to assemble a cross-functional committee with Mori at the helm. She brought together operations, procurement, and finance to identify solutions, coordinate improvements, and report progress directly to the executive team and parent company’s Board of Directors. The effort ultimately pushed both operations beyond their original budget targets. 

That success reflects a much broader role within CSI USA Group. Mori has shaped how the firm prices its services, evaluates new business opportunities, and approaches major purchasing decisions. Her analysis regularly informs decisions long before they reach the balance sheet. 

What truly distinguishes Mori is the trust she has built across the organization. Colleagues seek her perspective because she brings clarity to complicated decisions and follows through on the solutions she recommends. In a smaller firm, where financial management can easily become a behind-the-scenes responsibility, Mori has made herself an indispensable part of the conversation about where the business goes next. 

Mid-Sized Firm: Amy Strainer, Stahly Engineering & Associates 

Growth brings opportunity, but it also introduces complexity. For Amy Strainer, CFO and board member at Stahly Engineering & Associates, navigating that complexity has meant balancing the needs of an expanding business with the interests of the employees who own it. 

When Strainer joined Stahly, the firm was still family owned. She played a vital role in its transition to an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) and has since become the firm’s in-house authority on employee ownership. Her work has included bringing an experienced outside director onto the board to strengthen governance and help connect the ESOP’s long-term potential with the firm’s strategic goals. 

Meanwhile, Stahly has been growing in several directions at once. Two new offices, an acquisition, and the launch of a sister bridge-building company have expanded the organization’s reach and responsibilities. Strainer serves as CFO and a board member for both companies, managing competing priorities while keeping their shared financial interests in view. 

Her influence is equally apparent in decisions closer to home. From evaluating employee benefits and compensation to overseeing a major modernization of the firm’s IT infrastructure, Strainer has helped Stahly make investments that support both its workforce and its future. When the technology transition revealed unexpected needs, she worked with vendors to control costs while expanding services. 

For Strainer, financial leadership is inseparable from employee ownership. Every expansion, investment, and operational decision carries implications for the people building the business. Her ability to connect those decisions to long-term value is what earned her the inaugural mid-sized firm Finnie. 

Large Firm: Laura Conrad, Lawrence Group 

Few people know Lawrence Group like Laura Conrad. Her history with the firm stretches back to 1986 when she first walked through the doors as an intern. Four decades later, she has helped transform the organization into a diversified national enterprise, all while preserving the entrepreneurial spirit that shaped its beginnings. 

Since becoming CFO in 2002, Conrad has helped Lawrence Group navigate the increasingly complicated business of getting bigger. As the firm expanded its national footprint, she played a key role in leadership transitions in Austin and New York, ensuring continuity for existing teams while creating room for new leaders to establish themselves. During the early 2020s, she helped guide the firm’s expansion into Florida and oversaw the establishment of two offices and the selection of a new managing principal. 

In 2004, Conrad helped establish the firm’s in-house construction and development operations, which eventually became Integrate Construction Partners and New + Found. Together these businesses expanded Lawrence Group’s capabilities and opened new avenues for growth. 

Conrad carries an unusually wide range of responsibilities, which requires her to move comfortably between industries, business models, and competing priorities. Her tenure tells the story of a firm that has repeatedly found new ways to grow, and a financial leader who has helped make those ambitions possible without losing sight of what made the organization successful in the first place. 

Setting the Bar for What’s Next 

The best financial leaders do more than protect a firm’s bottom line. They help determine what that firm is capable of becoming. Across the inaugural class of Finnies winners, that influence was evident in decisions about growth, ownership, operations, and the willingness to pursue new opportunities. 

For a first-year award, the Finnies have already made a compelling case for the importance of recognizing that work, and there’s reason to believe their influence could extend well beyond the stage at ElevateAEC. 

Consider Hot Firm, Best Firms to Work For, and Rising Stars. Each began as a way to recognize excellence within the AEC industry, but their influence grew alongside their reputations. They started as a a way to reflect industry achievement, but eventually grew to help shape the expectations, ambitions, and conversations surrounding it. 

The Finnies have an opportunity to do the same for financial leadership by bringing greater visibility to a role that has become increasingly central to the future of AEC firms. The first winners have set the bar, but this award’s greatest impact may come from how high the next generation of financial leaders pushes it. 

source https://zweiglist.com/the-people-behind-the-numbers-the-2026-finnies-award-winners/