Statewide organization honors Reichard.
Diane Reichard is the Chief Financial Officer for the City of Plant City. On June 17, the Florida Government Finance Officers Association (FGFOA) presented her with their 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award.
The award, “recognizes and honors a finance officer who has made a lasting and worthwhile contribution to the citizens of Florida through their efforts and dedication in the performance of their duties at a local level, and who has served the FGFOA in its efforts to enhance the profession,” Ken Burke, Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller for Pinellas County, said when presenting the award on behalf of the FGFOA board of directors.
The FGFOA boasts 3,500 members, and it is rare air to be recognized for this honor since it is given to only one person each year. To be considered for the award, Reichard had to be nominated by a member who also submitted three recommendation letters. A committee selected the winner. “I was not aware—total surprise,” Reichard said.
Past Lifetime Award recipient Mary Lou Pickles commented that, Reichard “….is a person of great integrity.”
Reichard has taken leadership in FGFOA for more than 25 years—as a committee chair, on the board of directors, as secretary-treasurer, and as president from 2013 to 2014. For the national organization (GFOA) she has served in auditing, accounting, the financial reporting committee, and three years on the national board of directors representing Florida. Reichard has also taught as an adjunct professor at USF’s School of Public Affairs since 2011. Past FGFOA president, Jamie Roberson, described her as a “guiding force in shaping the professional development of countless financial officers across the Florida.”
She exemplifies the Christian virtues of faith, hope, and charity.” past FGFOA president Thomas Klinker, said about Reichard.
Reichard commented on being given the award. “That it was an honor is an understatement,” she said “Just knowing that your peers recognized all of the extra-curricular activities you did, was an honor. Giving back to my organization is what I do. They helped me learn everything I needed to know to be successful at what I do, so I’m now able to transfer that knowledge to others within the organization.” She is a frequent speaker for programs that address government finance. “So, I am able to represent Plant City and share some of the things we do with our finances here with the other cities around the state—how we prepare our capital program, how we manage the budget process, all the entries that go into closing the financial statements at year end.”
Reichard oversees 25 staff in Plant City’s Accounting Division and the Utility Billing Division. She has 40 years of experience in government finance including handling debt, treasury, financial reporting, accounting, auditing, budgeting, cash and investments, procurement, grants, and utilities.
Why did Reichard decide to work in accounting? “The pennies,” she said. “I like solving problems. I like being able to put things in the right perspective. I like to be able to share where you’re at financially, and where we can make things better. I like for things to tic and tie. I like the black and white. I like for things to add up. Nobody else likes the money, but I always liked the money—not because it goes in my pocket—it is just something I have to reconcile. Reconciling is fun. Reconciling is like research. However, working on accounting only is years in her past. “Now, I enjoy watching others grow, and others learn how government accounting works—how complicated it can be because we have funds. Everything has to be tracked in a specific fund for a specific purpose. And we have to make sure everything is right, because we can’t say, ‘I have street tax money, I will put that in the general fund.’ I get passionate about my numbers.”
“I love working for the City of Plant City,” Reichard commented. “It’s proactive. It cares about its employees. And we have an awesome city commission and city manager who provide direction, and support financial accuracy.”
Her management of financial staff has paid off for the City of Plant City—for three years in a row the city has won the Distinguished Budget Award, the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting, and the Award for the Popular Annual Financial Report, “So, we are considered a triple-crown winner,” Reichard joked.
In addition to her focus on budgets and accounting, Reichard has vision. “The future of our city is to provide smooth processes, accuracy, and efficiency,” she said. “But the other thing I want to happen for the city is, I want departments to understand more about their numbers, because if I teach departments more about their numbers, they do a better job managing their money. It’s about how to find their numbers in the software. They don’t live and breathe the software like we do….all the different funding sources, and what they can do with the money what they can’t do. It’s about how to manage the people’s money—it’s not our money, it’s the people’s money. So, we are here to do the best job we can to be good stewards of the taxpayers’ money.”
“I have been so blessed through all my years,” Reichard concluded. “God has been so good to me and provided me many opportunities to serve.”
