Leslie Osborn named new CFO for Oklahoma Baptists
By Chris Doyle
OKLAHOMA CITY (BP) – Leaders with Oklahoma Baptists announced that Leslie Osborn will become the next chief financial officer (CFO) for the organization.
Osborn will officially take over the position of CFO on March 1, as her predecessor Kerry Russell moves into a special advisor role until his official retirement at the end of 2021.
Osborn has been working with the Oklahoma convention staff as controller since 2017 and with this promotion, becomes the first female to serve as CFO on Oklahoma Baptists’ state convention staff.
“Leslie Osborn has the integrity, skills, financial acumen and abilities to serve excellently as CFO,” said Hance Dilbeck, executive director-treasurer for Oklahoma Baptists. “We are thankful for her heart for ministry and the great work she already has done in serving Oklahoma Baptists. We could not be more enthusiastic about Leslie taking on this key role.”
As CFO, Osborn will oversee Cooperative Program giving and all aspects of the budget and finances as well as lead the convention staff Finance Group among other responsibilities.
Osborn is a certified public accountant and holds two degrees, including a bachelor of science in accounting from University of Central Oklahoma. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accounts and the Oklahoma Society of Certified Public Accountants. She previously worked as audit associate for BKD, a public accounting firm.
Alabama feature leads to national audience for Bargainomics Lady
By Grace Thornton
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP) – Judy Woodward Bates has been looking for bargains for a long time. When she got married at 17, she was determined to prove to her parents that she and her husband, Larry, could make it on their own. So she established some thrifty habits.
It was a strategy that worked.
And when she was studying at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary several decades ago, she got a name for her habits – “Bargainomics.”
Bates’ class was studying the Proverbs 31 woman, and as she read the passage in different versions and paraphrases, a word in one of them jumped off the page at her.
“It said, ‘She is energetic, a hard worker and watches for bargains,’” Bates said.
Not too long after, she was able to trademark the word Bargainomics (exclusively, until a grocery store chain recently got rights to use it in their domain). She became the Bargainomics Lady, speaking and writing articles to help people know how to steward their resources well.
For going on two decades, she’s shared her wisdom through articles in TAB, and on the Nov. 23 episode of the TAB Talks podcast, she offered advice about how to have a budget-friendly Christmas in the middle of a pandemic.
People are even more interested in how to find bargains this year, Bates said, “because people are having a tough time financially right now.” They’re looking for new ways to find deals because they aren’t getting out as much as they usually do, she said.
After the podcast was released, Kristen Rogers at CNN came across it and reached out to Bates for an interview. Then on Dec. 14, CNN posted an article including Bates — “Budget Christmas 101: Pandemic hardships don’t mean the holidays are canceled.”
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