Berenice Diaz is the vice president of finance/chief financial officer for Urban Health Plan Inc. She provides leadership, expertise, and oversight to a team of fifty-six associates and helps manage a $140 million budget.
She works closely with the chief executive officer and other executive leaders to drive the financial strategies that contribute to the growth and wealth of the Urban Health Plan. With a master’s degree in business and an undergraduate degree in accounting from Baruch College at The City University of New York (CUNY) and seventeen years of financial health care experience, she provides an excellent perspective of the financial operations, including, budgeting and forecasting, financial planning and analysis, cash flow management, project management, reimbursement, and grants management.
Berenice has consistently demonstrated a fantastic ability with numbers, and in the numbers resides her passion. She started her career as a bank teller at JP Morgan Chase in 1999, obtaining many promotions and awards. Her versatility was again proved when she became an accountant at Melzer & Co., a private accounting firm specializing in taxation. She joined Urban Health Plan in 2002 as a grants specialist in the finance department. Over the years, she served as a financial analyst, controller, and assistant vice president of finance.
Berenice is an active member of the Healthcare Financial Management Association, the Institute of Management Accountants, the National Association of Community Health Centers and the Community Health Center Association of New York State (CHCANYS). But one organization is particularly close to her heart – the National Association of Professional Women. “When I was a young woman just starting out, I wish someone had told me that I was awesome. Women are so hard on themselves – we need more encouragement. There’s power in your dreams. Everything that I dreamed, I did. Dreaming is key.”
