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Ms. Bennett is a Certified Public Accountant who has over 20 years of industry accounting and controllership experience. As Controller, she has directly supervised the finance, accounting and human resources departments. Her granular attention to detail, combined with her administrative skills, has enabled Sonja to become expert at records cleanup and reconstruction. She also has a strong understanding of generally accepted accounting principles. Ms. Bennett has specialized experience in manufacturing and has designed and implemented cost accounting systems for a number of companies. Her professional and industry experience has also enabled her to become particularly adept at identifying and solving accounting problems very quickly. In one instance, after only one month of employment, she analyzed a new multi-million contract and demonstrated to management that the contract, as written, would have resulted in such a significant loss that it would have bankrupt the company. As a result of her recommendations, management working with engineers renegotiated the contract with the customer and produced approximately $10 million of revenue over a seven year period. Ms. Bennett was also co-owner of a successful manufacturer providing private label products to the gift and premiums/promotions industry. Among their customers were The Franklin Mint, The Smithsonian, Hamilton Mint, The Art Institute of Chicago and Bradford Exchange. This experience broadened her background in contracts administration and negotiation, sales and marketing. She has also worked extensively with factoring companies and has analyzed the financial implications of factoring and the selection criteria needed to select the most advantageous factoring arrangement. Ms. Bennett graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Business Administration and has had her CPA certificate since 1975. During her career Sonja has participated in numerous professional and civic organizations. She is a member of the North Carolina Association of CPAs. She is a former Board member of the Watauga County Economic Development Commission, and the Watauga Opportunities Sheltered Workshop. | 