Press Release:
Sarah Friar, CFO of Square and First Honoree from FinTech Selected as “2014 Financial Woman of the Year” by FWSF
Annual luncheon has awarded over $2 million in scholarship grants to more than 200 Bay Area women. Signature event garners support from top Bay Area businesses.
SAN FRANCISCO, May 12, 2014 – The Financial Women of San Francisco (FWSF) has selected Sarah Friar, Chief Financial Officer of Square, as the 2014 Financial Woman of the Year. This award recognizes Friar for her leadership roles in corporate finance and in high technology startups, as well as for her passionate advocacy of women’s professional opportunities.
Since July 2012, Friar has served as the CFO of Square, which offers merchants of all sizes easy, yet sophisticated technology to run their business. In January 2014 she was also appointed to the board of directors of New Relic, a cloud-based software analytics company. Prior to joining Square, Friar served as Senior Vice President, Finance & Strategy at Salesforce.com. Friar’s career began in roles at Arthur Andersen and McKinsey & Company. She then spent 11 years at Goldman Sachs where she served as Managing Director in the Equity Research Division covering software and as the Business Unit Leader for the Technology Research Business Unit. Friar holds an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business and a MEng in Metallurgy, Economics and Management from the University of Oxford.
“We are thrilled to have Sarah represent our organization as Financial Woman of the Year,” said Anne Chambers, president of FWSF. “Sarah is both extremely accomplished in her own career and enormously committed to a future with more women in financial and technical fields. Her efforts to inspire young women to pursue their education and dreams are in line with our organization’s goals. She’s an outstanding role model for our scholarship recipients and the entire FWSF community.”
The Financial Woman of the Year Award, presented by the FWSF Scholarship Fund, has for over 20 years recognized and applauded the role women play in the field of finance in the Bay Area. Friar’s selection as the 2014 award recipient will be formally announced at the annual Scholarship Luncheon honoring the recipients of the FWSF’s 2014 scholarship awards on June 5, 2014, at the City Club in San Francisco.
“Supporting talented young women in the financial sector is so important and I couldn’t be more pleased to participate in the FWSF’s signature Financial Woman of the Year event,” said Friar.
Sarah Friar is committed to encouraging young women to study the STEM subjects: science, technology, engineering, and math. With this goal, Square hosts College and High School Code Camps to bring together young women studying or interested in computer science. She will address the audience as part of the award presentation at The Financial Woman of the Year Luncheon on October 2, 2014, at the St Francis Hotel in San Francisco. This award luncheon directly supports the FWSF’s Scholarship Fund and is supported by like-minded Bay Area businesses. Since 1985, the FWSF Scholarship Fund has awarded over $2 million in scholarship grants to more than 200 Bay Area women who show promise as future financial leaders. Scholarship recipients will also be introduced at the luncheon. Learn more about the FWSF Scholarship program here: http://financialwomensf.org/scholarships/
Friar joins a distinguished list of previous honorees including Pat Yarrington, CFO of Chevron; Barbara Morrison, Founder and President of TMC Financing; Katie Hall, CEO and CIO, Hall Capital Partners; Rebecca Macieira-Kaufmann, President, Banamex USA; Janet Lamkin, President, Bank of America California; Leslie Tang Schilling, Director, Union Square Investments Company and Ann Winblad, Founding Partner, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners.
Some past sponsors of the FWSF Financial Woman of the Year luncheon include KPMG LLP, Lenos Software, John Crane Films, SF Business Times, Ireland Productions, Union Bank, Rina Accountancy Corporation, and Robert Half. Learn more about how to become a
sponsor,.
About Square
Square makes commerce easy for everyone. With simple, affordable tools for everything from accepting credit cards to managing a full point of sale and selling online, Square helps businesses start, run, and grow. Square Reader, the free credit card reader for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices, allows businesses to accept credit cards anywhere, anytime, for one low, transparent rate. Square’s suite of business tools includes Square Register, an analytics dashboard, Square Market, Square Wallet, and Square Stand. Square also created Square Cash, the easiest way to send and receive money. Founded in 2009 and headquartered in San Francisco, Square is currently available in the United States, Canada, and Japan. press@squareup.com
About The Financial Women of San Francisco
FWSF promotes the development, career progress, and leadership of women in finance and financial services. We attract executive and managerial level women whose expertise ranges from investment management and analysis to accounting, banking, marketing, communications, corporate treasury, financial underwriting, and estate and personal financial planning, among other disciplines. Our ranks include CEOs, CFOs, corporate treasurers, CPAs and attorneys, as well as commercial and private bankers, investment advisors, fund managers, securities analysts, administrators, consultants, recruiters, and other professionals.