Who says accountants don’t have a heart?
Jeanne Mann, a partner at the San Diego accounting firm of Wither, Mann & LaManna LLP, may have cut back a tad on her volunteer time lately, but it’s still far and above what most people would consider.
Mann provides pro bono professional service to nonprofit organizations such as the Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Association of San Diego County, and the Big Brothers of San Diego County.
She also has helped the Wellness Community, a support group for cancer patients; the House of Refuge, a men’s homeless shelter; and the Poway Valley Senior Citizens.
“I have the knowledge and skill to help these not-for-profit groups and they need it. I like helping them get to a point where they are run in the way they are supposed to rather than running on their bootstraps,” she said.
In the mid-1990s, Mann began working with the Victim Offender Reconciliation Program after her boyfriend was murdered. She said she volunteered at the group in part to work through all the pain she felt. “When it happened, I thought, ‘What in the world was the reason for all this?'” But then she realized she could use her experience to help others.
Until recently, Mann also helped at her church’s store, selling crafts from underdeveloped countries to help feed poor families in the areas where the crafts were made.
Asked why she does so much, Mann says simply, this is the way she was raised.
“All my life I was taught I should give back to my community, and that’s what I believe.”
The daughter of a Mennonite preacher, Mann was born in Oregon but grew up mainly in Phoenix and graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University in 1986. She moved to San Diego in 1989.
When she’s not volunteering, Mann likes to ride her Harley-Davidson motorcycle, but even with that activity, she often ends up giving. During a recent Christmas season, she joined a group of cyclists who rode down to Tijuana, to deliver toys to poor children.
In recognition for her giving, Mann was recently named the recipient of the 2001 Public Service Award from the California Society of Certified Public Accountants.
