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Denise Huska

,

CPA

Partner
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The short answer is that our part-time Controller, Denise Huska, was the best “consultant” I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. First and foremost, she’s extremely smart. A person doesn’t need to work with her very long to realize that. Her consistently positive attitude is contagious. It didn’t matter if things were going well or if we were struggling a bit, she always radiated the feeling that everything will be just fine. We always felt that we were, to borrow a phrase, “in good hands”. And we always were. Our RM Controller fit in extremely well with our staff. She is instantly likable and always did her best to minimize interruptions to employees’ time. She’s very organized and always came to meetings well-prepared. Working with her always felt more like a personal, friend-to-friend type of relationship than simply a business one. To summarize, her top-notch business and interpersonal skills are second to none, and I’ve learned a great deal from her on both fronts. She does excellent work and is truly a pleasure to work with. Paragon is in a much sounder financial position now as a direct result of her efforts.

Gary Kirk, Former CEO

Paragon Application Systems

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Denise Huska is a seasoned financial and human capital executive with over 25 years of experience guiding organizations through growth, transformation, and operational excellence. As a Partner at Rankin McKenzie, she provides fractional CFO and CHRO Professional Services to emerging and mid-sized businesses across the Triangle region, helping clients align financial clarity with organizational strength.

Ms. Huska’s approach blends strategic vision with operational discipline, specializing in cash turnarounds, financial forecasting, treasury management, and cost containment. She champions transparency in all accounting and financial reporting and develops strong financial and human resource teams built around customer and employee centricity. She has served as CFO, Controller, COO, and HR Director across multiple industries, bringing a calm, pragmatic style that builds trust and drives results. Her expertise includes growth-stage companies seeking financial strategy, financial modeling, FP&A, cash flow forecasting and management, HR systems design, talent development, and financial team training and coaching. Ms. Huska brings broad, cross-industry experience, supporting clients across Clinical Research, Education, E-commerce, FinTech, Hospitality, Real Estate, Retail, SaaS, Service, Social Media Marketing, Staffing, and Technology.

Prior to joining Rankin McKenzie, Ms. Huska founded and launched her own business consulting firm where she supported entrepreneurs and growth-stage companies as a fractional CFO/CHRO. Her earlier career also included Controllerships and Audit leadership roles at Storr Office Environments and Deloitte, where she built a foundation in financial management and audit.

Denise is a CPA and Certified Human Resource Generalist, with a BA in Accounting from Michigan State University. She is also a licensed NC Real Estate Broker and a real estate investor.

She is deeply committed to community impact, having served as Board Treasurer for CORRAL Riding Academy and hosting children through the Children of Chernobyl program for over a decade; alongside other community engagement.

Career Timeline

  • Joined Rankin McKenzie as CFO/Controller and HR Generalist in 2008.
  • 2001 to 2008, Ms. Huska launched her second entrepreneurial company, VIStra Business Solutions, Inc., a consulting practice focused on assisting emerging growth companies to meet their full potential. She led the financial and operational management of $1 – $50M organizations through development and implementation of their business plans, projections, funding, operational policies and procedures, internal controls and staff resourcing to achieve their mission and objectives.
  • 1997 – 2000, Ms. Huska led her first entrepreneurial venture as the Founder, President and CFO for A Mother’s Grace, Inc., a local full-service retail store, where she executed all business development, sales and marketing, funding and profitable operations from paper to reality.
  • 1990 to 1997, Ms. Huska served as the Corporate Controller for Storr Office Environments, Inc. of the Triangle. She was responsible for all financial, client service, internal operations, automation and human resource aspects of the company.  She was later promoted to a newly created position of Director of Corporate Training and Development to fulfill an organizational need and her passion for developing talent and the human side of the business.

Ms. Huska assists the business community further with a strong sense of community responsibility and philanthropy through her service to multiple local non-profits, her faith community, and various ministry leadership positions committed to advocating for the poor and oppressed of our world.

Linkedin-in
Send an Email

The short answer is that our part-time Controller, Denise Huska, was the best “consultant” I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. First and foremost, she’s extremely smart. A person doesn’t need to work with her very long to realize that. Her consistently positive attitude is contagious. It didn’t matter if things were going well or if we were struggling a bit, she always radiated the feeling that everything will be just fine. We always felt that we were, to borrow a phrase, “in good hands”. And we always were. Our RM Controller fit in extremely well with our staff. She is instantly likable and always did her best to minimize interruptions to employees’ time. She’s very organized and always came to meetings well-prepared. Working with her always felt more like a personal, friend-to-friend type of relationship than simply a business one. To summarize, her top-notch business and interpersonal skills are second to none, and I’ve learned a great deal from her on both fronts. She does excellent work and is truly a pleasure to work with. Paragon is in a much sounder financial position now as a direct result of her efforts.

Gary Kirk, Former CEO

Paragon Application Systems

Linkedin-in
Send an Email

Denise Huska is a seasoned financial and human capital executive with over 25 years of experience guiding organizations through growth, transformation, and operational excellence. As a Partner at Rankin McKenzie, she provides fractional CFO and CHRO Professional Services to emerging and mid-sized businesses across the Triangle region, helping clients align financial clarity with organizational strength.

Ms. Huska’s approach blends strategic vision with operational discipline, specializing in cash turnarounds, financial forecasting, treasury management, and cost containment. She champions transparency in all accounting and financial reporting and develops strong financial and human resource teams built around customer and employee centricity. She has served as CFO, Controller, COO, and HR Director across multiple industries, bringing a calm, pragmatic style that builds trust and drives results. Her expertise includes growth-stage companies seeking financial strategy, financial modeling, FP&A, cash flow forecasting and management, HR systems design, talent development, and financial team training and coaching. Ms. Huska brings broad, cross-industry experience, supporting clients across Clinical Research, Education, E-commerce, FinTech, Hospitality, Real Estate, Retail, SaaS, Service, Social Media Marketing, Staffing, and Technology.

Prior to joining Rankin McKenzie, Ms. Huska founded and launched her own business consulting firm where she supported entrepreneurs and growth-stage companies as a fractional CFO/CHRO. Her earlier career also included Controllerships and Audit leadership roles at Storr Office Environments and Deloitte, where she built a foundation in financial management and audit.

Denise is a CPA and Certified Human Resource Generalist, with a BA in Accounting from Michigan State University. She is also a licensed NC Real Estate Broker and a real estate investor.

She is deeply committed to community impact, having served as Board Treasurer for CORRAL Riding Academy and hosting children through the Children of Chernobyl program for over a decade; alongside other community engagement.

Career Timeline

  • Joined Rankin McKenzie as CFO/Controller and HR Generalist in 2008.
  • 2001 to 2008, Ms. Huska launched her second entrepreneurial company, VIStra Business Solutions, Inc., a consulting practice focused on assisting emerging growth companies to meet their full potential. She led the financial and operational management of $1 – $50M organizations through development and implementation of their business plans, projections, funding, operational policies and procedures, internal controls and staff resourcing to achieve their mission and objectives.
  • 1997 – 2000, Ms. Huska led her first entrepreneurial venture as the Founder, President and CFO for A Mother’s Grace, Inc., a local full-service retail store, where she executed all business development, sales and marketing, funding and profitable operations from paper to reality.
  • 1990 to 1997, Ms. Huska served as the Corporate Controller for Storr Office Environments, Inc. of the Triangle. She was responsible for all financial, client service, internal operations, automation and human resource aspects of the company.  She was later promoted to a newly created position of Director of Corporate Training and Development to fulfill an organizational need and her passion for developing talent and the human side of the business.

Ms. Huska assists the business community further with a strong sense of community responsibility and philanthropy through her service to multiple local non-profits, her faith community, and various ministry leadership positions committed to advocating for the poor and oppressed of our world.

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