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Ken Gentile

New Position: Chief financial officer, Metropolitan Ministries, Tampa. Previous Position: Director of internal audit, Associated Marine Institutes, Tampa

Ken Gentile's job doesn't stop with overseeing the financial and funding operations of Tampa's Metropolitan Ministries. He said his role also is to ensure "that we're good stewards of resources the community put at our disposal."

Gentile is chief financial officer of the nonprofit organization, which was founded in 1972 by 13 downtown Tampa churches and provides a variety of support services for the area's poor and homeless.

Last fiscal year, the organization received $6.2-million in cash and in-kind donations, Gentile said. The budget for this year is anticipated to increase to $8.7-million in cash and in-kind donations.

Gentile said he still is in "a learning mode" in the position he started in July, "basically looking over the budget, talking to managers, getting in touch with various teams."

Gentile said Metropolitan Ministries is gearing up for a major event, the Holiday Tent, which provides food and holiday boxes to an estimated 100,000 families between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The event can involve up to 6,000 volunteers. In fact, Gentile said, his first experience with Metropolitan Ministries was several years ago when he volunteered during holiday season to help sort and deliver toys - "a very positive experience," he said.

"Right now, I'm finding my way as part of a team," he said. "I've worked several years in the secular world. This provides me a better alignment personally and professionally. For me, it's finding my way in Metropolitan Ministries in how I can best serve."

Gentile grew up in New York City and earned a bachelor's degree in accounting and economics from Queens College in 1983. In 1991, he earned a master's degree in finance from the University of South Florida.

After earning his bachelor's degree, Gentile went to work for a large public accounting firm in New York. In 1986, he joined Citigroup as an internal auditor, and two years later relocated to Citigroup's Tampa office.

Gentile left Citigroup in 1997 and briefly worked with two other companies in finance and accounting before joining Associated Marine Institutes, another nonprofit, as director of internal audit.

Relocating to Tampa from New York wasn't too difficult, Gentile said. "I miss certain parts of New York City," he said. "I don't miss the pace."

Gentile said he also has worked toward a Ph.D. in education. "That's on hold," he said. "I love to teach." He has taught economics and accounting at National Louis University's satellite campus in Tampa. "Right now, I do some seminars for the Institute for Internal Auditors in Tampa."

In addition, Gentile is incoming president of the Florida West Coast chapter of the Institute of Internal Auditors.

One of the greatest rewards about working in the nonprofit sector, Gentile said, was "seeing lives that are changed."

"It's really utilizing my talents God has given me to help poor and homeless families," he said. "My goal in the past was to think through the logical flow of information and controls and to optimize that. Now that's more of a background skill, and my goal is more to be part of a team to positively impact a life."

Gentile, 43, and his wife, Donna, have two children: a son, Justin, and a daughter, Kerissa. They live in Valrico. Gentile said that he and his wife were childhood sweethearts. "We lived five houses apart," he said.

The Gentiles long have been active in community charities. For six years, they worked with the Brandon Pregnancy Center. "We had up to six girls living with us throughout their pregnancies," he said, "and then we tried to get them set up with a car and an apartment."