Tony J. Vitullo, CPA, CGMA Named One of Philadelphia Business Journal’s CFOs of the Year 2022

Congratulations to Tony J. Vitullo, CPA, CGMA, Chief Financial Officer at Arora Engineers, for being honored as a The Philadelphia Business Journal’s 2022 CFO of the Year. This award recognizes a small group of financial professionals in the Greater Philadelphia area for outstanding performance in their roles as corporate financial stewards, their contributions to their company’s growth and/or profitability, as well as their positive influence within the community. On July 19th, 2022, honorees were presented their awards during a ceremony at the Crystal Tea Room in Philadelphia, PA. Tony was previously named one of Philadelphia Business Journal’s CFO of the year in 2017.

As Chief Financial Officer, Tony is responsible for guiding Arora’s strategic, financial and operational initiatives. Tony’s experience in strategic planning, organizational structure, team building and mergers and acquisitions are key assets as Arora achieves its vision for growth. We are proud to have Tony on our team and thank him for his constant dedication and commitment to success! Learn more about Tony and his experiences with Arora and how he feels he’s made a positive impact:

1. How did you come to do what you do?
Interestingly enough, through High School I thought I wanted to go into Architecture or Engineering as a professional but by the end of Senior year I had decided to go into accounting. I started my career in a CPA firm as an auditor and went on to become Director of Internal Audit for a small publicly held company. From there, I joined another small publicly held company as Assistant Controller. Through a series of strange incidents and coincidences at the tender age of 27, I was thrown into the position of CFO of this same company in the midst of the mid-70’s oil crisis and interest rate crisis that caused a liquidity crisis in the company that had to be resolved by me and my mentor.

2. Was this a lifelong goal?
It was not a lifelong goal but something that I fell into – my actual hope my first couple years in college was to become a professional musician with a degree in accounting as a backup, but that was not in the cards for a variety of reasons.

3. What motivates you every day?
What motivates me in life is to make a difference and to leave this earth knowing I made a difference because I was here.

4. What makes you unique and different?
I don’t know that I am unique or different and to paraphrase a line from Eddie and The Cruisers – “I am just a guy from West Philly making a living.” If I had to pinpoint anything, it is that I care about the work I do and the people I am associated with.

5. What are your favorite types of projects to work on?
Those that involve strategy, growth and out of the box thinking – that truly motivates me.

6. What are your future career goals?
Interesting question since I have been doing this a lot of years and have accomplished and seen much. Also, there is much more behind me in achievements than lies ahead, but I would say to make Arora all that it can be in the remaining part of my career and to repeat the above statement in #3, hope that I leave Arora a “better place because of my time here.”

7. What is the best career lesson you’ve learned so far?
From the very beginning, it has been to listen and learn and not to presume you are the smartest person in the room. Life in and out of business is a constant learning experience, you never stop learning and you have to realize that lessons learned can come from anywhere and anyone and sometimes from the least expected places or people.

8. Tell us what your day-to-day looks like at Arora.
As the CFO of a company in hyper growth mode, no day is typical it can go from a mundane accounting question to a sophisticated acquisition matter or strategic discussion with the CEO and other executives, to a discussion with our attorneys or bankers. Different everyday, but that is what makes life at Arora interesting.

9. What do you enjoy most about working at Arora?
The people I work with, the daily challenges that keep life interesting, and the opportunity to advise and mentor a variety of my co-workers.

10. What has been your favorite memory while working at Arora?
There are many, but the two that stand out are being a part of the phenomenal growth of Arora since I joined 8 years ago, and the formation of the Arora Blues Band, playing and performing music with my work colleagues who are also talented musicians and the culmination of that in our performance on stage at the company party at the Filmore.

11. Outside of work, what do you like to do for fun?
My wife and I like to travel, enjoy time with our grandchildren and a variety of friends. We are involved in a number of volunteer activities in our church and community, and last but not least, playing and performing music which now is principally as a church liturgical musician.