Finance Friend is a financial consulting firm that seeks to increase the financial acumen of freelancers and small business owners. We demystify small business finances and help our clients use good data to make sound financial decisions that they feel good about.
We understand that finances are emotional, especially for small business owners. We work with our clients to understand their specific pain points, fears, and anxieties around their money and to create and implement systems to address them. To date we have worked with over 200 companies to create and implement financial systems and processes that streamline their record-keeping and make their lives easier.
Ruth Hollander is a seasoned finance professional with over seven years of dedicated experience in non-profit financial management. Her journey includes pivotal roles as the Business and Operations Manager at The New Group and as the Business Associate at The Classical Theatre of Harlem. Ruth’s problem-solving mindset, honed through early career roles at The Play Company, The Metropolitan Opera and The Juilliard School, reflects her commitment to ensuring the financial health and success of non-profit theater companies. Ruth holds a dual Bachelor of Arts degrees from Columbia University in Theater and Jewish Thought from the Jewish Theological Seminary. She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband and middle aged cat.
Dan has worked in non-profit performing arts organizations, serving in various organizational leadership & financial management roles, for the past 20-years. Having relocated from Chicago, he most recently spent nine seasons as General Manager with TimeLine Theatre Company. Dan has also worked with The Neo-Futurists (Managing Director), Chicago Shakespeare Theater (Arts Leadership Fellow), and Lookingglass Theatre Company (Finance Manager). Dan received his MFA in Arts Leadership from DePaul University in 2011, and served a six-year term, including 4-years as Treasurer, on the Board of Directors for the League of Chicago Theatres. He is an avid runner, traveler, and a strong believer that every meeting should contain a healthy amount of laughter.
Joan has been working in small businesses operations for the past ten years, from food manufacturers to fashion retailers to dropship businesses. She loves diving into details and helping small businesses find success through thoughtful data analysis.
She lives in Brooklyn with her partner and two cats.
Katie is an actor, producer, and accountant based in New York City. For over 20 years, she has worked on finance teams at both large and small companies across wide-ranging industries, including tech, media, food & beverage, and cybersecurity. She co-founded Ivy Theatre Company and has been a company member with WorkShop Theater, Theatre Midwest, and The Secret Theatre. She is also a founding member of Wherever You Go Pictures and appears in their award-winning first feature film, UNPACKING. Katie studied at Simpson College in Iowa and the Gregory Abels Training Ensemble in NYC, and she received her Master’s Degree in Management from the Harvard Extension School.
Allyson is an operations and financial strategist with over a decade of experience in nonprofit leadership, arts administration, and large-scale event production. She is the founder of Allyson Davis-Kane Consulting, an organizational development consulting firm, and Collective Supper Group, a boutique, mission-driven events company. Through both ventures, she has supported clients including SPACE on Ryder Farm, Ruth Keeler Memorial Library, Educational Theatre Association, ENVEEKAY, TOC Arts Partners and the North Salem Open Land Foundation, with event credits spanning the Food Network, Super Bowl XLVIII citywide events for Time Warner Cable, and numerous non profit galas and private events.
Previously, Allyson served as Chief Operating Officer at SPACE on Ryder Farm, where she oversaw the organization’s finances while also helping to lead strategic planning, organizational growth, staff development, and HR. She brings deep expertise in fiscal management, cross-functional leadership, and creative production, with credits ranging from Lincoln Center Theater to national broadcast projects like The Sound of Music Live! and Beyoncé’s surprise album release. She also served as stage manager for the off-Broadway world premiere of PigPen Theatre Company’s The Old Man and The Old Moon.
Allyson serves on the Board of Directors for The Westerlies and is a member of Actors’ Equity Association. She lives in Westchester, NY, and while she wears many professional hats, her favorite job by far is being Mom to a joyful, curious toddler who keeps her on her toes and laughing every day.
Breanna is an artist and SVA alum with over five years of finance experience. She loves both art and nature, and strives to bring that passion to supporting small businesses and nonprofits gain clarity and organization.
Eliza Johnson brings more than two decades of experience in the performing arts, with a career spanning both production and arts administration. She spent over 15 years at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, where she held a range of roles within the Education Department—from Stage Management Fellow to Company Manager.
After shifting to the financial side of the industry, Eliza has worked at organizations including 59E59 Theaters, TheaterWorksUSA, and Playwrights Horizons.
A lifelong New Yorker, Eliza has been a “theater kid” from the start, seeing shows and performing whenever she could. She’s passionate about accessibility, is an aspiring Jeopardy! contestant, and a very proud aunt.
Kyle is of German and Puerto Rican descent, second generation, and identifies as someone with dyslexia and auditory processing disorder. A stage actor by trade, he has been working in a multi-disciplinary arts environment as an administrator for over a decade. Kyle graduated from the Virginia Commonwealth University with a B.S. in Business Management and moved shortly afterwards to Upstate NY, where he spent time working for institutions such as the Glimmerglass Festival and Bard College SummerScape Festival. During university and residency in Upstate, Kyle managed finances and operations for Purely Pets, a worldwide holistic animal supplement wholesaler. Upon moving to NYC, he continued a career as an arts administrator, having worked with New York City Opera, Valentina Kozlova Dance Foundation, the Princess Grace Foundation – USA and Dance/NYC. His active role in theatrical improvisation and film production has deepened his knowledge as an artist. Aside from the arts, Kyle is strongly passionate about travel, food, hiking and cycling. He peacefully resides with his wife on Roosevelt Island (Minnehanonck Island, land of the Lenape).
Cassie has over a decade of experience in theater management across various unique roles. She managed various events and shows while traveling the high seas with Norwegian Cruise Line and ran front-of-house concessions for a Christmas season at Radio City Music Hall. Cassie most recently worked as an Associate General Manager with Showtown Theatricals for Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre. Previously she worked in finance at Broadway Asia, Visceral Entertainment and Aruba Productions. She completed general management internships at HERE Arts Center, 321 Management and Stuart Thompson Productions. Cassie also spent two years as an International Flight Attendant. She is excited to be a part of the team at Finance Friend.
Anderson John Heinz is a playwright, screenwriter and poet. He was a member of New York Stage and Film’s 2022-2023 Filmmakers’ Workshop, where he developed his television pilot SUBMERGED OBJECTS. Anderson is a former member of the Project Y, Musical Theatre Factory, and Dramatist Guild writers groups. He formerly served as Executive Assistant with Daryl Roth Productions, as producing associate with Page 73, as assistant to director Lynn Ramsay on her film YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE, and as Showrunners’ PA to Michelle and Robert King on their television shows THE GOOD FIGHT and EVIL. Anderson was born in Mobile, Alabama and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. He is the proud uncle of 15 nieces and nephews.
Caroline is a writer and educator who has worked in the nonprofit arts sector for over a decade. In her spare time, she loves to cook, spend time in nature, and hang out with her husband and cat.
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