Avonette D. Blanding

Chief Financial Officer

Maritime Applied Physics Corporation

When Avonette D. Blanding attained her certified public accountant certification, she noticed most of her colleagues weren’t African-American like her. Then she found out that only 1 percent of CPAs are African-American.

Blanding, 40, now is committed to improving that number. Blanding, chief financial officer at Maritime Applied Physics Corp., has visited high schools in Baltimore city to introduce students to accounting and encourage them to become CPAs.

“As a native Baltimorean, I don’t want to be the person who just talks or complains about Baltimore’s issues. I want to be someone who helps to fix them or make them better,” Blanding said. “I prefer to contribute to the solutions.”

She is an active Banking On Our Future financial literacy volunteer with Operation HOPE. She teaches a five-course curriculum to students in grades 4 through 12.