Archives West Finding Aid

Lois Mottonen was born and raised in Rock Springs, Wyoming. She attended the University of Wyoming and was the only women in her class to receive a bachelor’s degree in accounting. Because accounting firms would not hire women in the early 1950s, Mottonen received a job as an Internal Revenue Agent and manager for the U.S. Department of the Treasury, working there from 1951-1979. She was nominated for the U.S. Treasury Department’s annual Women’s Award for promoting women’s equity in government. Mottonen became a proponent for equal opportunity for women in the work place and was the second woman in Wyoming to be granted a CPA license. From 1981 to 1995, Mottonen worked for the Wyoming Department of Education. She was also the first woman in government to be elected president of the American Women’s Society of Certified Public Accountants (AWSCPA). Mottonen advocated for women’s equality and helped to break barriers for women in accounting.