Accounting Educator Exchange Agenda

Michelle F. Randall, CPA, CGMA

Michelle is a CPA, licensed since 1995. She received her CGMA designation in 2013. She is a graduate of University of Michigan Ross School of Business, earning a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with a concentration in accounting. She holds an MBA from Wayne State University. She began her career in public accounting with KPMG in Detroit. She currently is a full-time professor at Schoolcraft College in Livonia, leading the accounting department. She is the first community college professor to receive the Michigan Association of CPAs Teaching Excellence Award in 2011. She is passionate about promoting the profession and creating the next generation of accountants. She serves on the AICPA National Pipeline Advisory Group and is the Immediate Past Chair of the Michigan Association of CPAs. Together with her husband, they maintain a real estate investment group for student housing at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She lives in Northville, Michigan with her husband, Ron and dog, Coco. They have three adult children. Her daughter, Elizabeth, is carrying on the family tradition as an aspiring CPA, with Deloitte in New York.

Linked In Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-randall-cpa/

Nadia A. Rogers, CPA

Nadia A. Rogers, CPA, joined the faculty of Virginia Tech in 2015. She was previously in public practice, most recently a Partner of Creedle, Jones & Alga, P.C. Her primary responsibilities within the firm were to direct the firm’s Richmond Office and to coordinate assurance compliance of the firm as a whole. Prior to joining Creedle, Jones & Alga, P.C., Nadia was a Senior Manager in KPMG LLP’s Audit Practice in Richmond, VA.

Nadia currently serves as the educator member and Vice Chair of the Virginia Board of Accountancy (VBOA). She is Chair of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountant’s (AICPA) State Board Committee and a member of the AICPA’s Board of Examiners as well as the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy’s (NASBA) Uniform Accountancy Act Committee.

Nadia was directly involved in the CPA Evolution Initiative, leading sessions and speaking with Boards of Accountancy, practitioners, faculty, and students across the country. She also served as Co-Chair of the AICPA’s Information Systems and Controls Task Force. This Task Force was charged with overseeing, advising, and assisting with the development of a high-level model curricula as it relates to the Information Systems and Controls discipline that complements the new CPA Evolution licensure model.

Nadia is the former Chair of the VBOA’s Peer Review Oversight Committee and has contributed to the accounting profession by performing peer reviews of firms providing accounting and auditing services to their clients in addition to performing reviews that assisted firms in preparing for their peer review. Nadia was a speaker regarding the topic of peer review at the following conferences: 41st and 49th Annual Accounting and Auditing Conference sponsored by Virginia Tech and the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants (VSCPA) as well as the Peer Review Oversight Committee Summit sponsored by NASBA.  Additionally, she is a member of the AAA, AICPA, and VSCPA.

Nadia is a graduate of Virginia Tech, wherein she earned a B.S. with a concentration in Accounting and Information Systems as well as a Master of Accountancy. She has authored an accounting article on biometrics in the Information Systems Control Journal, a worldwide publication on IT governance and assurance.

In addition to her teaching responsibilities at Virginia Tech, she is also Director of the Master of Accounting and Information Systems (MACIS) Program and Advisor of the Accounting Analytics, Audit, and Financial Services Options within the MACIS Program.

Jan Taylor, Ph.D., MBA, CPA, CGMA
AICPA & CIMA

Jan Taylor, Ph.D., MBA, CPA, CGMA, serves as the Academic in Residence and Senior Director of Academic and Student Engagement at AICPA & CIMA. She retired in 2021 from her position as an Associate Professor of Accounting at Sam Houston State University (Texas). Jan has also previously taught and served in leadership roles at University of San Diego and University of Houston-Clear Lake and spent several years in public practice and served as Controller/CFO of a wealth management firm.

Jan taught financial (from Principles to Graduate Research) and managerial courses as well as auditing, accounting information systems, ethics, and leadership courses. Her primary research interests relate to accounting pedagogy, auditing, and accounting ethics and leadership. She has published in journals such as Issues in Accounting Education, Journal of Accountancy, Journal of Business Ethics Education, Business Studies Journal, Journal of Forensic & Investigative Accounting, Journal of Behavioral Studies in Business, Strategic Finance, Management Accounting Quarterly, Journal of Accounting and Free Enterprise, Journal of Health Management, and Journal of Healthcare Finance.

Jan has been active in service to academia and the profession as well as her community. In addition to several other service roles, she is a past-President of the International Board of Directors of Beta Alpha Psi and, prior to employment with AICPA, served on the AICPA Board of Examiners, AICPA Academic Executive Committee, the joint AICPA/NASBA CPA Evolution Education Advisory Group, the AICPA Women’s Executive Initiative Task Force, and the AICPA ENGAGE Academic / Practitioner Program (chair 2019-2020).

Additionally, Jan has provided service to several committees with the Texas Society of CPAs (TXCPA) and the Houston Chapter of TXCPA and has served as a trustee with the TXCPA Accounting Education Foundation. Jan served as an external professor with KPMG from 2005-2019, training new auditors and senior associates. She is also a Court Appointed Special Advocate for children in protective services.

Jan has received numerous awards for teaching and research as well as service to the profession of accountancy and accountancy education including the Beta Alpha Psi Lifetime Service Award, the Beta Alpha Psi President’s Award, the Significant Contribution by a Member in Education award from TXCPA-Houston, the TXCPA Educator of the Year Award, and the ASWCPA Educator of the Year award.
Jan is a licensed CPA in the state of Texas and is a Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA).

Rafe Martin
ComTech

Rafe’s 30-year IT journey from software developer to Chief Revenue Officer at ComTech showcases his commitment to smart, responsible technology. He focuses on safeguarding data while enhancing efficiencies, ensuring clients get maximum ROI. His journey reflects a blend of technical mastery and strategic vision, leading to growth and robust data protection.

Here’s a snapshot of Rafe’s commitment to staying at the forefront of tech and security:

• Holds a Certificate in Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Business Strategy from MIT’s prestigious executive program.
• Recently earned the Certified in Cybersecurity (CC) certification from ISC2.
• Working towards the Certified Cyber Resilience Professional (CCRP) certification from DRI International.
• Serves as ComTech’s HIPAA Compliance Officer, ensuring the company adheres to the highest standards of data privacy and security.

Embracing his recent membership in the National Speakers Association, Rafe frequently speaks at professional organization conferences, such as those hosted by the NCACPA. He is keen to share his deep knowledge and insights into technology, cyber resilience, and the impact of AI, further expanding his network and influence in the professional speaking arena.

Away from the digital world, Rafe’s passions keep him grounded and bring a smile to those around him. Whether it’s creating harmony with his bluegrass band or experimenting with the culinary philosophy that anything wrapped in bacon and put on the smoker is bound to be a masterpiece, Rafe enjoys life’s varied flavors. But the richest moments come from the time spent with his wife of 34 years and their three children, where he finds his greatest joy and fulfillment.

Brent McDaniel
Aprio 

Passionate to build for what’s next, Brent is motivated by the opportunity to make a difference in peoples’ lives and to deliver for our clients while shaping what tomorrow looks like. He partners with leadership and management across Aprio to build powerful, transformative solutions that positively impact our team members and clients. Brent focuses on simplifying the complex and designing executable roadmaps that drive Aprio’s strategy and growth plans.

Brent has over 30 years of experience building solutions across Financial and Healthcare verticals. He has a BS in Computer Science from Southern Polytechnic State University and a MS in Management of Information Systems from Georgia State.

Jonathan Kraftchick
Cherry Bekaert Advisory LLC

A Partner in the Raleigh office, Jonathan serves as the head of the Firm’s Innovation team. After graduating from the University of North Carolina, he began as an auditor for many years before moving into course development and delivery. Outside of his work at Cherry Bekaert, Jonathan served as an adjunct professor at Elon University in their accounting department. Jonathan has been named as one of CPA.com’s Innovative Practitioners of the Year, which recognizes innovation in process, services, or technology implementation in public accounting firms. He also currently serves on the Board of the North Carolina association of CPA’s.

Seth Nicolai
Deloitte & Touche LLP

I am a Senior Manager and Product Owner within the Data Science/Artificial Intelligence group within Deloitte’s audit business. I have been in this role for the past three years and have been at Deloitte for 9 years. My primary projects include developing retrieval augmented generation chatbots as well as named entity recognition models. Prior to starting at Deloitte, I attended North Dakota State University (go Bison!) and attained my bachelors and masters degrees in accounting.  Outside of work I enjoy writing, playing guitar, gardening, and doing several martial arts (Brazilian and Japanese Jiu Jitsu, Judo, Muay Thai).

Dr. Sharon Jones, Ed.D
Dot Consulting

Dr. Sharon Jones, Ed.D is the founder and CEO of the dot Consulting and the non-profit Dottie Rose Foundation, where she leads and implements technology education and innovation. Dr. Jones has served as a computer science expert for the past 23 years, bridging the gap between everyday actions and the application of technology. She serves as a member of the National Small Business Leadership Council, where she represents North Carolina and a co-founder of Carolina Women in Tech. She was also named one of the 100 Women to KNOW in 2023 by JP Morgan for her work and impact with creating a pipeline for women in tech. When not running the technology-world, Dr. Jones spends her time with her husband Ricky, and two sons.

Nick Delis
Deloitte

More information coming soon!

Jennifer Billstrom, CPA
DMJPS CPAs

Jennifer Billstrom, CPA serves as a Fractional CFO for DMJPS CPAs + Advisors where she supports and advises clients in performing essential financial analysis through a variety of accounting and advisory services for the owners and founders of small to medium businesses operating in a variety of industries including:

Her services include financial statement analysis, accounting staff mentoring, entrepreneurial financial systems design and support, data analysis, forecasting, data shaping and cleaning and she serves as the trusted financial advisor and sounding board to organization leaders.
Jennifer has more than 20 years of experience. Her career began in the KPMG Roanoke, Virginia office providing audit and tax services to clients. She previously served as Corporate Controller performing SEC reporting and financial statement consolidation for manufacturing clients. She is experienced in creating, and refining workflows and operating systems that supports business performance and forecasts.

She serves on the board and finance committee of Mountain BizWorks, a Community Development Financial Institution, and Foothills Conservancy of North. In 2021-2022, she represented Buncombe County NC residents through service on the 2043 Buncombe County Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee and the Better With Bonds Buncombe Votes Yes general bond referendum campaign.

A natural leader who is happiest when surrounded by nature, Jennifer enjoys cycling, running, and hiking.

Mike Williams
EY

Mike Williams is a Partner in EY’s audit practice. He has worked in the audit industry for over 15 years, primarily focused on the audit of financial institutions including auto, credit card and residential mortgage issuers, insured depository institutions, asset custodian and management companies, and other consumer finance organizations. His clients have included multinational corporations, SEC registrants, securitization issuers, and financial institutions reporting under US GAAP and IFRS and operating in a wide range of bank and capital markets activities.

In addition to serving clients, Mike also supports other key audit functions at EY, including the EY Audit Quality group in the US, which focuses on inspection support for teams that are subject to review by the US Audit Regulator, and serving as EY’s banking and capital markets audit innovation leader.

As part of his role as an innovation leader, Mike oversees the development and adoption of new audit tools across our banking practice and works with audit teams on their use of data to transform all phases of the audit process.

Eric Negangard

Professor Negangard has extensive professional experience as a forensic accountant and has provided advisory and assurance services to numerous domestic and international organizations. Before pursuing a career in academia, Professor Negangard was a Manager in KPMG’s Forensic Services practice and served as a National Instructor. He is a licensed CPA in the state of Indiana and a Certified Fraud Examiner.

Professor Negangard’s research focuses on financial reporting fraud, the involvement of forensic specialists in the auditing environment, and how cutting-edge technology impacts accounting. More specifically, he uses a combination of psychology theory and innovative measurement techniques to examine the decision processes and subsequent attributions of those involved in and affected by fraudulent financial reporting. He has presented at numerous academic and professional conferences, and his work has been published in Contemporary Accounting Research; Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory; Information & Management; Journal of Forensic and Investigative Accounting; and Journal of Accounting Education.

Professor Negangard has taught various accounting and business-related courses to undergraduate, graduate, and professional students and has received several research and teaching awards. He has taught undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech, and he is headed to Auburn University this fall.

Dr. Sharon Jones, Ed.D
Dot Consulting

Dr. Sharon Jones, Ed.D is the founder and CEO of the dot Consulting and the non-profit Dottie Rose Foundation, where she leads and implements technology education and innovation. Dr. Jones has served as a computer science expert for the past 23 years, bridging the gap between everyday actions and the application of technology. She serves as a member of the National Small Business Leadership Council, where she represents North Carolina and a co-founder of Carolina Women in Tech. She was also named one of the 100 Women to KNOW in 2023 by JP Morgan for her work and impact with creating a pipeline for women in tech. When not running the technology-world, Dr. Jones spends her time with her husband Ricky, and two sons.