Amy Horner, CPA, MBA
True Nine

An accomplished executive with a track record of successfully leading collaborative strategic planning initiatives throughout her career, Amy founded True Nine in 2023 to help professionals embrace the opportunities and challenges made possible by change. She is well known for her unwavering dedication to leading authentically, celebrating change, and mentoring others.

Whether you are preparing for innovation or change, encouraging meaningful connections and network cultivation, or looking to empower others to develop a growth mindset through goal-setting, Amy’s dynamic presentation style, combined with her eclectic career experiences and pedagogical techniques gleaned from
her doctoral studies, keeps audiences engaged throughout the presentation as the intended messages are delivered.

Recognized by Ignition’s Top 50 Women in Accounting and by LinkedIn as a Top Leadership Voice, she delights in sharing her experiences for the professional development and career advancement of others. Drawing from her experiences as a C-suite Executive back to her beginnings as a Big 4 Staff Auditor, Amy connects with the audience as they are and encourages them to envision the future. Using humor and storytelling to create “stickiness,” the impact of her presentations lasts long beyond her closing remarks.

Before founding True Nine, she was the COO and CFO for multiple organizations, guiding them through periods of intense change. In these roles, she led initiatives that resulted in diversified revenue streams, new and expanded service offerings, better brand awareness, increased market share, a more engaged workforce, and improved financial results.

Jaclyn Veno, CPA
Galasso Learning

Jaclyn Veno is a licensed CPA and holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Accounting from Clemson University. Before joining, Galasso Learning Solutions, she was an auditor for two top-10 CPA firms. Jaclyn has extensive experience developing both staff and interns including the onboarding of overseas staff. She has fond memories of her time spent completing dozens of acquisition audits for one growing client. Jaclyn holds certificates in adult learning, instructional design, and training & facilitation from the Association for Talent Development (ATD).

John H. Higgins, CPA, CITP
Higgins Advisory

True to his entrepreneurial spirit, John established Higgins Advisory, LLC in 2023, his third client advisory startup company. John focuses on helping accountants understand and leverage emerging technologies to improve the quality and value of their services. Whether you are a CPA in public practice or working in private industry, John can be a valuable coach and resource to help you maximize your professional value. John’s passion for helping advance the success of CPA professionals is delivered in the form of conference presentations, one-on-one coaching and serving as a strategic project advisor.

John previously co-founded the startup CPA Crossings, LLC (CPAx) in 2001 and sold it in 2020. In his role at CPAx, John served as an innovator and strategic technology advisor to accounting firms and other business organizations on how to leverage the power of cloud-based technology tools to accomplish a successful digital transformation. There has never been a more turbulent time in the evolution of business technology. John helps business leaders and CPAs to understand the nature of rapidly evolving technologies and how to harness them to remain ahead of the curve competitively and avoid the risk of obsolete business processes and services.

Kevin Leder, CPA
CLA

Kevin has 17 years of public accounting experience and serves as a principal with CliftonLarsonAllen’s Raleigh office specializing in professional audit and consulting services to nonprofit and health care organizations. Kevin received his master’s degree in accounting and a bachelor’s degree in public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He currently serves on the NCACPA Not-for-Profit Committee and is a frequent speaker on various topics affecting not-for-profit and healthcare organizations.

J. Calvin Marks, CPA
Johnson Lambert LLC

Calvin is a Principal with 16 years’ experience at Johnson Lambert LLP, a niche-focused firm specializing in insurance, nonprofits, and employee benefit plans. Calvin leads the firms’ Nonprofit and Employee Benefits Tax & Compliance Group, serving clients ranging from small local charities to prominent national trade associations and employee benefit plans of all sizes.

Alison Upton
KPMG

Alison is a Managing Director in KPMG’s Higher Education, Research, and Other Not-for-Profit (HERON) practice. She has more than seventeen years of experience providing single audit and financial statement audit services to clients. She serves a range of not-for-profit clients including higher education, healthcare, and other not-for-profits. She is a board member of Elon University’s Love School of Business Advisory Board, Chair of Elon University’s Accounting Advisory Board, and board member of Twin Lakes Community.

Fran Leahy, CPA
KraftCPAs

Fran Leahy is a senior manager with the tax services team at KraftCPAs. She is responsible for tax return preparation, research, and review, and works exclusively with the firm’s nonprofit clients.

Fran has more than 25 years of public accounting experience. Prior to joining KraftCPAs in 2009, she was an internal auditor with a national healthcare firm for five years as well as an accounting instructor at a four-year university.

For almost a decade, Fran has worked exclusively on Form 990 engagements for nonprofit clients. Prior to that, Form 990s were a significant part of her responsibilities, in addition to tax services for corporations, partnerships, individuals, and other for-profit clients. Fran has attended the AICPA Not-For-Profit conference each year since her full-time move to nonprofit engagements and is a member of the AICPA Not-For-Profit Section.

David Heinen
NC Center for Nonprofits

David Heinen has been with the North Carolina Center for Nonprofits since 2007, leading the Center’s public policy and advocacy work and providing non-answers (and occasional useful information) about legal compliance, trends in the nonprofit sector, and advocacy to hundreds of nonprofits. He has served on boards of a variety of local and national nonprofits. David is a graduate of Duke University and the William and Mary School of Law. Before returning to North Carolina to work for the Center, David spent seven years as an attorney with a Washington, D.C. law firm serving the nonprofit community. He lives in Raleigh with his wife and three children, the oldest of whom describes her dad as “weathered.”

Amelia Crawford, CPA
Cherry Bekaert Advisory LLC

As a Director in Cherry Bekaert’s Assurance practice, Amelia focuses her practice on serving not-for-profits and educational organizations. With more than 10 years of experience, clients depend on Amelia for timely, practical guidance on many technical accounting and compliance issues, such as implementation of new standards, compliance with federal and state laws and grant programs, fair value matters, endowment accounting and not-for-profit industry insights.

Amelia employs her expertise to assist not-for-profits with financial and compliance audits, including Uniform Grant Guidance. She is the Learning Leader for the Firm’s Not-for-Profit Industry Group and has been an instructor at conferences associated with the Southern Association of College & University Business Officers and the North Carolina Association of CPAs.

J. Calvin Marks, CPA
Johnson Lambert LLC

Calvin is a Principal with 16 years’ experience at Johnson Lambert LLP, a niche-focused firm specializing in insurance, nonprofits, and employee benefit plans. Calvin leads the firms’ Nonprofit and Employee Benefits Tax & Compliance Group, serving clients ranging from small local charities to prominent national trade associations and employee benefit plans of all sizes.

Susan Glendenning, CPA
Maddison & Caison, LLP

Susan began her accounting career as a financial statement specialist and controller in the tech industry before entering public accounting and joining Maddison & Caison, LLP. She became a partner and began leading the firm’s audit and attestation practice in 2009. Susan provides audit and other attest services to small businesses, churches and a wide variety of nonprofits ranging in size from $100,000 to $50,000,000 in revenue. In addition, she oversees the firm’s 990 preparation services. She has served as a member of the NCACPA’s Not For Profit Resource Group (Committee) for many years and has been a long-time volunteer with the NC Center for Non-Profits as a pro-bono advisor. She has served as treasurer on numerous nonprofit boards, most recently for The Carying Place, a Triangle nonprofit that teaches homeless, working families with children life skills for attaining independent living. She currently sits on the advisory board of the Taylor Family YMCA. 

Hunter Cook, CPA

Hunter is a retired FORVIS partner, he was part of the firm’s Professional Standards Group and a member of the AICPA’s Auditing Standards Board. Hunter is a past Chair of NCACPA and past President of the NC State Board of CPA Examiners and has served as a contributing author to PPC’s Guide to Preparing Financial Statements. He is currently a member of the NASBA Peer Review Compliance Committee, the Oversite Task Force of the AICPA Peer Review Board, and the AACSB Accounting Accreditation Policy Committee. Hunter leads CPE programs covering professional ethics and technical material across the country. He is a CPA in North Carolina and South Carolina.