Houston Chapter 2021 Spring Accounting Expo

Eric Khan Related Seminars and Products

BBVA

Eric is an SVP in BBVA’s corporate banking team since 2016. Eric’s focus is on complex credits, helping clients optimize working capital solutions, and is a regional payment industry specialist.  Prior to banking he held controller or CFO level positions in the energy, Information technology, industrial services, construction and distribution sectors after five years with KPMG in public accounting.

With his extensive background, Eric understands both sides of the banking and credit transaction from several dimensions. Eric is a periodic speaker for financial accounting, business groups and local universities on variety of topics including: working capital challenges, business optimization, and cybersecurity. Eric is active in BBVA’s business mentoring program.

Eric has an accounting degree, from the University of Houston. He serves on the U.H. Bauer School Accounting Advisory Board, The Houston Community Tool Bank Board, and on Financial Executives International’s Houston chapter board after serving as its president in 2012. Also that year, Eric was recognized as the HBJ CFO of the year for Mid-Cap companies.  Eric is an active member in the National Association of Corporate Directors.

Danielle Cheek Related Seminars and Products

Danielle Supkis Cheek is a Director at PKF Texas.

Danielle earned her Bachelors from Rice University in Houston, TX, and her Master of Science in Accountancy from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA.

She is a Certified Public Account (CPA) in the State of Texas, a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), and a Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA). 

Danielle is the Chair of the PCPS Technical Issues Committee with the American Institute for CPAs and the US Representative to the IFAC Small and Medium Practitioners Committee.

She is a 6-time (2014-2019) 40 under 40 by the CPA Practice Advisor, and was the Houston CPA’s Society’s Distinguished Member to the Profession for 2019. She was also the first women to receive the AICPA’s Outstanding Young CPA of the Year Award in Honor of Maximo in 2016 and is a 4-time Most Powerful Women in Accounting by CPA Practice Advisor and AICPA. Danielle was also named as a 2019 Houston Business Journal Women Who Means Business.

She is also part-time faculty at Rice University’s Jones School of Business teaching accounting for entrepreneurs to undergrads and data analytics to the Masters of Accountancy (MAcc) students.

Danielle can be contacted at Dcheek@PKFTexas.com or 713-860-5422.

* Licensed only in Texas

Chuck Cummings Related Seminars and Products

Cummings & Houston, LLP

Chuck is a practicing CPA who believes there is a better way to lead and enjoy your work. Hear proven techniques and ideas to enhance your leadership of others. For over 50 tax seasons Chuck has practiced in the tax area of practice. Money magazine listed him as one of the four best tax consultants in Houston and one of the best in the United States. He has practiced extensively in the tax controversy area, even in the realm of tax investigations regarding potential tax crimes. Chuck is also a Certified Fraud Examiner. He has testified in numerous federal and state cases as an expert witness in accounting, fraud, taxes and damages.

Christine Spray Related Seminars and Products

Strategic Catalyst Inc

Christine R. Spray is a nationally recognized keynote speaker, best-selling author three times, consultant, trainer, Executive Coach and Certified EOS Implementer. Spray serves as a CEO and business advisor with a passion for helping people and companies grow.

Denise Sanders Related Seminars and Products

Sanders Consulting LLC

Denise Sanders is a Finance and Technology executive with a career across consulting and corporate project leadership in energy, technology, and manufacturing industries. She has helped companies strategize and implement finance transformation, project management office, system implementation, mergers and acquisition integration, and process optimization. Denise is a CPA, CISA, and PMP. www.linkedin.com/in/deniselsanders 

Jan Hargrave Related Seminars and Products

Jan Hargrave & Associates

As the nation's leading behavioral authority, body language expert and trial consultant, Jan Hargrave provides you with the skills you need to truly "read" yourself and everyone around you. Jan describes the "hidden messages" you use in your everyday life and shows you how to stop the lies and uncover the truth in any conversation or situation.

Jay Kimelman Related Seminars and Products

Xero

Jay Kimelman is the Founder and CEO of the digital CPA & Your Digital Practice, beyond the cloud firms delivering accounting, tax, technology and consulting services to small and medium business owners and accountants, freeing them from the desktop.

Kathy Courtney Related Seminars and Products

Grant Thornton

Kathy is a director in Grant Thornton's Advisory practice with over 25 years of experience helping clients achieve a competitive edge and meet their business objectives. Leveraging her connections and consultancy experience, Kathy focuses on bringing measurable value to clients. Prior to joining Grant Thornton, Kathy held leadership roles at Oracle and Microsoft. A licensed CPA in the State of Texas, Kathy started her professional career at PwC as an auditor in the Business Advisory practice and also served on the leadership team of a regional CPA firm.

Matt Russell Related Seminars and Products

Briggs & Veselka Co

Matt Russell graduated from the University of Houston in 2020 and joined the forensics and litigation support group at Briggs & Veselka. Since then, Matt has helped the firm establish a brand new data analytics consulting practice that helps coworkers and clients alike use data more efficiently and create insights to help drive decision-making.

Phillip Jefferis Related Seminars and Products

Ernst & Young LLP

Phillip Jefferis is a Partner for EY in the Houston office primarily serving clients in need of audit services. He has experience in a wide variety of industries and with companies ranging from small start-ups to large multi-national public companies. He is the Digital Audit leader for the Houston office which includes driving innovation of the audit to all clients to increase the quality of our audits and the depth of our insight. Phillip was born and raised here in Houston, attended Wake Forest University, and returned home to Houston where he and his wife Niki raise four children.

Jill Ahrens Related Seminars and Products

Ernst & Young LLP

Jill Ahrens, an audit partner in the Houston, TX office, has more than 12 years of public accounting experience and 10 years serving SEC-registered, multinational oil and gas companies. She brings experience with complex accounting issues, including revenue recognition, asset retirement obligations, reserves accounting, oil and gas impairment considerations, and overall oil and gas joint arrangement accounting. Her experience includes SEC reporting requirements, mergers and acquisitions, spin-off transactions, carve-out procedures, private equity funding, private debt funding, registration statements, business combinations, comfort letters, pro forma adjustments and recurring year- end audits.

Abby Alford Related Seminars and Products

CBRE

Abby Alford serves as a Director of Transaction Management at CBRE where she provides strategic real estate consulting and brokerage services in Houston and around the globe.

John Ginder Related Seminars and Products

John Ginder, CCIM is a Vice President with Caldwell’s Industrial Brokerage Team and plays an important role in the growth of our Industrial Tenant and Landlord representation services. He works with clients on new leases, renewals, relocations, purchases and financial analysis. He was awarded the most transactions for a Caldwell broker in 2017, 2018, and 2019, and was awarded the largest single transaction in 2020.  Prior to joining Caldwell, John was with Weingarten Realty and Brixmor Property Group. He has nearly 10 years of experience as a Retail broker, and 6 years as an industrial specialist. John earned a B.A. in Business & Economics from the Virginia Military Institute and a Masters in Land Economics and Real Estate from Texas A&M University. He received both his CCIM designation and Member Associate, Society of Industrial and Office Realtors in 2019. He is active in many organizations, serving as a member of ICSC (International Council of Shopping Centers), and is the Past Chair for Houston’s and Orlando’s ICSC Next Generation Chapter, member and Past Chair for Houston Intercontinental Chamber of Commerce, member and Past Chair for Houston Ducks Unlimited Planning Committee and is a member of Houston’s First Baptist Church. When he isn’t spending time with his wife Amy and their two kids, John is an avid outdoorsman, enjoying hunting and fishing when he is away from the office.

Jonathan Hicks Related Seminars and Products

SRS Real Estate Partners

Jonathan is the Managing Principal of SRS Real Estate Partners in Houston. He has more than a fifteen years of experience in commercial real estate and specializes in tenant representation, land sales, and investment sales. Over his career, Jonathan has worked with clients such as Tuesday Morning, Dunkin’ Donuts, Walgreens, Public Storage, Cato Corporation (Cato, It’s Fashion, and Versona), StorageWest, Leslie’s Swimming Pool Supplies, Main Event, La Madeleine, Cyclone Anayas, Burger King, Wendy’s, Popeye’s, Dairy Queen, Speedway, Scooters Coffee, and Haverty’s.

James Scheupbach Related Seminars and Products

Ryoak Real Estate Group

Robert Blake Related Seminars and Products

A native Texan growing up in Fort Worth and currently residing in Arlington. Robert attended UTA and studied both computer science and real estate. Since 1991, Robert has been a consultant in the computer industry where his primary areas of expertise are in document management, workflow and desktop faxing.

Ruben Reyes Related Seminars and Products

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Ruben joined Gallagher in 2014, and brings over 17 years of employee benefits and ERISA experience from both a corporate and law firm environment. As Compliance Counsel, Ruben handles a broad range of group health and welfare benefit plan matters including: plan design, administration, reporting and disclosure requirements, government filings and various federal regulations that impact group plans under ACA, HIPAA, COBRA and FMLA. Ruben is a frequent speaker at several state and national professional organizations, such as: California State Bar Association, Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), HR Houston and is a web series contributor for ExecSense, the world’s largest eLearning publisher of professional webinars and eBooks. Ruben has also been a guest lecturer on the topic of the ACA at U.C. Berkeley, School of Law (Boalt Hall). Ruben is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz. He received his JD from San Francisco School of Law and his LLM in Taxation from Golden Gate University, School of Law. He is a licensed attorney.

Scott Actkinson Related Seminars and Products

Statesman Business Advisors, LLC

Scott Actkinson is a co-founder of Statesman and Director of the firm’s Due Diligence and Debt Placement Services. Previous to Statesman, he operated an independent advisory firm that provided consulting services for small businesses applying for government assisted financing. His previous business experience includes serving as a Vice President and Financial Officer for a NASD government securities broker-dealer and an environmental waste company. Scott has also worked in the audit and management consulting practices of a Big 4 accounting firm. His professional affiliations include the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Texas Society of CPA’s and the Houston Society of CPA’s.

Stephen King Related Seminars and Products

GrowthForce

Stephen King, CPA, is the President and CEO of GrowthForce, a market leader in the client accounting services industry, providing cloud-based bookkeeping, accounting and controller services for service businesses and nonprofits. Before opening GrowthForce, Stephen was President of Insperity Financial Management Services division for two years. The division was created from the acquisition of a business called Virtual Growth Incorporated, which Steve founded in 1995 in New York City. Before Virtual Growth, Steve was the Chief Financial Officer and Director of Development for Amnesty International, USA. There, he managed the organization’s tremendous growth and honed his fundraising skills, raising over $20M a year.

Steven Goodman Related Seminars and Products

Steve Goodman is a CPA and CFP® Practitioner and founded Goodman Financial Corporation in 1989 as a fee-only firm delivering client service as fiduciaries. He serves as president of the 19-person firm which employs eight CPAs, seven CFP® Practitioners and three CFAs in providing financial advisory and money management services under a single fee structure, managing $550 million with a greater than 95% average annual client retention ratio. He is a past chairman of the Texas Society of CPAs, past president of the Houston CPA Society and former member of the governing council of the AICPA. He is a longtime member of the Houston Estate & Financial Forum and the Charitable Gift Planners of Houston. Prior to Goodman Financial Corporation, Steve worked in the Big 4 public accounting firm Ernst & Young as a tax consultant. He holds a Master’s of Science in Accountancy and Taxation as well as a Bachelor of Science from the University of Houston.

Steven J Tillinger, CPA Related Seminars and Products

Teresa Acosta Related Seminars and Products

University of Houston

Teresa Acosta is the UH FDIS Director and has been with the university for 17 years.

Brian Gharala Related Seminars and Products

University of Houston

Brian Gharala is an FDIS Instructional Designer at the University of Houston. He helps instructors understand various technologies in order to deliver effective and accessible classes.

Terri Cooper Related Seminars and Products

Deloitte

As Deloitte’s Vice Chair of External DEI, Terri is a member of Deloitte’s Management Committee. She focuses on fostering Deloitte’s external brand and helping to drive market facing efforts.

Tim Phillips Related Seminars and Products

Revenade

Tim Phillips, President and CEO of Revenade, is a globally recognized leader in profitable revenue growth acceleration. Over his 40-year career he has helped and negotiated on behalf of some of the world’s leading professional service firms in moving from simple potential to exponential growth. In addition to consulting and professional speaking, Tim is a best-selling author of the “BREAKAWAY” series of books for professional B2B professional service selling success. The most current series release is “Heroic Service: The Secret of Professional Selling Success”, available on Amazon in which many of the concepts and strategies presented in the presentation are delivered in greater detail with specific examples. Tim earned the prestigious 2014-2015 Houston CPA Society “Outstanding Speaker” award for this presentation at the Houston CPA Spring Expo.

Tina Greenbaum Related Seminars and Products

Mastery Under Pressure,LLC

Tina Greenbaum works with executives who want to increase their performance level in high-stakes, high-pressure situations. An Optimal Performance Specialist and Sports Psychology Consultant, Tina’s signature program, Mastery Under Pressure empowers leaders and their teams using cutting-edge technology, neuroscience, energy psychology, sports psychology, and current learning theory. In addition to her Mastery Under Pressure team program, Tina also works with CEOs and senior-level management as a confidential ‘Thera-Coach’ on a one-to-one basis. Her expertise in guiding executives through their psychological and personal issues helps her clients cope with the demands that their personal struggles place on them as they strive to be atop their sector. As she likes to say, “The only thing standing between you and your goals is…you.”

Tonja Rodriguez Related Seminars and Products

Tonja Rodriguez is a CPA and Director of Not-for-profit Services with Harper & Pearson Company, P.C. Tonja has more than 30 years of experience, mostly providing auditing, financial reporting and consulting to not-for-profit organizations. H&P is a large, Houston based CPA firm providing financial, tax and consulting services for more than 50 years.

Wayne Hunter Related Seminars and Products

AvTek Solutions, Inc.

Wayne Hunter is the President and CEO of AvTek Solutions, Inc. where he concentrates his efforts on providing the best solution to customers. Wayne has over 30 years of experience in Information Technology, focusing on implementing storage and data systems, IT management, and systems integration.

Rashid Qureshi Related Seminars and Products