2019 National Registry Summit - Guest Speakers

Chief Ethics & Diversity Officer, NASBA

Alfonzo Alexander serves as NASBA’s chief ethics and diversity officer and president of NASBA’s Center for the Public Trust (CPT). In his role as president of CPT, Mr. Alexander oversees the day-to-day operations and the growing number of CPT programs, including the Student Center for the Public Trust, the Ethics Certification program and the Being a Difference Award program, all of which position the organization to accomplish its mission to champion public trust. Prior to joining NASBA in 2006 as a staff director and vice president of the CPT, Mr. Alexander served as regional manager and managing director for the Southeast region of INROADS, Inc., where he led operations and business development in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Before joining INROADS, Mr. Alexander held several leadership positions in operations management and human resources at the Quaker Oats Company. He holds a B.S. degree in business administration with an emphasis on human resources management from Tennessee Technological University, and an M.B.A. degree from Lipscomb University.

Director of Learning Design and Development

Michael Grant is Director of Learning Design and Development at the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants.  He directs a team of 50+ diverse professional staff and serves as a member of senior leadership for Member Learning and Competency. Mr Grants also develops and executes on enterprise-level strategy for learning and learning technologies that support the professional development needs of CPAs and finance professionals.

Eric is fiercely passionate about his work and family.  Whether it is parenting, building a company, travel, or sports he commits to excellence.  He is the Chief Clever Officer of 74 Systems.  74 Systems helps accounting professionals and bookkeepers ignite their practice with marketing, technology, workflow and automation consulting services, to assist with client acquisition, sales training, pricing models, workflow management, web and social media and more.  Their clients grow fast, adding confidence, clients, skills, revenues, and profits with the guidance of 74 Systems.

Dan Mackey is the Head of Customer Success and Product for McGraw-Hill’s Workforce Learning team.  He and the team apply best in class adaptive and other learning technologies to help transform corporate and professional learning, with a strong momentum in finance education.  Dan has been with McGraw-Hill Education for over two years and prior to that, has run similar groups across multiple industries with the passion of helping professionals grow in their careers through learning and development. Dan is a certified Professional Behavioral Analyst, a patent holder, and has a dual engineering degree from Northeastern University.

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Conferences i/o

John Pytel co-founder and CEO of Conferences i/o -- an award-winning Audience Response System. John graduated from Michigan State University with a BA in Marketing and Entrepreneurship and after a brief stint with The Nielsen Company, left to pursue his entrepreneurial dreams. John is leading Conferences i/o with the mission of building The Best Audience Engagement Tool on the planet and the company was recently named one of Chicago's Top 5 Coolest Startups by The Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center.

Chief Executive Officer, Blue Ocean Ideas

Greg Rittler is the CEO of Blue Ocean Ideas, a brand management, marketing, and technology agency in Baltimore, Maryland. Blue Ocean Ideas supports growing and innovative organizations in a unique agency-partner model. The Blue Ocean Ideas secret is a high-character, high-capacity, mission-aligned staff that push our clients’ mission forward.

Greg’s background as a CPA has uniquely prepared him to devote a large part of his career to helping CPAs get ready for the fast approaching future. He is highly committed to the profession and helping individual members of state societies and associations thrive in a rapidly changing world. Greg’s passions include forming strategic planning and messaging, developing technology solutions, leading workplace culture and change initiatives, and making life easier for everyone involved (when possible).

Blue Ocean Ideas works with the Maryland Association of CPAs, The Florida Institute of CPAs, The Business Learning Institute, The Colorado Society of CPAs, and the Maryland State Bar Association as brand development, marketing, and technology partner.

Chief Communications Officer, Business Learning Institute

Bill Sheridan is a knowledge hunter, content curator, lifelong learner, and EOS implementer. As chief communications officer for the Maryland Association of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute, he created and co-authors the association’s acclaimed blog, CPA Success; he created and hosts the MACPA’s weekly “Future-Proof” podcast; and he manages the association’s member communications and numerous social networks. He was named one of Accounting Today’s  “100 Most Influential People in Accounting” for 2016.

Bill speaks regularly at national conferences on the future of the accounting and finance profession, the strategic uses of social media, and the evolution of communication, collaboration and education. He delivers frequent presentations on behalf of the Business Learning Institute and is a certified Insights to Action strategic facilitator.

Speaker and Author

Jen Shirkani is a nationally recognized expert on emotional intelligence and a featured speaker at national and state conferences, universities, government agencies, and at business organizations around the world. She is the author of award nominated Ego vs EQ, a leader's guide to leveraging the power of emotional intelligence. She spent over 25-years working with organizations from the Fortune 50 ($40B) to family-owned entities as a business consultant and executive coach. In addition to emotional intelligence, she frequently speaks and writes about workplace challenges, including interviewing and selection, employee engagement and motivation, generational differences, and coachability.

Jen has been a frequent guest of several national radio programs, and has been featured in Bloomberg/Businessweek, Leadership Excellence magazine, Investors Daily, Business Insider, Publishers Weekly, Fast Company, and Upstart Business Journal. She holds a Master's Degree in Organizational Leadership and has devoted herself to improving leadership effectiveness and on making common sense more common.

EduCE Group

Kathleen has over 20 years of experience in the learning and talent platform development industry. Her portfolio of customer experiences includes companies of all sizes, from Silicon Valley start-ups to Fortune 500 banking and audit clients. Kathleen is responsible for managing the service delivery design and implementation for cloud based learning and compliance custom web application platforms. Kathleen focuses on providing learning strategy, innovation and thought leadership to clients, building relationships to drive strategic learning initiatives throughout the organization and ensuring alignment with business strategy and goals. Prior to Educe Group, Kathleen worked as a Senior Service Delivery Leader at Conduent and as the Director of Implementation Services at Expertus. She started her career working for Accenture and then Ernst and Young, playing a key role in the development of the industry-leading LMS and compliance tool set.  She received a Bachelor of Arts in Economies, a Bachelor of Science in Advertising from Syracuse University and a Masters of Information Technology and Education from George Washington University.

Educational Consultant, ScienceMaster.com

Kenneth Wesson is a former higher education faculty member and administrator. He delivers keynote addresses on the neuroscience of learning for educational organizations and institutions throughout the United States and overseas. His audiences range from early childhood specialists to university-level educators and continuing education professionals. Wesson’s international audiences have included educators and administrative officers from six of the world’s seven continents.  His research is frequently published and referenced in Parents Magazine, HealthNet, and the journal Brain World.

He is an active member of Scientists without Borders and he can be seen on PBS specials on human learning and the teenage brain. In 2017, Wesson was selected to receive the Marquis Who’s Who Lifetime Achievement Award.

Learning & Development Director at PwC LLP

Chris Werling is a director in the Learning & Development organization at PwC.  Chris joined PwC in 1995 as a member of the Assurance team and moved into Learning & Development in 2000. After instructing a variety of classes, he began designing and developing courses utilizing various modalities for learners across PwC’s business lines. In his current role as a Learning & Development architect, his primary responsibility is to create a holistic vision of the educational experience for PwC learners and to be a thought leader and innovator in educational technology. Chris holds a Master’s Degree in Adult Education from Northern Illinois University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from the University of Notre Dame.

Counsel of Regulatory Affairs, NASBA

Elizabeth Wolfe is Counsel of Regulatory Affairs at National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA). Her practice areas focus on regulatory law and legislative policy as it pertains to the Accounting profession. Prior to joining NASBA, Elizabeth was Assistant General Counsel at the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance in the Regulatory Boards Division. There she provided legal advice regarding state licensure, Federal Anti-Trust law, the Tennessee Open Records Act, and the Tennessee Open Meetings Act to the Tennessee State Boards of Accountancy, Architecture & Engineers, Motor Vehicles, and Athletic Commission. She graduated cum laude from the University of Tennessee where she double majored in Art History and Political Science. Elizabeth attended law school at Belmont University College of Law where she served as Vice President of the Student Bar Association. She is an active member of the Nashville Bar Association and Nashville Bar Association Young Lawyer’s Division. Elizabeth is also a member of the Belmont Law Inn of Court where she mentors first year law students.