Speakers
Bruce K. Behn
President - Elect of the American Accounting Association
Bruce K. Behn, Ph.D., CPA is the President - Elect of the American Accounting Association, Associate Dean for Graduate and Executive Education and Deloitte LLP Professor at The University of Tennessee (UT). He joined the Department of Accounting and Information Management in 1994 after completing his doctorate at Arizona State University and served in a number of capacities over the years within the department (including Department Head) and the college. Dr. Behn has a MBA from Arizona State University and a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prior to obtaining his Ph.D., he worked for Rockwell International in Uithoorn, The Netherlands as the international financial coordinator for Allen-Bradley Europa B.V., Allen-Bradley Company as controller and financial analyst, and KPMG Peat Marwick as senior auditor. He has published articles in The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, Contemporary Accounting Research, Accounting Horizons, Journal of Accounting, Auditing, and Finance and a number of other journals and has served as the co-editor for the Journal of International Accounting Research and the associate editor of Issues in Accounting Education. Dr. Behn recently chaired the Pathways Commission and is a past Vice-President of the American Accounting Association (AAA), past President of the International Accounting Section (AAA) and the Federation of Schools of Accountancy (FSA) and past chair of the AICPA's Pre-certification Education Executive Committee. He has also been the recipient of a number of teaching awards including the AAA's Innovation in Accounting Education award, UT's Alumni Outstanding Teaching award, and the Tennessee Society of CPAs Outstanding Educator of the Year.
Dean Mead
Research Manager, Governmental Accounting Standards Board
GASB Update
Dean Mead is the research manager at the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB), where he oversees GASB project managers in the planning, design and administration of the GASB’s research, manages external research, and acts as liaison to the academic community. He is the author of the GASB’s User Guide Series, which serves as a non-technical, plain-language introduction to government financial statements for non-accountants. Mr. Mead also coordinates the GASB’s constituent outreach and communication efforts and is staff liaison to the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council. Additionally, Mr. Mead is a lecturer at Rutgers Business School, Rutgers University, where he teaches governmental accounting, auditing, and financial analysis.
He is a member of the American Accounting Association, the Association for Budgeting and Financial Management, the Association of Government Accountants, the Municipal Analyst’s Group of New York, the National Federation of Municipal Analysts, and the Governmental Research Association. Mr. Mead currently serves on the editorial board of Public Budgeting & Finance and recently completed his term on the editorial board of The Journal of Government Financial Management.
John W. Hill, Chief Financial Officer of the City of Detroit, Michigan
Plenary Session
John W. Hill currently serves as Chief Financial Officer of the City of Detroit, Michigan since November 2013. The emergency Financial Manager, Kevyn Orr, and the Mayor, Mike Duggan jointly appointed him for a term to expire at the end of Emergency Manager’s tenure. Mayor Mike Duggan has reappointed Mr. Hill to serve as Detroit’s CFO in the post bankruptcy period. Mr. Hill is also the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of JHill Group LLC, a consulting company formed in late 2012. He has more than three decades of experience in financial management, organizational design and development, and strategic business planning. Hill has a proven track record leading high-performing organizations across diverse industries, comprising government, non-profit and for-profit entities. Hill served for eight years as Chief Executive Officer of the Federal City Council, a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to the improvement of Washington DC. He also previously served as the Chief Executive Officer of In2Books, Inc., a partner with Andersen, LLP, Executive director of the DC Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Authority (Control Board) and as Director of Audits in Marriott Corporation’s Internal Audit Division, among other financial leadership positions.
In September 2012, Hill was elected to the Board of Costar Group, Inc. where he currently serves as Chairman of the audit committee. Hill also serves as a Trustee of Chesapeake Lodging Trust Corporation where he chairs the compensation committee, is a member of the audit committee and a member of the trustees committee. Previously, Hill served on the Board of Directors and was a member of the audit and compensation committees for Highland Hospitality, Inc. He has served in board leadership positions with a number of public government-related and non-profit organizations in the Washington, DC region. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland with a degree in accounting and passed the CPA exam in 1977. He has received many awards and recognition over the years for his work.
Michael Ferguson, Auditor General of Canada
GNP Issues Faced in Canada
Michael Ferguson was appointed Auditor General of Canada in November 2011.
Prior to this appointment, from 2010 to 2011, Ferguson served as the Deputy Minister of Finance of New Brunswick and Secretary to the Board of Management for the Province of New Brunswick.
Ferguson held the position of Comptroller for the Province of New Brunswick from 2000–2005. He was also Auditor General of New Brunswick from 2005–2010.
He is a past president of the New Brunswick Institute of Chartered Accountants and is currently serving his second three-year term as a member of the Public Sector Accounting Board. Ferguson was elected to the Fellowship of the New Brunswick Institute of Chartered Accountants in 2011.
Bill Bohde, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing Detroit Visitors and Convention Bureau
Economic Development
Bill Bohde has served as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau since March 2012. A veteran of the hospitality industry for nearly 43 years, Bill’s leads Sales and Marketing teams to promote the Detroit Region for Meetings, Conventions and Tourism with the primary mission to maximize economic impact and direct spending through all partners and businesses.
Prior to re-locating to Michigan, Bill held similar positions with the St. Louis and Kansas City Convention Bureau’s. He began his hospitality career with Marriott Corporation in New Jersey, serving in various capacities during his 21 year stint.
Bill’s primary focus is creatively communicating the “America’s Great Comeback City” message to educate consumers of the significant change and advancement of the Detroit region to both the domestic and international consumer
Carol O'Cleireacain
Carol O'Cleireacain became Deputy Mayor for Economic Policy, Planning & Strategy in October 2014. She is a nationally recognized expert on fiscally troubled states and local governments.
Dr. O'Cleireacain has served as Deputy Treasurer of the State of New Jersey under Governor Jon Corzine. She was Finance Commissioner and Budget Director of New York City under Mayor David Dinkins, responsible for America’s 4th largest taxing jurisdiction and government budget, becoming the first woman to hold both positions. She chaired the trustee boards of NYC's employees' and teachers' retirement systems, was a trustee on the police and fire systems, and twice was elected national chair of the Council of Institutional Investors.
She served as senior consultant to the Task Force on the State Budget Crisis, chaired by Paul A. Volcker and Richard Ravitch, which in 2012 produced detailed studies of the fiscal crisis of the American states.
Until recently, she was a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.Her book, “The Orphaned Capital,” on the troubled finances of the District of Columbia, received popular acclaim in 1997 and led to her serving as a consultant to the federally-imposed control board restoring structural budget balance and solvency to the District. Among her other Brookings publications are Cleaner Rivers for the National Capital Region: Sharing the Cost; and, with Alice M. Rivlin, A Sound Fiscal Footing for the Nation’s Capital and Envisioning a Future Washington.
She served on President Clinton’s Commission to Study Capital Budgeting, Congress' Mineta Commission to Review Civil Aviation, the National Academy of Sciences Task Force on Strategies for Public Capital Investment, and the Advisory Committee to New York City’s Independent Budget Office. In addition to public service, she has served on three corporate boards, chairing one audit committee for ten years.
Dr. O’Cleireacain came to New York City from London in 1976, beginning thirteen years as chief economist of District Council 37 AFSCME (AFL-CIO), the City's largest municipal union, which played a critical role in the financial rescue of the City during its fiscal crisis in the mid-1970s.
She holds a Ph.D. in economics from the London School of Economics, M.A, and B.A. (with distinction) in economics from the University of Michigan, where she spent two summers in the UAW's Education Department. She was Chief Economic Advisor to the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson in his 1988 campaign for President. She has taught Public Finance and Public Policy at numerous universities in the US and the UK; researched in Tokyo as a Japan Society Fellow; been a senior fellow of SUNY's Rockefeller Institute. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.