Monday August 8th Plenary Speakers

John Steele Gordon

Business and Economic Historian

John Steele Gordon was born in New York City in 1944 into a family long associated with the city and its financial community. Both his grandfathers held seats on the New York Stock Exchange. He was educated at Millbrook School and Vanderbilt University, graduating with a B.A. in history in 1966.

After college he worked as a production editor for Harper & Row (now HarperCollins) for six years before leaving to travel, driving a Land-Rover from New York to Tierra del Fuego, a nine-month journey of 39,000 miles. This resulted in his first book, Overlanding. Altogether he has driven through forty-seven countries on five continents.

After returning to New York he served on the staffs of Congressmen Herman Badillo and Robert Garcia. He has been a full-time writer for the last thirty years. His second book, The Scarlet Woman of Wall Street, a history of Wall Street in the 1860's, was published in 1988. His third book, Hamilton's Blessing: the Extraordinary Life and Times of Our National Debt, was published in 1997. A revised and updated edition was published in 2010.

His history of Wall Street, The Great Game: The Emergence of Wall Street as a World Power, 1653-2000, was published in November, 1999. A two-hour special based on The Great Game first aired on CNBC on April 24th, 2000. It has been translated into several languages and was a best seller in China. His history of the laying of the Atlantic Cable, A Thread Across the Ocean, was published in June, 2002.

His next book, An Empire of Wealth: The Epic History of American Economic Power, published in 2004, is a history of the American economy. It is used in a number of college American history classes and remains in print.

Mr. Gordon specializes in business and financial history. He has had many articles published in, among others, Forbes, Forbes ASAP, Worth, American History, National Review, The American, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal op-ed pages, the Washington Post's Book World and Outlook. He is a contributing editor at Philanthropy, and wrote the "Business of America" column from 1989 to 2007 for American Heritage where he was also a contributing editor. A collection of his columns from American Heritage entitled The Business of America, was published in 2001. He now writes a column on business history for Barron’s called “The Long Viewand does frequent book reviews for both The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. He is a frequent contributor to Commentary magazine and its blog, “Contentions,” as well as to The American, the on-line magazine of the American Enterprise Institute.

He has been a commentator on Marketplace, the public radio business news program heard on more than two hundred stations throughout the country. He has appeared on numerous other radio and television shows, including New York: A Documentary Film by Ric Burns, Business Center, Larry Kudlow, On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, and Squawk Box on CNBC, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer on PBS, 20/20 on ABC, and Matt Miller on Bloomberg. He was a guest in 2001 on a live, two-hour edition of Booknotes with Brian Lamb on C-SPAN. He recently appeared on two History Channel specials entitled “Crash: The Next Great Depression?” and “Ripped Off: Madoff and the Scamming of America.” He has been a consultant and “talking head” in such recent documentaries as Peter Cooper: Mechanic to Millionaire and Rediscovering Alexander Hamilton. He appeared on a John Stossel “Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity” special on Fox Business Channel in 2013. In 2014 he was a consultant for the We the Economy project (www.wetheeconomy.com) for Cinelan, appearing in several of the episodes.

In recent years he has spoken before such groups as the Fund for American Studies, the International Facility Management Association, the American Accounting Association, the Mercatus Institute Chiefs of Staff Retreat, the New-York Historical Society, Maricopa Community Colleges, the Federalist Society, Stanford University Law School’s Constitutional Law Center, Hillsdale College, University of Missouri St. Louis, and Trinity College. He participated in an Intelligence Squared debate in March, 2009. In August, 2009, he traveled to China to give a series of speeches to that country’s financial community, under the sponsorship of the newspaper China Times. He has lectured on cruises for both Commentary magazine and Hillsdale College. He recently participated in an academic colloquium at the Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization in Clinton, New York.

His next book will be out in February 2016 and is entitled Washington’s Monument: And the Fascinating History of the Obelisk.

Mr. Gordon lives in North Salem, New York. His e-mail address is jsg@johnsteelegordon.com.


Vinnie Mirchandani

President of Deal Architect Inc.

Vinnie Mirchandani has been called "The King of Wow" for his keen eye for technology-enabled innovation. His blog, New Florence. New Renaissance has cataloged over 4,000 posts of innovative products, projects, and people in work, life, and play. His books, The New Technology Elite, The New Polymath and The Digital Enterprise (written for Karl Heinz Streibich) have been widely praised as an "innovation firehoses". His latest books, SAP Nation and SAP Nation 2.0, are more investigative but carries his trademark style, which is case study-heavy. His books draw on the breadth of his blogs, extensive research and a global perspective from his travels to over 50 countries.

He is President of Deal Architect Inc, a technology advisory firm. The firm helps clients take advantage of disruptive trends like cloud computing and business process outsourcing (BPO) before they go mainstream. Between this firm and previous role at the technology research firm, Gartner he has helped clients evaluate and negotiate over $10 billion in technology contracts. 

He spent his early career at Price Waterhouse, first as an accountant, then as a technology consultant (that division is now part of IBM). He has been quoted in most major technology and business publications, and he has presented at a wide range of industry events.

For his next book Vinnie Mirchandani has been researching automation (machine learning, robotics, 3d printing, autonomous vehicles, etc.) and impact on wide range of sectors (accounting, advertising, agriculture, logistics, shop floors, etc.). He will share his research on implications for humans and particularly, accountants. Sneak preview - he is much more optimistic about human role in contrast to many gloomy projections of jobless futures.


Tuesday August 9th Plenary Speakers

Mary E. Barth

Joan E. Horngren Professor of Accounting at the Stanford University, Graduate School of Business (GSB)

Mary E. Barth is the Joan E. Horngren Professor of Accounting at the Stanford University, Graduate School of Business (GSB). Professor Barth was a member of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) from its inception in 2001 until 2009.  She served as the Academic Advisor to the IASB from 2009 until 2011. Prior to joining the IASB, Professor Barth’s accounting standard setting activities included serving as a member of the Accounting Standards Executive Committee of the American Institute of CPAs and the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council of the Financial Accounting Standards Board. Prior to joining the faculty at Stanford in 1995, she was an Associate Professor at Harvard Business School and an audit partner in Arthur Andersen & Co.

Professor Barth’s research is published in a variety of journals and has won several awards, including the American Accounting Association’s (AAA) Notable Contributions to Accounting Literature Award, Competitive Manuscript Award, and, on two occasions, the AAA/Deloitte Wildman Medal Award and, on three occasions, the Best Paper Award of the Financial Accounting and Reporting Section of the AAA. She is an Editor of The Accounting Review and a Co-editor of the Journal of Financial Reporting, has been Accounting Department Editor of Management Science, and is on the Editorial Boards of several other academic journals.

Professor Barth is a recipient of the GSB’s Robert J. Davis Award for a lifetime of achievement as a GSB faculty member, MBA Distinguished Teaching Award, and PhD Faculty Distinguished Service Award, and served as a Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the GSB from 2002 until 2009.  Professor Barth is active in the AAA, having served as its President for 2013-2014 and as President Elect, Vice President, Past President, and Chair of several committees.  She also has served as a Vice President of the International Association for Accounting Education and Research.  Professor Barth is a recipient of the Outstanding International Accounting Educator Award of the AAA’s International Section, has been an Honorary Professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, and is an Honorary Professorial Fellow with title of Professor at the University of Melbourne.  She serves on the External Audit Committee of the International Monetary Fund.  Professor Barth holds an AB from Cornell University, an MBA from Boston University, a PhD from Stanford University, and DSc(HC)s from Lancaster University and London Business School.


John Christensen

Professor of Accounting, University of Southern Denmark

John Christensen is Professor of Accounting at University of Southern Denmark. He has been awarded an honorary doctorate degree from University of Magdeburg and a Pd.D. from Stanford University. His research has been published in The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, Accounting Horizons, Review of Accounting Studies, European Accounting Review and Management Accounting Research. He is coauthor of Accounting Theory: An Information Content Analysis. He has served as President of European Accounting Association (2006-2009), Vice-President Research and Publication of American Accounting Association (2010-2012), and served as chair of The European Accounting Associations Doctoral Colloquium. He was the Presidential Scholar of American Accounting Association in 2009. He is a Knight of the Order of Dannebrog of First Degree.


Kazuo Hiramatsu

Professor Emeritus, Kwansei Gakuin University

Kazuo Hiramatsu is professor emeritus at Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan. He served as a professor during 1975-2016, and as the president of that university during 2002-08. He earned his BA (1970), MBA (1972) and Ph.D. (1987) from Kwansei Gakuin University.

He was a visiting scholar at the University of Washington (Seattle, USA, 1977-79), and a visiting professor at the University of Glasgow (Scotland, U.K., 1991). He received Honorary Doctoral Degree from Satya Wacana Christian University, Indonesia, in 2010.

He served as the president of Japan Accounting Association (JAA, 2009-12), the vice president-international of American Accounting Association (AAA, 2009-11), and the president of International Association for Accounting Education and Research (IAAER, 2013-14).

He was a member of the Strategy Working Party of IASC (1997-99) and the International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB) of IFAC (2010-15).

Currently, he is a member of the Business Accounting Council of the Japanese government, and the Chair of the Translation Review Committee of IFRS in Japan. In the past, he was a member of the Accounting Standards Board of Japan (ASBJ) and the Certified Public Accountants and Auditing Oversight Board (CPAAOB).

His research interest is in international accounting. He received Ohta Award from JAA in 1986, the Joint AICPA/AAA Collaboration Award in 1998 and the Outstanding International Accounting Educator Award from the International Accounting Section of AAA in 2005.


Tuesday August 9th Lunch Speaker

Curt Steinhorst

Speaker at The Center for Generational Kinetics

Curt Steinhorst is a Certified Keynote Speaker at The Center for Generational Kinetics. His clients range from GM and Raytheon to the Naval Academy. Curt is a Millennial himself who has a reputation as a leader among Millennials. At age 20, he was elected President of his 10,000-member class at Texas A&M University. Since graduating from college magna cum laude he has worked extensively to make the most of generational differences for clients around the world.

Curt’s entertaining speaking style has wowed audiences of up to 20,000 leaders from California to New York City and Africa. Curt’s personal experiences leading Millennials and serving as a speaking coach for top performers—from executives and TV personalities to helping the Heisman Trophy Winner prepare for his speech—make him a powerful and entertaining communicator on how to bridge generations with employees and customers.


Wednesday August 10th Plenary Speakers

Yannick Glemarec

Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director for Policy and Programme for UN Women

Yannick Glemarec joined the United Nations in 1989. He has held increasingly responsible positions with UNDP Country Offices in Viet Nam, China and Bangladesh. He served as UNDP Executive Coordinator for the Global Environment Facility and Director of Environment Finance in New York from June 2007 to January 2012 and then as Executive Coordinator of the Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office from February 2013 to March 2015.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed him as Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director for Policy and Programme for UN Women on 6 March, 2015. In this capacity, he is responsible for setting the direction and guiding the planning, coordination, management and oversight of all activities and services provided by the Programme and Policy Bureau. He serves as one of two Deputies to the Executive Director of UN Women.

He holds a PhD from the University of Paris in Environmental Sciences, and two Master’s Degrees in Hydrology and in Business Administration. He has authored and co-authored several publications in the field of disaster risk management, sustainable development, clean energy and climate finance.


Jaime Casap

Chief Education Evangelist

Jaime Casap is the Chief Education Evangelist at Google. Jaime evangelizes the power and potential of the web, technology, and Google tools as enabling and supporting capabilities in pursuit of fostering inquiry-driven project-based learning models. Jaime collaborates with educational organizations and leaders building innovation and iteration into our education practices. He speaks on the subject of technology, education, and innovation at events around the world.

In addition to his role at Google, Jaime serves on a number of Boards, including the Arizona Science Foundation and Inquire Schools. He serves as an advisor to dozens of organizations focused on education, technology, and equity. Jaime is also an adjunct professor at Arizona State University, where he teaches classes on policy, innovation, and leadership.

You can read Jaime’s education blog at www.jcasap.com and can reach him on Google+. You can also follow him on Twitter at @jcasap 


Wednesday August 10th Lunch Speaker

David Burgstahler

Julius A. Roller Professor of Accounting at the University of Washington

Dave has taught at the University of Washington since 1981, where he previously served as Acting Dean in the School of Business and Associate Dean for Masters Programs and Executive Education. He earned his Ph.D. from The University of Iowa and has published widely in peer-reviewed journals including The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Journal of Accounting Research, Contemporary Accounting Research, Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, and Issues in Accounting Education. He is currently an Editor of The Accounting Review and served as Associate Editor (1997-2000) of Accounting Horizons, and Editorial Board Member for Accounting Horizons (2000-04), The Accounting Review (1983-86, 1992-2003), Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory (1986-94, 1997-1999), and Journal of Governmental and Nonprofit Accounting (2010-15).

Dave is a member of AAA’s FARS and MAS Sections. He served on the AAA Board of Directors as Vice President-Publications (2006-09), Publications Committee as Chair (2007-09) and member (2003-06), Competitive Manuscript Award Committee as Chair (1992-93) and member (1989-91), Notable and Distinguished Contributions to Accounting Literature Award Screening Committee as Chair (1991-92) and member (1987-88), Doctoral Fellowships Committee (1993-95), and has been a member of AAA’s AUD and TLC Sections.

Dave has over thirty-five years experience teaching, has served on over fifty Ph.D. Supervisory Committees, thirty Doctoral Dissertation Reading Committees, and has presented his research at over sixty-five conferences and seminars. He has received numerous awards for teaching excellence and is the recipient of the AAA’s Notable Contributions to Accounting Literature Award (2002), the University of Washington’s Beta Alpha Psi Professor of the Year (multiple years) and has been awarded numerous faculty fellowships and research grants, including appointment as a Schoeller Senior Fellow at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (2014-15).