Speakers

David Burgstahler
AAA Board President-Elect
University of Washington-Seattle

David Burgstahler is the President-Elect of the American Accounting Association (2015-16), and is the Julius A. Roller Professor of Accounting at the University of Washington. David 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. David has published widely in peer-reviewed journals including The Accounting Review, Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, Issues in Accounting Education, and Contemporary Accounting Research. He is currently an Editor of The Accounting Review, serves on the Editorial Board of Journal of Governmental and Nonprofit Accounting, and served as Associate Editor (1997-2000) and Editorial Board Member (2000-04) of Accounting Horizons, The Accounting Review (1983-86) and (1992-2003), Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory (multiple years) and on the Editorial Board of several other peer-reviewed journals.

David has over thirty 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. He has received numerous awards for teaching excellence and is the recipient of the University of Washington’s Schoeller Senior Fellow (2014-15), AAA’s Notable Contributions to Accounting Literature Award (2002), Beta Alpha Psi Professor of the Year (multiple years) and has been awarded numerous faculty fellowships and research grants.

Tracie L. Miller-Nobles

Tracie L. Miller-Nobles, CPA, received her master’s degree in accounting from Texas A&M University and is working on her doctoral degree in Adult Education also from Texas A&M University. She is an Associate Professor at Austin Community College. Previously she was a Senior Lecturer at Texas State University and has taught as an adjunct at University of Texas-Austin. Professor Miller is an author of Horngren's Accounting textbook. She has public accounting experience with Deloitte Tax LLP.

Tracie is a recipient of the Texas Society of CPAs Rising Star award, TSCPAs Outstanding Accounting Educator, and NISOD Teaching Excellence award. She is currently serving on the Board of Directors as secretary/webmaster of Teachers of Accounting at Two Year Colleges and has served in leadership roles with both the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and American Accounting Association. In addition, she served on the Pathway’s Commission on Accounting Higher Education.

Sheri L. Flies

Sheri Flies began her career with Costco Wholesale Corporation over 21 years ago as Corporate Counsel, where she was responsible for Costco's legal issues related to merchandising, its vendor code of conduct, intellectual property, pharmacy, export, e-commerce and privacy policies. In 2007, Sheri transitioned from legal into the buying side of the business in order to learn how to integrate sustainability practices into everyday buying decisions and her teams supported the development of numerous Costco private label Kirkland Signature products. In January 2013 she joined the Global Sourcing department at Costco and currently holds the position of Assistant General Merchandising Manager. She is involved with various sustainability projects, both domestically and internationally. Her focus is on value-chain analysis to source to help ensure quality and supply, while also exploring multi-stakeholder market based solutions to address poverty, malnutrition, illegal trafficking and environmental concerns. Sheri is a frequent guest lecturer at various universities discussing topics related to business, ethics and sustainability and recently has been invited to share the results of her work with the World Wildlife’s Fuller Symposium, The World Justice Forum at The Hague, The World Bank, The World Food Programme, USDA/FAS, and US Department of State. She is a 2011 recipient of the James Beard Foundation Leadership Award, is currently on the Advisory Board for the Center for Business Ethics at the Albers School of Business of Seattle University and a Trustee of Pinchot University/The Bainbridge Graduate Institute. Sheri also managed Costco's participation in a private/public collaboration to provide an affordable and high quality early learning center for children and families. She is a past Board Member of the Foundation for Early Learning and served on the Governor's Commission on Early Learning for Washington State. Prior to joining Costco, Sheri was a partner in a Seattle law firm. She is the proud mother of two daughters who inspire her daily with their wisdom.

Dave Auckland
Senior Manager, Finance Operations
Amazon

Dave Auckland is CPA and a graduate from the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington. Over the years, he has held a number of roles within finance and accounting. After graduation, Dave started in audit and business assurance with Arthur Andersen LLP focusing on public companies within the retail, airline and technology industries. In 2001, Dave transferred to the Luxembourg office to manage the engagement of a large telecom client on the US stock exchange. Returning to Seattle in late 2002, Dave was the CFO for a small investment company primarily specializing in the Maritime business with investments from Alaska to Chile and operating the largest inshore Pollock fleet in the Bering Sea. Seeing the transformation of South Lake Union first hand, Dave took a role in 2008 at Vulcan managing finance and accounting for Paul Allen’s real estate operations business. When the opportunity surfaced, Dave moved into the Football Northwest LLC leadership team that managed the Seattle Seahawks, Seattle Sounders FC and First and Goal, Inc. as their Director of Finance. It was through First and Goals Inc., the entity that manages Centurylink Field, where Dave was first introduced to Youthforce, a teen employment company and part of the Boys and Girls Club of King County. Dave served on the board of Youthforce for 5 years including 2-years as President. In 2012, a position blending finance and operations brought Dave to Amazon to lead the America’s accounts payable team focused on driving operational excellence, new geography expansion and creating an exceptional vendor experience. Currently, Dave serves as a technical advisor to the VP of Global Finance Operations. Outside of the office, you’ll find Dave coaching youth sports, hiking the beautiful Pacific Northwest or sharing a laugh with life-long friends.

Peter Fonfara
Director of Finance at Football Northwest LLC

Peter Fonfara is currently the Director Finance for Football Northwest LLC and resides in the Green Lake neighborhood of Seattle. He is a graduate of Gonzaga University with Bachelor and Master degrees in Accounting. He started his career as an auditor for Deloitte & Touche LLP, where we worked for seven years. Peter grew-up in Eastern Washington, and in his free-time enjoys running, hiking, playing tennis and basketball, and traveling around the country for sporting events. He has served on the board of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound since 2012.