Speakers

Billie M. Cunningham, University of Missouri’s School of Accountancy
Plenary Speaker, Friday, October 27, 9:15 am – 10:15 am
Well, THAT Didn't Work. How Purposeful, Systematic and Continuous Improvement Has Kept Me from Throwing the Baby Out with the Bathwater (and other ways it has affected my teaching): Perspectives on Effective Teaching  

Billie M. Cunningham is the EY Teaching Scholar and a Teaching Professor at the University of Missouri’s School of Accountancy. She holds a B.B.A., M.B.A., and Ph.D. from the University of North Texas. Cunningham has taught more than 24,000 students in the undergraduate introductory accounting courses and the M.B.A. accounting course. She has received numerous awards in recognition of her teaching including most recently, the 2016 American Accounting Association/J. Michael and Mary Anne Cook / Deloitte Foundation Prize and, at the University of Missouri, the 2017 William T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence. She is a co-author of Accounting Information for Business Decisions. Cunningham’s research studies effective ways to help students develop their critical thinking skills and how to use action research as a systematic, evidence-based means of measuring the effectiveness of one’s teaching strategies and classroom environment. Her research has been recognized with awards from the TYC and TLC Sections. Cunningham has served as President of both the TYC and TLC Sections, and as AAA Vice-President Academic She has served on the AICPA Pre-Certification Education Executive Committee and as President of the Missouri Association of Accounting Educators. She serves on editorial boards of IAE and AEI, and is the current CTLA Co-Chair.

Guido Geerts, Professor, Lerner College of Business, University of Delaware
Workshop Presenter, Thursday, October 26, 2:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Teaching Accounting Students Big Data Skills

Guido Geerts is a Professor at the Lerner College of Business, University of Delaware, where he teaches accounting information systems and big data technologies. He is the former chair of the Technology Task Force for the Pathways Commission Recommendation #4 (Curriculum and Pedagogy) and he currently serves on the AICPA Pre-certification Education Executive Committee (PcEEC). Guido earned his Ph.D. from the Free University of Brussels.

Christen Morand, Ernst & Young
Lunch Speaker, Friday, October 27, 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
Fraud: The Facts and the Myths and the Evolving Role of the Forensic Accountant

Christen Morand is a partner in Ernst & Young’s Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services practice based in Chicago. She provides alternative dispute resolution services and litigation support services on a variety of matters including post-transaction disputes, purchase price disputes, working capital adjustments, analysis and resolution of earn-out provisions and expert testimony.

Christen also has experience conducting large and small accounting and financial fraud investigations, including revenue recognition, asset misappropriation, and earnings management. As a result of Christen’s investigative experience, she also assists clients in transaction due diligence, detection of FCPA risk and the prevention and detection of fraud.

Christen has provided arbitration and expert services and has led many complex alternative dispute resolution matters including net working capital disputes, earn-out disputes, GAAP vs. historical consistency issues, GAAP vs. IFRS issues and other complex accounting issues.

Christen is a frequent speaker on accounting M&A topics, mitigating M&A disputes, and analysis of M&A contractual language. She is also co-author of the “Mergers and Acquisition Transaction Disputes” chapter of the Litigation Services Handbook: The role of the Financial Expert, 6th Edition (May 2017) and 5t hEdition (August 2012).  Christen has also presented
in the areas of fraud and data analytics, investigative interview techniques and forensic accounting to a variety of internal Ernst & Young audiences, external counsel and Fortune 500 clients.

Christen is a Certified Public Accountant in Illinois and a member of the American Institute of CPAs.

Christen holds a Bachelors of Science Accountancy and Masters of Science in Accountancy and a minor in Spanish from the University of Illinois, Champaign/Urbana.

Marc Rubin, AAA President-Elect, Miami University of Ohio, Farmer School of Business
Speaker, Saturday, October 28, 8:20 am – 8:50 am
Pathways to a Sustainable Future  

Marc Rubin is PwC Professor of Accountancy and Chair of the Department of Accountancy in the Farmer School of Business at Miami University of Ohio having served on its faculty since 1990. He has served at the University of Seoul as visiting faculty and as Associate Professor and Visiting Associate Professor, Graduate School of Business Administration, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Marc earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin.

Marc has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals including The Accounting Review, Issues in Accounting Education, Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, Research in Governmental and Nonprofit Accounting, and Journal of Accounting and Public Policy. He has authored research reports for the Financial Accounting Foundation and Governmental Accounting Standards Board, presented at over 50 conferences including AAA Annual Meetings, Region and Section meetings, as well as state and local conferences on issues in accounting education, financial and governmental accounting, and financial statement analysis. Marc serves on the Editorial Board of Issues in Accounting Education and Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, and previously, Research in Governmental and Nonprofit Accounting.

Marc has thirty-two years’ experience as a faculty member, is a CPA, and has received a number of academic awards for excellence including the Cincinnati Magazine Outstanding Educator Award (2014) and the Beta Gamma Sigma Distinguished Faculty Award (1998), and several teaching fellowships and research grants. He is the current President-Elect of the American Accounting Association.

Thomas A. Wanat, Associate Director, Division of Registration and Inspections, Regional Coordinator, Non-Affiliated Firm Inspection Program, PCAOB
Plenary Speaker, Friday, October 27, 8:10 am - 9:05 am
The PCAOB, 15 years: Reflections on Key Accomplishments and Key Challenges on the Horizon

Tom Wanat is an associate director in the PCAOB's Division of Registration and Inspections. He is the Chicago and Washington DC regional coordinator in the Non-Affiliated Firm Inspection Program and oversees the inspections on domestic accounting firms. Mr. Wanat joined the PCAOB in November 2005 and led inspections of large and small domestic firms until 2009 when he became the regional coordinator. Before joining the PCAOB in 2005, Mr. Wanat was an audit partner in the Milwaukee office of Deloitte & Touche LLP. During his 23 years at Deloitte, he conducted audits of numerous public and private companies in a variety of industries and assisted companies in going public. Mr. Wanat also served as the quality control partner for a small local firm and as a technical reviewer for the Wisconsin Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ Peer Review program. Mr. Wanat received a B.B.A. in accounting from the University of Iowa. He is a certified public accountant.

Gregory E. Wolski, CPA, Partner, Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services, Ernst & Young LLP
Lunch Speaker, Friday, October 27, 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
Fraud: The Facts and the Myths and the Evolving Role of the Forensic Accountant

Greg is a partner and Certified Public Accountant in Ernst & Young’s Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services (FIDS) practice with over 37 years’ experience in due diligence, litigation, accounting and auditing and other advisory services. Greg is the firm’s global practice leader for the Transaction Forensics practice (including purchase price disputes, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and anti-bribery/anti-corruption due diligence, private equity anti-corruption compliance, transaction fraud and forensic due diligence). Greg has been a frequent speaker on mergers and acquisitions topics and has authored numerous articles on mitigating M&A disputes, forensic due diligence and FCPA and anti-corruption due diligence. Greg received a BS in Accounting from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1980. Greg is a Chartered Global Management Accountant and is also Certified in Financial Forensics.