Nonprofit Conference (E2212010)

Alex is an audit partner in the Not-for-Profit and Health Care practices of PKF O’Connor Davies, LLP. He has eighteen years of experience in public accounting. His areas of specialty include audits of not-for-profit entities, health care entities and special needs clients, cost reporting as applicable to health care and not-for-profit entities, and single audits conducted in accordance with the Uniform Grant Guidance. Alex is also an adjunct professor of accounting at the City University of New York. He serves on a number of professional and academic affiliations and is a board member of the New York State Education Department State Board for Public Accountancy. He has authored articles on accounting, audit, tax and education and he has presented on both a professional and academic level.

Rick is a partner with FORVIS (which is the result of a merger between BKD and DHG) with more than 25 years of experience serving not-for-profit organizations. He is based in the firm’s New York office and is a member of FORVIS’ Higher Education Center of Excellence, which is an internal committee focused on addressing issues important to the higher education industry. Rick focuses on audits and advisory services for not-for-profit and higher education organizations.

Prior to this role, he worked at the FASB, where he served as a supervising project manager for almost six years. In that role, he was the project manager on Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2016-14, Presentation of Financial Statements of Not-for-Profit Entities; ASU 2018-08, Clarifying the Scope and Accounting Guidance for Contributions Received and Contributions Made; and ASU 2019-03, Updating the Definition of Collections. He also was coordinator for FASB’s NFP Advisory Committee and Private Company Council. Before joining the FASB, Rick was vice president and controller at a large national museum in New York for seven years and a senior manager with a large international accounting firm where he worked for 14 years and specialized in audits of higher education institutions and other not-for-profit organizations.

Rick is a member of the AICPA Not-for-Profit Expert Panel. He is a lecturer at Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies in their Non-Profit Management program. He also has been a frequent speaker with NACUBO, the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), and various state CPA societies.

He is a CPA in New York and New Jersey and is a member of the AICPA and New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants. Rick is a graduate of Montclair State University, New Jersey, with a B.S. degree and an M.B.A. degree.

MARY M. FOELSTER, CPA Senior Director Governmental Auditing and Accounting Mary Foelster is a Senior Director at the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Washington, DC, where her primary responsibility is to address governmental auditing and accounting matters, including compliance audits. Mary oversees the AICPA's Governmental Audit Quality Center and its Executive Committee and is actively involved in the AICPA's efforts to enhance the quality of single audits and other types of governmental audits. She also directs the AICPA's governmental accounting efforts, including the activities of the AICPA State and Local Government Expert Panel, related interactions with the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, and commenting on GASB due process documents. Mary is also responsible for monitoring and analyzing federal regulatory and legislative developments affecting auditing or accounting in a governmental or compliance audit environment. Mary and her team help members understand the implications of standards and regulation on governmental audits. This includes significant involvement with the development, issuance, and annual update process for the Audit and Accounting Guide, Audits of State and Local Governments, and the AICPA Audit Guide, Government Auditing Standards and Single Audits. Mary has been with the AICPA for over 25 years. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland and is a certified public accountant.

Brett R. Harris is a shareholder in the Corporate group at Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer, P.A. Her broad-based general corporate practice consists of both transactional matters and day-to-day client counseling on everyday business matters. She has extensive transactional experience in stock and asset acquisitions representing both buyers and sellers. She has many years of experience in document drafting and negotiation, regulatory compliance matters and policy development for a full range of clients, including publicly-traded companies, closely-held businesses, health care practices, charitable organizations, governmental entities and individual business executives.

Ms. Harris has a particular focus on counseling non-profit organizations including entity formation, establishing and maintaining tax exempt status and complying with fundraising regulations. She counsels Boards on policy matters, mission statement development and strategic planning. In addition, she advises clients on structuring and operating family foundations, including grantmaking due diligence and administration of grant agreements.

Her intellectual property practice consists of trademark screening, trademark and copyright registrations, IP licensing matters, trade secret protections, issuing and responding to cease and desist letters and interfacing with the firm’s commercial litigation team on infringement matters.

Ms. Harris has developed a practice with an emphasis on technology issues. She represents software developers, online businesses and consulting firms. Ms. Harris also advises general business clients and non-profits in addressing technology concerns, including privacy, licensing, e-discovery, development of online policies and website disclaimers, e-commerce, domain name management, establishment of employee e-mail, Internet usage and BYOD policies and addressing legal issues related to social media.

Jeff Mechanick is Assistant Director for Nonpublic Entities at the FASB. In that role, he provides strategic and technical oversight of all activities involving not-for-profit (NFP) organizations and private companies, chairs the FASB’s Not-for-Profit Advisory Committee, oversees support of the Private Company Council, and participates in some of the FASB’s broader outreach activities. He is also a member of the Technical Advisory Group of the International Financial Reporting for Nonprofit Organizations initiative (#IFR4NPO).

Jeff has also been the overall lead staff member for the Blue-Ribbon Panel on Standard Setting for Private Companies and the FASB/IASB Financial Crisis Advisory Group.

Prior to joining the FASB staff in 2006, Jeff spent 20 years working in and with the not-for-profit sector, as the CFO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc., and before that, as a Senior Manager with KPMG, LLP, in the firm’s New York office. From 1992 to 1994, he served as the National Technical Senior Manager for the firm’s Higher Education, Research, and Other Not-for-Profit Organizations (HERON) practice. He is also a past member of the AICPA’s NFP Expert Panel. Jeff received his MBA from Rutgers University and his AB from the University of Chicago, and he is a member of the AICPA and the New York State Society of CPAs. He is also an adjunct instructor in Columbia University’s MS program in Nonprofit Management.

Todd Renner is a senior cybersecurity expert with over 25 years of experience leading complex global investigations, cyber intrusion response, and crisis management, providing strategic leadership to mitigate emerging business risks and capitalize on growth opportunities. Mr. Renner advises clients on cybersecurity topics involving supply chain risks, insider threats, counterintelligence risks, forensic investigations, cross-segment risk management, cyber fraud protection, and global cyber incidents. He provides a technical and strategic perspective when dealing with complex cyber challenges and the associated risks businesses are facing.

Prior to joining FTI Consulting, Mr. Renner was a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Supervisory Special Agent, leading high-profile international cyber investigations that resulted in increased corporate protection, risk mitigation, prevention techniques, and actor attribution. While at the FBI, Mr. Renner advised victims of cyber events, from informing corporate board rooms and C-Suites on cyber risk to handling ransomware, business email compromise, advanced persistent threats (APT), cryptocurrency thefts, counterintelligence threats, and other investigations. Last year, Mr. Renner led efforts to successfully recover over $60 million in stolen proceeds from cyber criminals.

Sean is an expert and sought-after speaker, focusing on the intersection of financial services, blockchain and cryptocurrencies. He is a regular contributor to IBM’s Blockchain Unleashed website, analyzing applications for blockchain technology on business at large, as well as being a regular expert guest on China Global TV Network discussing blockchain and related applications. Sean is a member of the Advisory Board for the Wall Street Blockchain Alliance, which coordinates with the AICPA in developing standards and reporting frameworks in this emerging area. Sean continuously works with, and consults for, the AICPA and several professional training organizations in the creation and delivery of blockchain and cryptocurrency related content. He is currently under contract to publish two books focusing on blockchain applications for financial services and other industry sectors. Sean is the host of the NJCPA TechTalk Podcast, a past leader of the NJCPA Emerging Technologies Interest Group and a member of the NJCPA Board of Trustees. He is a professor at the City University of New York - Lehman College.

Catherine Syslo is a Partner in CohnReznick’s national assurance practice, specializing in audits of not-for-profit organizations including Uniform Guidance. A licensed CPA in New York and New Jersey, she provides technical accounting and auditing expertise to engagement teams and clients and has more than 30 years of experience in public accounting and the private sector.

Catherine is a member of the firm’s Not-for-Profit Education and Thought Leadership Committee, serving as a national instructor. Outside of the firm, she is a frequent lecturer on not-for-profit accounting standards, Uniform Guidance, single audits, and other topics impacting the not-for-profit industry. She has recently spoken at the NYSSCPA, NJCPA, and GWSCPA nonprofit conferences.

Catherine received the 2021 NJCPA Woman to Watch Award which recognizes the success of women NJCPA members for both their leadership and commitment to fostering the success of their colleagues. She is a prior recipient of the NJCPA Volunteer Award based on her contributions to the NJCPA, her local community, and accounting students.

June is a principal at WilkinGuttenplan and is the president of the NJCPA for the 2024/25 term. She has been a member of the NJCPA since 1995 and has served in a variety of capacities, including the Peer Review Executive Committee, Strategic Planning Committee and Volunteer Relations Committee, and was chair of the NJ-CPA-PAC Board of Trustees, chair of the Committee Operations Committee and vice leader of the Business Valuation, Forensic & Litigation Services Interest Group. She is also an active participant in the Accounting & Auditing Standards and Nonprofit interest groups. Before WilkinGuttenplan, June was the managing member of zbt Certified Public Accounting & Consulting, LLC. She is a former treasurer of Garwood Municipal Library; a recipient of NJCPA’s Volunteer Award in 2018 and its Women to Watch Award in 2019; one of New Jersey Monthly’s Leading Women in 2015 and one of NJBIZ Accounting Power 50 from 2020 to 2022.

Sima Wolfson, CPA, MST, is a tax manager based in CohnReznick’s Roseland, NJ office and a member of the Firm’s Not-for-Profit and Education Industry Practice. She has 10 years of diversified accounting experience with an extensive background in providing tax services, including preparation and review of tax returns, to not- for-profit organizations. Her clients include professional associations, educational institutions, foundations, and social service agencies.

Prior to joining CohnReznick, Sima was a junior accountant for a trade association for the secured finance industry, including asset-based lending, factoring, and supply chain finance companies. She is fluent in Russian.

Lori Rothe Yokobosky, CPA, MST, Partner, Practice Leader, Exempt Organization Tax Services, is a partner in CohnReznick’s Parsippany office with more than 20 years of experience in the field of public accounting. Lori has dedicated the past ten years of her career to the Firm’s Not-for-Profit and Education Industry Practice where she helps her clients address a variety of tax issues. Within this practice, she specialized in working with associations, higher education institutions, private foundations, affordable housing entities and healthcare organizations.

Lori has not-for-profit expertise in ASC 740-10 (FIN 48) analyses and the reporting requirements governing contributions, compensation of board members, trustees and key employees, unrelated business taxable income, lobbying costs, and the public support test.

Believing strongly in a hands-on approach, Lori is proactive in addressing her clients’ needs and concerns by continually challenging them with new planning ideas and initiatives. As part of her proactive management style, she has been successful in structuring and restructuring tax exempt organizations. Lori’s strong tax background helps her seek strategies on revenue transactions that would help her clients minimize their potential tax burden.