Audits of Employee Benefit Plans Conference (E2305220)

Michael Gilchrist, CPA, is a senior manager at Marcum, LLP servicing closely held businesses and their owners. He manages the firms' employee benefit plan audits. With over thirty years of diverse experience in public accounting and private industry, he is able to provide clients with comprehensive and expert client service. Michael serves on the NJCPA Accounting and Auditing Interest Group as the Employee Benefit Plan Subcommittee Chairman. He is involved with many community organizations and is a graduate of Seton Hall University.

Sylwia Hejzner is a Senior Manager in Eisner Amper's Pension Services Group. With over 10 years of professional experience, Sylwia serves benefit plans in a variety of industries.

Sylwia has experience with all types of benefit plans, including defined contribution, defined benefit, multiemployer, health & welfare and nonqualified arrangements. She is well versed in both ERISA Section and Non-Section 103(a)(3)(C) (former limited and full scope) audit procedures. Sylwia keeps abreast on changes in the marketplace and audit best practices and teaches the firm’s annual employee benefit plan-specific training courses.

Sylwia is involved in all aspects of the audit engagement, including general planning, identifying areas of audit significance, performing risk assessments, developing audit approaches and drawing conclusions. She supervises engagement staff and provides training and oversight to ensure timely issue identification and resolution. She is adept at evaluating accounting matters, researching and applying accounting intelligence to complex transactions.

In addition, Sylwia is responsible for preparing audit reports for clients, which include summaries of findings and recommendations for improvement in controls, policies and procedures. She works hard to gather a comprehensive understanding of her clients’ businesses in order to add the most valuable recommendations for efficiency and effectiveness.

Michael is a director of A&A at Smolin, Lupin & Co. As a licensed CPA in New Jersey and New York, he assists clients with their annual audit requirements in a wide variety of industries including manufacturing, distribution, healthcare, life sciences, construction, real estate, broadcasting, retail, restaurants, apparel, publishing, software, technology and professional services. He has practiced public accounting for more than 20 years and also served private clients, assisting with audits of employee benefit plans, including 401ks, 403bs, 11Ks, and health and welfare benefit plans. He has been a speaker on employee benefit plans and had presented on national webcasts, at seminars and at continuing professional education (CPE) courses. In addition, he has written articles on various employee benefit plan topics. Michael is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants.

Heather is a Managing Director in the Philadelphia office of Grant Thornton LLP with over 16 years of auditing and accounting experience. She is an Employee Benefit Plan practice dedicated Managing Director who has supervised and managed the performance of numerous employee benefit plan audits for both large and small companies across various industries including not-for-profit, healthcare and commercial. She is experienced in audits of both limited and full scope 401(k), 403(b), 401(a), defined benefit plans, health and welfare, 11-K filings and ESOPs. Heather has extensive experience in addressing reporting and disclosure issues related to benefit plans.

In addition, Heather annually participates both writing and delivering Grant Thornton’s employee benefit plan audit training. She annually participants in internal practice reviews and peer reviews. Her clients include private, publicly held and not-for-profit companies

Sean is a senior manager at Withum's Whippany, NJ office and has 15 years of public accounting experience. His expertise includes auditing, financial statement preparation and business consulting. Sean is a member of the Firm’s Manufacturing, Distribution & Logistics and Employee Benefits Services groups. In these roles he provides accounting and auditing services to clients within the manufacturing, distribution, cannabis and transportation industry sectors and employee benefit audit services to plans across all industries. Sean is also the Audit Team Leader of the Cannabis Services team and a frequent presenter at conferences and workshops on emerging accounting and industry topics. He resides in Bergen County, NJ.

Lynne McMennamin, CPA, is an assistant chief of the Division of Reporting Compliance (DRC) in EBSA’s Office of the Chief Accountant (OCA). Prior to this, Lynne was a senior reporting compliance specialist in the DRC and an auditor in the Division of Accounting Services in OCA. Before joining the Department of Labor in 2013 she spent more than 20 years in public accounting, including 10 years as a partner with an international accounting firm. Lynne has served on the AICPA Employee Benefit Plan Expert Panel and the AICPA Employee Benefit Plan Audit Quality Center executive committee.

Donna Nevolo, CPA is a partner based in the Whippany, NJ, office and has over 15 years of experience serving large, publicly held multi-national companies. As a member of the Firm’s Financial Services and Employee Benefit and Pension Plans Services Groups, Donna has extensive experience with auditing broker-dealers, hedge funds and other commercial businesses as well as retirement plan auditing. She consults clients on tax compliance and supervises the preparation of corporate and individual tax returns.

Charles is one of New Jersey’s foremost retirement planning experts, drawing upon his 25 years of industry experience to provide trusted counsel to clients and skilled leadership to INTAC Actuarial Services’ highly trained advisors. His career began at family-operated INTAC in 1994 as a pension consultant. Today, as INTAC’s managing partner, he spearheads the firm’s pension sales and marketing programs with an emphasis on delivering a high-touch, personalized customer experience. He proactively consults with clients and advisors on all forms of defined contribution and defined benefit plans throughout the planning process. He also sits on the TPA Advisory Boards for Nationwide, VOYA and Transamerica. Prior to joining INTAC, he was vice president of finance at Oxford Medical.