Principles of Collaboration: Weigh in to the Buy In (X3-4091448)

Jennifer Elder, CPA, CMA, CIA, CFF, CGMA, MS helps accountants advance their careers and organizations increase retention by developing powerful communication skills. Jennifer works with companies and their emerging leaders to increase employee engagement and client value by understanding personality styles, generational characteristics, and communicating clearly, concisely, and persuasively.

As a consultant and keynote speaker Jennifer is known for being energetic and enthusiastic. She has conducted seminars for the Fortune 500, the US Government, State CPA Societies, and CPA firms in 45 states and 5 countries. She is both a business strategist and an accounting expert who can make the complicated simple, practical and useful. She is a published author, writer for the AICPA’s CPE Direct, named a “2015 Woman to Watch” by the AICPA and MACPA, and been awarded Outstanding Educator by the AICPA for the past five years.

Tom Hood III, CPA, CITP, CGMA EVP Business Engagement & Growth, AICPA-CIMA and Business Learning Institute

Tom recently stepped onto the global stage of the largest association of certified professional accountants in the world, representing over 690,000 CPAs, CGMAs, and students. In 2021 he was named the second most influential person in accounting by Accounting Today Magazine for the tenth year.

Tom is known for his work on the CPA Vision Project, the CPA Horizons 2025 Project, and most recently the Future of Finance 2030. In 1999, he co-founded the Business Learning Institute (BLI) with a purpose of “Empowering human capital in a global VUCA world, so that our organizations and communities thrive”, based on the findings of the CPA Vision and CPA Horizons 2025 research. This led to the T-shaped Professional and a focus on ‘success skills’ for CPAs, CGMAs, and finance and accounting professionals.

LinkedIn recruited Tom as one of their Top 100 Influencers in 2012 and he now has a following of over 730,000. He is a member of Forbes Finance Council and was inducted into the Accounting Hall of Fame.

Tom is the former CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs and former CFO of a highway construction company. He has a Master’s in Finance from Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Loyola University of Maryland.