Deadlines
School of Accountancy Conference 2015
Presenters
Jeff Benedict is a special features contributor for Sports Illustrated and the author of twelve critically acclaimed books including The Mormon Way of Doing Business and the New York Times bestseller The System: The Glory and Scandal of Big-Time College Football, which is currently being developed into a television series. His work has been the basis of feature segments on 60 Minutes, Good Morning America, 20/20, Dateline, HBO’s Real Sports, and the Discovery Channel.
Jeff is licensed to practice law in Connecticut and he's a Distinguished Professor of Writing and Mass Media at Southern Virginia University. Jeff will be available for book signing after his presentation.
Jared Briggs is the Chief Operating Officer of Predix, a GE business. Predix Cloud is the world’s first and only industrial cloud offering designed specifically for industrial data and analytics across industries like aviation, healthcare, oil and gas, and transportation. The platform-as-a-service (PaaS) captures and analyzes the unique volume, velocity, and variety of machine data generated across the industrial world within a secure, industrial-strength cloud environment. Created for industry by industry, Predix Cloud is connecting industrial machines in an industrial way to get industrial insights that produce better business results. Jared started his career at Arthur Andersen in Seattle, leaving to work at Microsoft in the Mobility and OEM marketing divisions. Most recently Jared was the CFO of mozy.com, a Seattle based company focusing on cloud based data protection of PC’s and Servers.
Kendall joined KPMG in 2013 as a Director having previously worked for a number of outsourcing/advisory companies including Arthur Andersen, Systemhouse, ADP, and Equaterra. Kendall has extensive advisory and management experience in a number of functional areas including global business services, outsourcing transactions, shared services and outsourcing delivery, governance/portfolio management, contract review/analysis, benchmarking, RFP development, and transition support.
Mat Duerden received a Ph.D. in Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences from Texas A&M University and a M.S. in Youth and Family Recreation from Brigham Young University. He is an Assistant Professor of Recreation Management at Brigham Young University. His research focuses on understanding how structured recreation experiences impact individuals in both work and non-work contexts. Mat’s publications have appeared in a variety of journals including Leisure Sciences, Journal of Environmental Psychology, Journal of Adolescent Research and Journal of Leisure Research. Mat is married to Chenae Duerden and they have four children, Jackson, Layla, Cooper, and Adele.
Aaron Miller (JD, MPA Brigham Young University) is an assistant teaching professor in BYU's George W. Romney Institute of Public Management in the Marriott School of Management and a coauthor of the forthcoming book, Business Ethics: A Field Guide. At BYU, Aaron teaches business ethics, nonprofit management, and social entrepreneurship. In addition to teaching, Aaron is the faculty director and co-founder of BYU's Grantwell program in which more than 250 graduate students have advised over $30 million in foundation giving. He is also the faculty director of BYU's Social Venture Academy. Aaron has twice been recognized as Teacher of the Year in the Romney Institute.
Prior to teaching at BYU, Aaron practiced law in areas including small business, nonprofit, taxation, and corporate governance. He volunteers on several nonprofit boards, including the Boys and Girls Clubs of Utah County. He and his wife Katie have four boys.
Alan is the Manager, Technical Accounting & SEC Reporting for Deere & Company (John Deere). In this role, his team is responsible for providing accounting guidance for complex and unique transactions, including revenue recognition, foreign currency transactions, mergers and acquisitions, equity based compensation, leases, employee benefit plans, derivatives and income taxes.
Prior to the positions at John Deere’s world headquarters, he was the Vice President, Controller for John Deere Financial Inc. and the Controller and Tax Manager of Senstar Capital Corporation. Prior to joining Senstar Capital, Alan worked as a tax consultant at Price Waterhouse, LLP.
Alan is a member of the School of Accountancy Advisory Board at Brigham Young University. He also served on the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association’s (ELFA) Financial Accounting and Tax Executive Committees. He has lectured in the Masters of Taxation program at Robert Morris College in Pittsburgh, spoken at ELFA Accounting and Tax Conferences, and written articles for the ELFA’s Leasing Today magazine.
Alan is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American and Pennsylvania Institutes of Certified Public Accountants. He is a graduate of Brigham Young University with a B.S. in Accounting (cum laude) and a Masters of Accountancy (with honors).
Pam is a U.S. Deputy Tax Leader and Washington National Tax Services Leader of PwC. In her role with WNTS, Pam leads a team that includes many former senior government officials and policy advisers. Prior to joining PwC, Pam led the Washington tax practice at Skadden, Arps, and served as assistant secretary for tax policy at the US Department of the Treasury. She is a frequent speaker on tax, economic and federal budget matters and has testified before several congressional committees, most recently before the Senate Finance Committee on international tax reform. Pam also held positions with the chief counsel’s office of the Internal Revenue Service as special assistant to the chief counsel, attorney-adviser in the Legislation and Regulations Division and trial attorney in San Diego District Counsel. In 2000 and 2001, Pam was the first woman to serve as chair of the American Bar Association Section of Taxation. She has served as tax and economic adviser to two presidential campaigns and as tax adviser to the National Commission on Economic Growth and Tax Reform.
Pam received her B.A., M.B.A., and J.D. from the University of Minnesota
Doug earned his Ph.D. at the University of Arizona and is the Glen Ardis Professor of Accountancy at BYU. His research and teaching in BYU’s graduate accounting and MBA programs focus on auditing and on professional judgment. Doug has published award-winning articles in Journal of Accountancy, Internal Auditor, and CPA Journal, and has coauthored two leading auditing textbooks. His research has been published in premier academic journals, including The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, Contemporary Accounting Research, Organizational Behavior & Human Decision Processes, Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, and others. Doug has won several research, teaching, and "best research paper" awards, as well as BYU’s 2002 Merrill J. Bateman Student Choice Teaching Award, BYU’s 2006 Award for Distinction in Graduate Education, the Auditing Section’s 2014 Innovation in Auditing and Assurance Education Award, and the 2013 AAA/Deloitte Wildman Medal Award recognizing the publication over a five-year time span most likely to positively impact the public accounting profession. Doug is active in the profession, having served a three-year term as a member of the AICPA’s Auditing Standards Board, and is currently serving as a member of the COSO Board, which in 2013 released the first revision of its landmark 1992 Internal Control Integrated Framework. He has consulted with a variety of professional services firms, large and small.
Mark A. Widmer, Ph.D. is a Professor of Therapeutic Recreation in the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University. He teaches in Recreation Management and in the EMBA/MBA programs. His research focuses on theory-based programming in adventure therapy/experiential development. He is also interested in issues around quality of life. Mark’s publications appear in a variety of journals including the Journal of Adolescent Research, Family Relations, Journal of Leisure Research, and Adolescence. He consults with companies in a variety of industries including Tech (Intel), Pharmaceutical and Medical (Actelion/American College of Cardiology), Investment (Abu Dhabi Investment Authority) and Engineering (Hyundai Heavy Industries). Mark loves mountain biking, backpacking, fly-fishing, canyoneering, sailing, ice climbing, dual sporting and skiing with his wife and kids. Mark is married to Suzy and they have four children, Kaeli (Tyler), Matt, Nathan, and Kirsten.