Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

Lawrence is a senior partner and leads Raffa’s Forensic Accounting Services Group. He has more than 35 years of forensic consulting, audit and accounting and tax experience in public accounting and the private sector. He has performed forensic accounting services for governmental entities, public and private companies, nonprofits and individuals.Lawrence has been involved in numerous high-profile cases as a consulting and testifying expert. He has conducted and led teams of forensic accountants on fraud investigations ranging from small family-owned businesses to large governmental organizations with losses of over $500 million.Lawrence is a CPA licensed in Virginia. He is also certified by the ACFE as a Certified Fraud Examiner, is Certified in Financial Forensics by the AICPA and certified by NACVA as a Certified Valuation Analyst. He is a frequent lecturer and instructor with various professional and educational organizations.

Armando brings more than 25 years of experience to the support industry. In 2001, he was named Support Director of the year, and has received extensive training in business management, customer service, sales and quality assurance from the University of Michigan, Disney, Citibank, and the Help Desk Institute. As president of CMIT Solutions of South Nassau, Armando assists his small and medium size business clients with business and technology solutions that facilitate increased productivity and revenue, often while reducing cost and downtime. He is an industry leader as well as an accomplished public speaker, and in 2007, he was named CMIT Rookie of the Year. In 2009, Armando co-wrote and published his first book entitled: I Just Want My Computers to Work!

Mr. Lang is the principal shareholder accounting firm of Stuart G. Lang, C.P.A., P.C., 2303 Grand Avenue, Suite 200A, Baldwin, New York, 516-377-2700. He specializes in representing small to medium sized businesses performing compilations, reviews and audits, and has performed or participated in many peer reviews under the AIPCA Peer Review and National Peer Review Programs. He is an active member of the AICPA, NYSSCPA and its Nassau Chapter, and the National Conference of CPA Practitioners (NCCPAP). Mr. Lang serves on the and continues to serve Public Schools Committee. He has frequently acted as a discussion leader and lecturer at the Nassau Chapter Compilation and Review Conference and the Nassau/Suffolk Chapter of NCCPAP Accounting Seminars. He has also served as member of the New York State Society's AICPA Peer Review Committee (the committee whose charge is to accept peer reviews performed in NYS), NYSSCPA’s Nassau Chapter Accounting Procedures Committee and the NYSSCPA’s Professional Ethics Committee. He is a Past-President of the Nassau/Suffolk Chapter of NCCPAP. In addition, he is a consultant to other CPA firms in the area of Governmental Auditing with an emphasis on School Districts. Mr. Lang also serves as a consultant to school districts in accounting matters, including financial statement preparation and internal controls, and has also performed external audits of school districts.Mr. Lang received his Bachelors of Arts in Accounting from Queens College, CUNY in June, 1982, and his Associate in Science in Business from Queensborough Community College, CUNY in August, 1980. He was elected Phi Theta Kappa at Queensborough Community College in June, 1980. He was granted a license to practice as a Certified Public Accountant in New York State on April 2, 1987. He is a Fellow, American Board of Forensic Accounting.

Firdaus Bhathena founded Ziptr on the belief that people should not have to sacrifice convenience for security. Frustrated by the myriad tools his own CPA used, Firdaus and his team created Ziptr to make protecting and sharing private information easy for everyone.Ziptr provides trusted communication for trusted advisors, with one elegantly simple solution for encrypted e-conversations, file sharing, storage and sync. With his MS and BS from MIT, Firdaus previously founded two successful software companies: Relicore (acquired by Symantec) and WebLine (acquired by Cisco). When he is not focusing on creating a great experience for Ziptr’s users, Firdaus serves on the Board for two Boston-area schools.

Krista M. McMasters became the Chief Executive Officer of Clifton Gunderson LLP in June 2009 becoming the firm’s fourth CEO and the first female CEO in the history of the accounting profession among the top 50 firms. She led Clifton Gunderson into a historic merger with Larson Allen in January 2012 becoming Co-CEO of CliftonLarsonAllen LLP (CLA), a national CPA firm of more than 3,600 professionals, until retiring on April 1, 2013. McMasters spent her 35 year career with Clifton Gunderson and CLA having joined as an associate accountant in 1978 and being admitted as partner in 1985. She is currently providing consulting to professional service firms in such areas as executive coaching, strategic planning, partner and staff engagement, communication, leadership development and operational excellence. 

Justin is a AVP for Bank of America Practice Solutions new CPA financing division. Justin specializes in CPA specific financing for practice sales and purchases, mergers, partnership buy-ins and buy-outs, office improvements and expansion, business debt consolidation, equipment financing, lines of credit and commercial real estate. Since 1996, Practice Solutions has assisted over 25,000 professionals in starting or acquiring a practice. Overall, Practice Solutions has more than 57 million customers as well as relationships with the AICPA and State CPA Associations. Practice Solutions philosophy is simple: serve CPA’s by offering them the opportunity to enjoy superior value with exceptional service.

Eugene Shalik is the Managing Partner of Shalik Morris & Company, LLP, a 70+ person firm with offices in Long Island, Manhattan, Westchester and Stamford, Connectitut. Shalik Morris has over 30 years of diversified experience in accounting and finance. Gene has been extensively involved in business consulting to many of the Firm's real estate and commercial clients. Such consulting covers a wide range of issues including establishing internal control procedures for real estate management and operating companies, projections and analyses to determine the feasibility of a potential acquisition or expansion, structuring business transactions, due diligence examinations, private equity formation and syndications. Gene was formerly with Price Waterhouse where he gained extensive experience in planning and supervising client engagements. Gene is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants, Nassau Chapter.

Ken has almost 25 years experience as a federal tax law editor and private practice attorney. At BBNA Tax and Accounting, Ken’s focus is on IRS Practice and Procedure. Before joining BBNA, Ken was part of the management group in the Washington National Tax Office of KPMG and a tax consultant for another international accounting and tax firm. Ken holds a B.A. in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland, a J.D. and LL.M (Taxation) from the University of Baltimore School of Law, and a Certificate in Employee Benefits Law (ERISA) from Georgetown University Law Center.

Jim Caruso is a Partner overseeing Fesnak’s Financial Management Outsourcing and Mergers & Acquisitions practices. Jim has 20 years of diverse experience in financial management, M&A, operations, information technology, auditing and consulting. Since joining Fesnak and Associates LLP in 2005, he has led the delivery of outsourced financial management services to numerous organizations, while serving as Acting CFO to help several emerging growth companies get to the next level. Jim has also led financial due diligence for more than 20 acquisitions over the past few years.Prior to joining Fesnak and Associates LLP, Jim was EVP/CFO of a private equity-backed middle-market manufacturing company, where he was brought on to help facilitate a turnaround, reorganization and ultimate sale of the business. Jim has also worked for operating units of two Fortune 500 companies, as well as for Deloitte & Touche in two separate stints in both auditing and management consulting roles. His functional expertise includes financial and operational analysis, M&A, budgeting and forecasting, strategic planning, business process analysis and optimization, turnarounds and change management.Jim is a Certified Public Accountant and received his Bachelor of Arts in Accounting from Queens College of the City University of New York. He serves on the Boards of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Turnaround Management Association (TMA) and of the Entrepreneurs Forum of Greater Philadelphia (EFGP). He is also a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the Greater Philadelphia Senior Executives Group (GPSEG) and the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce.