Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

John R. Ezell, CPA, is the President of ProHorizons Network, Inc. ProHorizons is a national brokerage and consulting company focusing on tax and accounting practice sales, acquisitions, and business development services. John has advised hundreds of clients in the merger and acquisition of accounting and tax firms since founding the company in 1995.John is the principal author of the book, Successful Practice Sales: The Complete Guide to Buying, Selling or Merging Your Accounting, Consulting or Tax Practice. This 200-page book serves as a guide through every nuance of the potentially daunting business transactions, including financing your acquisition to exploring the complete lifecycle of a sale, and much more.  He is also a frequent speaker and presents seminars and webinars regarding buying, selling and merging accounting and tax practices. Previously, John operated his own CPA practice in the Washington, DC area that he successfully sold in 1994. Prior to starting his practice, John worked with two CPA firms in Washington, DC, including BDO Seidman, an international accounting and consulting firm.John is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in California. He has earned the designation of Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) from the Exit Planning Institute® for completion of their spring 2009 program. He is also a licensed California Real Estate Broker. He holds a BS in Accounting from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the California Society of Certified Public Accountants.John served in the US Marine Corps and was an embassy guard in Moscow and Berlin.John is married to Jennifer and they have four children. He coaches youth baseball and soccer, and serves his community in a variety of volunteer leadership positions.

Richard L. Engebretson is Vice President, WealthStar AllianceSM for Aviva USA. Rich is responsible for the leadership of the CPA distribution channel, WealthStar AllianceSM , a turn-key program providing the CPA with a comprehensive platform designed to equip them with the necessary tools, resources, and training to effectively meet the complex needs and demands of their clients in the areas of asset management, retirement distribution planning, and wealth transfer.Prior to joining Aviva USA, Rich was Chairman and CEO of Trusted Advisors – a financial services company that specialized in working with CPAs to integrate investment services into their practices. Rich founded Trusted Advisors in 1989 and created a successful financial services organization that provided over 300 CPAs and tax professionals with access to a wide array of financial products and services. Once the CPA became a registered representative of Trusted Advisors, the accounting professionals used the company’s financial tools available and their in-depth knowledge of their client’s financial needs to create customized financial solutions. These included: tax management, estate planning, capital accumulation and investments, and asset and income protection.Prior to founding Trusted Advisors, Rich worked for eleven years at KPMG – a leading global professional services firm.Rich received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Pace University in Pleasantville, New York. A Certified Public Accountant, he is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Minnesota Society of Certified Public Accountants.Rich and his wife, Jeanene, have one daughter, Megan and three sons, Thad, Collin and Tyler. They reside in Edina, Minnesota.

Ed Kless joined Sage in July of 2003 and is currently the senior director of partner development and strategy. He develops and delivers curriculum for Sage business partners on the art and practice of small business consulting including the Sage Consulting Academy, Business Strategy and Customer Experience Workshops. He also facilitated the Sage Leadership Academy, a year-long program designed to assist Sage Software partners develop a continuous process of improvement in their organizations and serves as liaison to the Strategic Leadership Association.Ed is also the cohost of the VoiceAmerica talk-show The Soul of Enterprise: Business in the Knowledge Economy with Ron Baker, founder of the VeraSage Institute where Ed is also a senior fellow.Prior to joining Sage, Ed worked with Tipping Point Advisors, an organization dedicated to the growth and development of software implementation partners. In 1996, he co-founded Third Wave Business Systems, a Microsoft Dynamics GP partner that grew to 20 team members and $5 million in revenue. At Third Wave, Ed developed the implementation methodology and led the CRM and ERP consulting teams.Ed is a contributor to industry publications, including the Journal of Accountancy, Harvard Business Review and HR.com, and has spoken at many conferences worldwide on project management, pricing, and knowledge workers. He is also active in the Information Technology Alliance (ITA), Toastmasters, and is a senior fellow at the VeraSage Institute. He lives north of Dallas with his wife and two children and ran for Texas State Senate in 2010 and 2012 as a Libertarian.Follow him on his blog at www.edkless.com or on Twitter @edkless.�

Joel E. Ackerman, CPA, MST is Director at Fuoco Group, LLP. Joel specializes in the real estate industry, specifically helping property owners minimize their tax liabilities through Cost Segregation Studies and Energy Efficiency Studies. In addition to the real estate industry, Joel has provided tax and accounting services to clients in diverse industries, from manufacturing, warehousing and healthcare, to hotel construction and management. His experience also encompasses taxation of individuals, corporations, and not-for-profit organizations.Joel has authored a number of articles in local and national publications, including The Tax Advisor, New York Real Estate Journal, Suffolk Attorney, and New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants – Suffolk Chapter. He has conducted many technical seminars for professional audiences and industry trade groups. Joel is active in numerous accounting and industry trade organizations and is a founding member of the Warehouse Solutions Group, a resource group for warehouse owners.He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA), where he is the Secretary of the Suffolk Chapter and chairs the Members in Industry Committee. Also, Joel is currently a Board Member of the Institute of Management Accountants – Long Island Chapter.In 2008, Joel was named to the “Ones to Watch in Accounting” list in Long Island Business News and also was previously included in the “Ones to Watch in Commercial Real Estate” list. Joel also was named to the Long Island Business News 40 under 40 Class of 2009, recognizing his success and accomplishments.Joel is extremely active in his community. He has been intimately involved with the Epilepsy Foundation of Long Island, where he serves on its Board of Trustees. In 2008, Joel was honored by the Epilepsy Foundation as Family of the Year. In addition to being involved with these organizations, Joel volunteers his time at North Shore Synagogue, where he is a member of the Board of Trustees, and recently served as Brotherhood President. Joel earned his B.S. degree in Accounting at Syracuse University in 1993, and his M.S. degree in taxation from Long Island University – C.W. Post in 2000.

Bob�s career has focused around technology and education. He gained his technical expertise working for major computer hardware manufacturers and software developers of Windows and cloud-based software applications. He holds a BS in Education from NYIT that led him to become NYS certified teacher. He also holds an MBA from Dowling that drove him to become the owner of a brick-and-mortar computer training and consulting business.Bob spent 16 years helping accountants implement new technology solutions while at AccountantsWorld, a Hauppauge-based cloud software firm. He frequently speaks on various technology topics at industry conferences or via internet webinars. Bob is also certified webmaster, certified social media specialist, and blogger.His passion for emerging technologies and education drove him to create BAT Consulting Group, a B2B consulting firm. The convergence of the cloud, social media, and mobile technologies are creating amazing opportunities for all businesses, including the accounting industry. BAT Consulting Group helps professionals capitalize on these emerging technologies to help them compete and win in this rapidly changing relationship-driven economy.

Mr. Anderson has more than 25 years of accounting, auditing, income tax, and financial due diligence experience with a concentration in the publishing, media, and communications industries. His client base includes business-to-business publishers, consumer magazine publishers, directory publishers, digital media, advertising agencies, trade show producers, on-line recruitment sites, medical education providers, consumer product distributors, and direct marketing service companies.Roy received his BBA in accounting from CW Post. He is currently affiliated with the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants, the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts, and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

"It's not your father's firm" takes on a whole new meaning where Jason Blumer is concerned. With an understanding of the big demographic shift taking place (from Baby Boomers to Millennials), Jason set his mind to re-inventing his firm's traditional service model to one that "speaks" to the up and coming entrepreneurial niche. His goals include: smart application of technology; a new level of virtual best practices and; shifting the traditional mindset of practice management to one that is more transforming and progressive.Jason is not only dedicated to moving firms forward, but also to educating the profession at large. Standardized workflow and paperless processes have helped his firm increase efficiencies and better serve clients, and it is his goal to help other firms understand the immense value of change in these areas. As such, he has partnered with State CPA Societies and trade media to host educational webcasts on managing a next generation CPA firm. He talks about his own successes and details the methodologies behind his transformation to help CPA's envision how to implement the right technologies and best practices in their own firms.As a new age thought leader, Jason has received his fair share of media coverage for his fresh approach. He was recently named in The CPA Technology Advisor’s “40 Under 40”; he has also contributed several articles and operates a blog that focuses on how firms can harness technology and adopt a new mind set to better serve clients and take their firms to new and exciting levels. His blog can be found at http://THRIVEal.com.

Matt Peterson�s career includes more than 12 years of senior level management in the Enterprise Content Management (ECM), more commonly known as the document management industry. As President and CEO of eFileCabinet, Mr. Peterson is responsible for all day-to-day business operations, including product development, strategic partnerships and overseeing the domestic and international expansion of eFileCabinet�s offerings.Prior to joining EFC, Mr. Peterson was Vice President of Business Development with SyTech Solutions, Inc. an integrator of ECM systems, where he helped the company achieve double digit sales growth in just less than one year. Prior to SyTech Solutions, Peterson was the founder and CEO of Aspire Document Imaging, Inc., later sold to SyTech, where under his leadership he guided the company to annual double digit revenue growth with prominent clients such as Charles Schwab, University of California at Davis, CoreMark International, Tesoro Petroleum, Merck Pharmaceuticals, and Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E).Mr. Peterson graduated from the University of Utah in 1993 with a B.S. in Finance. Upon graduation he took a position with GT Capital Management (now AIM Funds) in San Francisco as a Fund Accountant in charge of the daily stock and bond valuations of two of its largest mutual funds; Europe and Pacific Growth.His general business background includes stints at ProBusiness (now ADP) as a national account manager for many top Silicon Valley clients. He also served as Vice President of Product Development at Whole Grain Natural Bread Company, Inc. a five-store franchisor based in Lafayette, California where he led wholesale product reoccurring revenue to triple digit growth in less than twelve months with regional and national carriers such as Costco, Sam's Club, Andronico�s, and Whole Foods Markets.Mr. Peterson resides in Highland, Utah with his wife and three sons. On most weekends you find him either on the court or playing field coaching one of his sons� many athletic teams.

Stu has been an entrepreneur since 1978. He learned about manufacturing when he started a business that produced digital clocks for the automotive aftermarket. In 1980, when the PC was introduced, he transferred his knowledge of business systems to creating document management software. Hospitals, law firms, and insurance companies used his software extensively to manage and track case files. In 1990, he and his brother started Wellspring Software with a simple check printing software program. In 21 years, Wellspring Software has become an industry leader in MICR technology and check and document management. Most recently, Stu has added electronic payment processing to his list of expertise and to the Wellspring product offerings.