2023 VIRTUAL REGIONAL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TRAINING

Suzanne Bump Related Seminars and Products

AGA Director (At-Large)

AGA

The Honorable Suzanne Bump just concluded a 12-year tenure as Massachusetts’ elected State Auditor. Having previously served as a state representative and cabinet secretary, Auditor Bump has consistently shown herself to be dedicated to effective and efficient state service. As State Auditor, she conducted performance audits and public assistance fraud investigations, and reviewed privatization proposals and state mandates on local governments, and served on numerous other state agency boards.

Taking office after a failed peer review, she made auditing excellence a priority and instituted a wide range of programs that promoted professional development, quality control, and the deployment of new technologies. Her efforts resulted in award-winning reports in Medicaid auditing and police training assessment, as well as in IT development. They also identified more than $1.5 billion worth of improper payments and prompted major administrative and legislative reforms in special ed collaboratives, Medicaid administration, child welfare, veterans’ services, public safety, and regional transportation funding.

Auditor Bump currently serves on AGA’s national governing board, and she is a past president of the National State Auditors Association. She is a graduate of Boston College and Suffolk University Law School.

Sandra Richtermeyer, Ph.D Related Seminars and Products

Dean of the Manning School of Business

UMass Lowell

Sandra Richtermeyer, Ph.D., CMA, CPA(inactive), is Dean of the Manning School of Business at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. She works actively with a variety of professional organizations and is a frequent speaker on professional development, governance, risk management, internal control, and anti-corruption.  Her teaching and research interests are in the areas of corporate governance, accounting information systems, and nonprofit and governmental accounting. She has authored many articles in academic and practitioner publications. Her research publications have featured many topics including technology enablement, enterprise systems, nonprofit accounting, and professional issues for accountants.

In addition to her academic background, she worked as a CPA for many years in Denver, Colorado, with a practice focus on compliance, assurance, and systems implementation. Prior to becoming dean at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, she was professor and chair of accountancy and associate dean of the Williams College of Business at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. Prior to that, she was an assistant and associate professor at the University of Wyoming, where she also completed her B.S. degree. She is proud to be a fourth generation Wyomingite, as well as a “Triple Buff” as she received her M.S., MBA, and Ph.D. from the University of Colorado.

Richtermeyer has held many leadership roles in a variety of organizations over the past 20 years. She is an active board member in a variety of organizations and regularly consults with and provides training for boards on governance best practices and leadership challenges. In addition, she coaches CEOs with an emphasis on improving working relationships and communications between board members, the CEO, and their senior management teams.

Over the past 20 years she has held many roles at IMA® (Institute of Management Accountants) at the local, regional, national and global level. She continues to serve as a director on the IMA global board where she served as Global Chair from 2010-2011. From 2012-2018 she represented IMA® on the Committee on Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). She also currently serves on IMA’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee and Volunteer Leadership Board Committee. She is currently a member of the Board of Directors for the Massachusetts Society of CPAs and also the Educational Foundation for Women in Accounting. She previously served as chair of the Ohio Society of CPAs Executive Board (2017-2018), President of the American Accounting Association (AAA) Accounting Program Leaders Group (2016-2017), President of the AAA Ohio Region and President of Beta Alpha Psi International (2017-2018). She served on the U.S Comptroller General’s Green Book Advisory Council from 2013-2018 and currently serves on the United Nations Internal Control Advisory Committee.

Richtermeyer has also served on many technical academic advisory boards for organizations such as Microsoft, Oracle, and PeopleSoft. She has received many teaching and leadership awards and is the 2013-2014 Ohio Accounting Educator of the Year and the 2011 American Women’s Society of CPAs Educator of the Year.

One of the areas she is most passionate about is women’s leadership development, and over the past 10 years she has enjoyed working with various women’s groups, giving presentations, and most importantly, listening, learning, and encouraging change and growth, both in the U.S. and abroad.

Lisa Parker Related Seminars and Products

Sr. Project Manager

Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB)

Lisa Parker is a senior project manager with the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB). Prior to joining the GASB in 2008, Lisa worked for Runyon Kersteen Ouellette CPAs for 10 years, the town of Old Orchard Beach, Maine as finance director and interim town manager for 2 years, and the city of Saco, Maine as finance director for 8 years.

Lisa is a certified public accountant and a chartered global management accountant. She also is a member of the Association of Governmental Accountants, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and the Maine Society of Certified Public Accountants, where she served as president. Previously, Lisa was president of the Maine Governmental Finance Officers Association, an executive board member of the New England Governmental Finance Officers Association, and a member of a national GFOA standing committee.

Lisa attended Boston College and the University of Southern Maine graduating with magna cum laude honors and a bachelor’s degree in accounting.

Steven J. Tremblay Related Seminars and Products

Managing Director

EY

Steven Tremblay is an Executive Director in the Government Contract Services practice of Ernst & Young LLP (EY). He has more than 31 years of experience in government contracting, over 17 of which were spent at EY while the other 14 were spent working directly for government contractors. Before joining EY, Steven was a Chief Contracts Administrator with Hamilton Sundstrand Space Systems International, Inc. (Hamilton Sundstrand). During his tenure with Hamilton Sundstrand, Steven gained extensive experience in dealing with complex government contract issues pertaining to both Commercial Customers and Government Agencies (e.g., NASA and DOD). His experience includes advising on how to implement effective and compliant internal control systems and operations, and on the forensic and remediation activities necessary to respond to government investigations and audits. Steven also has extensive experience in advising clients on matters involving accounting (e.g., FAR and CAS), DFARS business systems, transaction due diligence, contract administration and termination, procurement, and cost allocation.

Ronald C. Meldonian, CPA Related Seminars and Products

Client Serving Contractor

EY

Ron Meldonian is an Executive Contractor in Ernst & Young LLP’s Government Contract Services (GCS) practice for 4 years. Prior to joining GCS, Ron had 34 years’ experience in government contracting with the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) and was a member of the DOD’s Senior Executive Service (SES) for 9 years. His last position with DCAA was as Regional Director for the Northeastern Region which encompassed operational responsibility for 22 Field Audit Offices including overseas audit operations in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Southwest Asia. Ron’s extensive background has enabled him to speak at both government only and industry/government forums and conferences on multiple occasions. 

Andrew Johnian Related Seminars and Products

Staff/Associate, Assurance, Forensic and Integrity Services, Government Contract Services

EY

Andrew is a Staff in Ernst & Young LLP’s Government Contract Services practice based in Boston, MA. Prior to joining EY, Andrew spent a few years supporting contracts, subcontracts, procurement, and property for a US defense contractor. He has experience analyzing contract records to ensure compliance with policies & procedures and producing reports on subawards for compliance with federal law. He also has experience analyzing regulations to mitigate risk and external audit preparation. With EY, he has experience assisting clients by providing advisory and audit services. He has performed financial compliance testing, provided recommendations for proposal documents and drafted policy & procedure templates, written export control audit work-program results, performed contract reviews to validate terms and conditions, and researched trends in the aerospace and defense industry. 

Jim Piotrowski Related Seminars and Products

Principal

CLA

Jim has 12 years of experience specializing in providing auditing and accounting services to governmental entities, including states, state retirement systems, state financing authorities, and municipalities throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. During this time, he has performed hundreds of audits and assurance engagements throughout the Commonwealth. He performs his duties with an astute knowledge of the governmental accounting and auditing standards, as well as the standards required by the federal single audit.

Technical experience

• Governmental GAAP
• U.S. Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS)
• Government Auditing Standards
• Uniform Guidance
• Financial Reporting

Education and Professional Involvement

• Bachelors of Business Administration in accounting from University of Massachusetts Amherst,
• Amherst, Massachusetts
• Certified Public Accountant
• Certified Government Financial Manager
• American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
• Association of Government Accountants
• Massachusetts Association of Certified Public Accountants

Key relevant clients

• Commonwealth of Massachusetts
• State of Vermont
• Massachusetts General Court
• Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency
• City of Framingham
• City of Newton
• City of Waltham
• City of Worcester

Doug Farnham Related Seminars and Products

Deputy Secretary, Agency of Administration

State of Vermont

After six years of military service in the 82nd airborne, in 2011 Douglas Farnham joined the Vermont Department of Taxes and served in several roles: Deputy Commissioner, Policy Director and Economist, and Director of Property Evaluation and Review. In 2020 he joined the Agency of Administration as the Chief Operational Officer and was appointed Deputy Secretary in 2021. He has responsibility for eligibility assessments, accounting and the audit framework required for nearly $3 billion in Federal Coronavirus Relief Funds. He is responsible for maximizing the value of monies directed to emergency response and economic recovery by working with the Vermont Emergency Management and state agencies that receive and/or administer grants and independent grant recipients outside of state government. 

Ellen Christy Related Seminars and Products

Chief Information Officer

Executive Office of Economic Development

Ellen Christy is a results-driver leader with a consistent track record of delivering business value through integration of highly effective people, process, and transformational technology. As an IT visionary with an innate and proven track record for building and managing successful teams, she has earned a reputation among partners and peers as a thought leader and early adopter in the areas of BI, data analytics, mobile solutions and cloud-based technologies. Her areas of expertise include budgeting, vendor negotiations, governance, risk & compliance and cyber security operations.

Ellen has over 30 years of experience working in IT in both the private and public sectors. Prior to joining the Commonwealth of MA as Secretariat CIO for the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, she directed international IT operations for a private equity firm with headquarters in Boston.  

Madhavi Donepudi Related Seminars and Products

Director of Enterprise Application Services

Executive Office of Technology Services and Security

Madhavi Donepudi is a Director of Enterprise Application Services at the Commonwealth of MA. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Applications from Osmania University, Hyderabad, India. She loves outdoors and nature. She volunteers at VT Seva, an organization that supports education for underprivileged children and visually challenged students in India and also provides a platform for today’s youth in philanthropy. She has been a resident of MA since 1999.

Katrina Jagroop-Gomes Related Seminars and Products

Chief Information Officer

Massachusetts Gaming Commission

Katrina Jagroop-Gomes has served as the MGC’s Chief Information Officer since 2018, managing information technology services and gaming technical compliance. Her team aims to leverage the power of technology by providing a secure and reliable computing environment, creative solutions, responsive services, and access to a current and robust infrastructure, and is also responsible for planning, organizing, managing, and implementing the regulations, policies, procedures, and testing needed to ensure the integrity of electronic gaming devices and associated software and equipment.
She has more than 20 years of experience in both the public and private sectors, previously holding IT positions in organizations like WGBH, Suffolk University and the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. She has expertise in operations, finance, compliance, and technology, and has worked with business heads to help create strategies to leverage technology in their organizations.

She holds both an MBA in Information Technology from Southern New Hampshire University and a Bachelor’s degree in Management from Suffolk University. She was inducted into the National Society of Leadership and Success, and was one of the recipients of the Massachusetts Excellence in Technology, Leader in Digital Government Award in 2017.

She is an active volunteer in her community with a special focus on teenage girls and women at risk and was named to the Essex County Commission on the Status of Women in December of 2020.

Aprel McCabe Related Seminars and Products

Learning & Solutions Manager

Office of the Comptroller

Aprel L. McCabe serves as the Learning & Solutions Manager for the Office of the Comptroller and is responsible for providing training, resources, and customer engagement to over 4,000 employees across 157 Commonwealth of Massachusetts state agencies, Massachusetts higher education institutions, and sheriff and district attorney offices. Aprel specializes in a solutions-oriented approach to training development and delivery to meet immediate and emerging workforce needs. Aprel is a graduate of West Virginia University’s Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources & Design; Boston University’s Public Communication Institute; and the UMass Boston Dispute Resolution Graduate Certificate Program. 

Aprel has served as a guest speaker for the New England Chapter – Association of Conflict Resolution and the Adobe Learning Summit.
 

Sarah Mongeau, MSA, CPA, CGFM, CFE Related Seminars and Products

Audit Director

Massachusetts State Auditor's Office

Sarah is an Auditor Director at the Commonwealth of Massachusetts State Auditor’s Office (SAO). Since joining the SAO in 2017, Sarah has worked with public institutions of higher education and independent authorities conducting performance audits to promote accountability and transparency, improve performance and make the Commonwealth’s government work better.

Prior to joining the SAO, Sarah worked for the University of Massachusetts President’s Office as the University Controller from 2012-2017 and as a Senior Internal Auditor from 2008-2012. She worked as an independent contractor from 1998-2008 following completion of several years public accounting at Arthur Andersen in Boston.

Sarah holds a Master of Science in Accounting from Bentley College, is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Government Financial Manager and a Certified Fraud Examiner. Presently, Sarah is the Chapter President for the AGA Boston Chapter.

Sarah is a lifetime resident of Grafton, Massachusetts where she and husband Rick have raised their two children, Matthew and Meredith. Outside of work, Sarah enjoys practicing yoga and running/walking her beloved dog Bergeron.

Jenny W. Hedderman Esq. Related Seminars and Products

MA Office of the Comptroller

Jenny W. Hedderman Esq. is the Commonwealth Statewide Risk Counsel from the Office of the Comptroller in Massachusetts. Attorney Hedderman’s practice of over 30 years focuses primarily on state finance law compliance for 152 state Departments and the Comptroller’s Office including cybersecurity and internal controls, accounting, payroll and financial reporting, internal and statewide compliance audits.  Her current focus is developing the Comptroller’s Statewide Risk Management program.  Recent projects include developing cybersecurity awareness, a Cyber Center, Cybersecurity Tips of the Week, and internal controls to improve financial responsibility and protection of assets and resources across the Commonwealth.