AGA Boston Chapter - Many Faces of Fraud Seminar 2026

Zack Fentross Related Seminars and Products

CPA

CLA Manager

Zack has more than 14 years of experience specializing in providing auditing and accounting services to governmental entities throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the State of New Hampshire. Zack has annually performed approximately 25 audits and assurance engagements throughout the Commonwealth and State of New Hampshire. He has an in-depth understanding of light departments in the Commonwealth, as well as governmental accounting and auditing standards.

Tom Cesso Related Seminars and Products

CISO

MA Exec. Office of Administration & Finance

Thomas Cesso is Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Administration & Finance (A&F). He is also faculty member at Boston University School of Law, where he teaches Cybersecurity & Privacy in the Banking and Tax LLM program.

Mr. Cesso brings deep expertise in cybersecurity, technology, risk, and compliance across higher education, state government, and the private sector. He most recently served as Lead for Risk & Compliance for the BEST Program at the Massachusetts Office of the Comptroller and previously held the role of CISO at Salem State University.

He chaired the Higher Education Information Security Officer Council, a consortium dedicated to cybersecurity collaboration across Massachusetts colleges and universities. As Principal Investigator, Mr. Cesso secured $1.2 million to establish a Cybersecurity Lab at Salem State University.

His public service also includes membership in InfraGard, the FBI-affiliated program focused on protecting critical infrastructure from cyber and physical threats.

In the private sector, Mr. Cesso led major IT and recovery efforts, including as Global Head of Technology for Citigroup during the 9/11 recovery, and as Global CIO for Telerate/Reuters. He also served as CIO of First Marblehead, where he was featured in a Harvard Business School case study and the book Adventures of an IT Leader. Previously, Mr. Cesso provided Technology Advisory Services for Fortune 500 firms as Principal Consultant for Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Mr. Cesso holds three degrees from Boston University: a Bachelor of Science in Engineering, a Master of Engineering, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA). He is also a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).

CAPT Patrick Sullivan, AGA Boston President Related Seminars and Products

President

AGA Boston Chapter

Captain Patrick Sullivan serves as the Commanding Officer of Base Boston, responsible for leading a 541-person crew delivering services and systems to support steady state and contingency response operations across 8 Northeast states and throughout the Coast Guard. Most recently, Captain Sullivan served as Base National Capital Region Commanding Officer leading a team of mission support professionals focused on delivering quality, responsive, and cost effective services within the 5th Coast Guard District and to Coast Guard Headquarters.

Patrick graduated from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 2002 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Government. After graduation, he reported aboard the USCGC BEAR in Portsmouth, VA and served as Deck Watch Officer, Educational Services Officer, and First Lieutenant. Following his underway tour, he reported to the PACAREA/District Eleven Command Center where he earned qualifications as Maritime Homeland Security Watch Stander and Search and Rescue Duty Officer. Concluding his tour in the command center, CAPT Sullivan was selected for graduate school and earning his Master of Business Administration at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA.

Following graduate school, Patrick served in a variety of roles at the Surface Forces Logistics Center (SFLC) in Curis Bay MD, including Budget Officer and Fiscal Operations and Policy Supervisor. During his tour, he was the primary command representative for all Chief Financial Officer (CFO) compliance issues and initiatives, ensuring financial stewardship of $290 million worth of surface asset inventory. After SFLC, he joined Sector Jacksonville, FL as Command Center Chief. In this position, he served as Search and Rescue (SAR) Mission Coordinator and led a team of specialists maintaining situational awareness over a diverse area of responsibility encompassing 190 coastline miles and 409 river and intracoastal waterway miles. From Sector Jacksonville, Patrick was assigned to Air Station Clearwater, FL, where he served as unit Comptroller, managing a $315 million personal property program and executing a $24 million operating budget supporting 10 helicopters and four fixed wing aircraft.

He then reported to Coast Guard Headquarters, where he worked in the Deputy Commandant for Mission Support (DCMS) front office, serving as Executive Assistant and principal advisor for both the Deputy for Personnel Readiness (DPR) and to the Deputy for Materiel Readiness (DMR). Following his special assignment, CAPT Sullivan served as Executive Officer at Base Cape Cod in Buzzards Bay, MA, where he was responsible for the oversight of all Mission Support functions for Cape Cod and for Pay and Personnel functions for all of District One. Additionally, CAPT Sullivan served under DCMS-DPR as the Coast Guard Academy's Program Manager, where he served as the primary liaison between the Academy and Coast Guard Headquarters and managed the school's Board of Trustees.

During his career, Patrick earned both the Certified Government Financial Manager certification and Certified Defense Financial Manager certification. He has been a proud member of AGA since 2010 and assumed the duties as Boston Chapter President in June, 2025. Patrick resides in Plymouth, MA with his wife Amanda, of Mississauga, Ontario and they have eleven-year-old twins, Morgan and Shaun and a loving Boxer, Sonny.

Manish Aggarwal Related Seminars and Products

Senior Developer / Engineer

Aspen Technology

Manish Aggarwal is a Senior Developer / Engineer at Aspen Technology with over 15 years of experience spanning process design, software development, and applied research. He holds a Master’s in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, where his work focused on data science, machine learning, and advanced modeling. Manish has applied AI/ML techniques in supply chain optimization, economic evaluation engines, and anomaly detection frameworks. A Senior Member of AIChE and editorial advisor for Chemical Engineering Progress, he actively contributes to the advancement of engineering and analytics. His expertise lies in integrating AI and machine learning to improve decision-making, detect anomalies, and enhance efficiency across industries, including finance and chemical engineering.

Shipra Aggarwal Related Seminars and Products

Director of Finance

Pelmeds

Shipra Aggarwal is the Director of Finance at Pelmeds in Waltham, Massachusetts, where she oversees financial strategy, budgeting, and compliance across business operations. She holds a Master’s in Finance from Babson College’s F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business, where her research and projects focused on financial modeling, macroeconomic forecasting, and risk analysis.

With over a decade of experience spanning corporate finance, FP&A, and accounting, Shipra has led financial operations for organizations in both the U.S. and India, driving measurable improvements in reporting accuracy, profitability, and audit compliance. Her technical proficiency includes tools such as Bloomberg, FactSet, Power BI, SQL, and Python.

Shipra’s expertise bridges financial management and data analytics, providing valuable insights into economic behavior, fraud detection, and business decision-making—complementing the application of AI and machine learning in finance and risk analysis.