Steven M. Koons, CPA, PMP Related seminars and products

Partner

Cotton, Federal Government Services and D.C. Metro Region Market Lead

Steven Koons, CPA, PMP, has extensive experience in federal audit and accounting. His previous experience includes working for the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the Office of Inspector General at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. He joined Cotton in December 2010 and was elected partner with Cotton effective January 1, 2014, and he became the firm’s managing partner on February 1, 2020. Effective April 1, 2022, Steve became a partner with Sikich LLP as part of Sikich’s acquisition of Cotton—Cotton is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sikich and is responsible for the delivery of services to federal clients.
Steve has served in key leadership positions on complex financial statement audits, including the first-ever audits of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the U.S. Navy’s Schedule of Budgetary Activity, the U.S. Marine Corps’ full-scope financial statements, and the Defense Health Program, focusing on the Air Force Medical Service/Air Force Surgeon General. Steve has also advised on the audit of the nation’s more than $20 trillion Schedule of Federal Debt. Steve currently serves as engagement partner for the audit of the U.S. Transportation Command’s Transportation Working Capital Fund.

In 2015, Steve received a national award for his article “New Federal Reporting Models: Does Adopting a Citizen-Centric Model Mean Abandoning Our Roots?”, published in the AGA’s Journal of Government Financial Management. Originally from Pennsylvania, Steve now resides on Capitol Hill and actively volunteers in his local community.

Ann Ebberts Related seminars and products

Chief Executive Officer

AGA

Ann Ebberts is the Chief Executive Officer for AGA, leading the national office staff that provides member services to its more than 80 chapters and supports achievement of the strategic goals as defined by AGA’s National Governing Board. Ann is the publisher of the Journal of Government Financial Management and as CEO, oversees the development of educational and networking events for financial management professionals and the CGFM certification program, conducts research, and promotes accountability and transparency as well as intergovernmental cooperation and innovation.

Prior to joining AGA in Oct 2014, Ann spent 30+ years providing management and technology consulting services to the federal government in financial and project management, process improvement, program evaluation and implementation support for agency-wide shared services projects.  She spent 26 years at Booz Allen Hamilton where she was a vice president in the Financial Services Team. 

Ann has a B.S in marketing management from Virginia Tech, an M.S. in systems management from the University of Denver, and is a certified Project Management Professional.

Jay Cone Related seminars and products

Partner

Unstuck Minds

Jay G. Cone is an author and co-founder of Unstuck Minds. He has spent the past 35 years supporting leadership development and organizational change. Unstuck Minds is a firm focused on helping leaders find compassionate and creative solutions when they feel uncertain and overwhelmed. 

Jay served for five years as adjunct faculty for the Executive MBA program at The University of Texas at Dallas, where he taught Building Effective Teams. Before starting up Unstuck Minds with his business partner, he worked as a senior consultant with the Boston-based consulting and training firm, Interaction Associates. Jay has travelled extensively, working with some of the world’s largest public and private organizations. He has helped executive teams and thousands of organizational leaders liberate themselves from the thinking traps that limit, misdirect, isolate, and divide.

His articles on leadership development have appeared in Training Magazine, The Training & Development Journal, and The Journal of Global Business and Organizational Excellence. Jay authored the chapter, “Authentic Accountability” appearing in the 2011 International Leadership Association’s collection: Leadership for Transformation. His article, “How to Cultivate an Unstuck Mind” was featured in the Fall 2019 issue of Rotman Management Magazine. His most recent book, The Surprising Power of Not Knowing What to Do; Discovering creativity and compassion in a time of chaos, is an Amazon bestseller.

His current and past clients include: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Dell Technologies, Exelon, GE, Nokia, Fluor Corporation, The TJX Companies, and, W.L. Gore and Associates.

Jay and his wife, Katherine live in Dallas, Texas. They have three adult daughters: Abby, Hannah, and Bekah.

Jay, who will present the session, “Get Unstuck” has made his book available to conference registrants at a 20% discount.

Purchase the book on BookBaby.
Use discount code: RXT9BJ at check out

Don Elliott Related seminars and products

Chief Financial Officer Business Operations

CliftonLarsonAllen LLP

Brendan Dutch Related seminars and products

Compliance Counsel

Executive Office for Administration and Finance at Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Brendan Dutch is the Compliance Counsel for the Federal Funds Office at the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office for Administration and Finance (“A&F”). In this role, he works with A&F stakeholders and state agencies to ensure spending on federal COVID-19 relief grants complies with Treasury regulations and OMB guidance on managing federal grants. Brendan also oversees the compliance team responsible for subrecipient monitoring and internal audit of COVID-19 federal grants. Prior to Brendan’s current role, he served as Chief of Staff and Legal Counsel in the offices of Senators Vinny deMacedo and Susan Moran. He received his Juris Doctor degree from Tulane University and his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Brendan, his wife, and daughter live in Milton, Massachusetts.

Leah Garabedian Related seminars and products

Director

KPMG

With more than 15 years of combined experience as a lawyer, project manager, government strategy director, and consultant, Leah Garabedian thrives in roles that leverage her strengths and diverse body of experience. Relying on skills of strategic stakeholder engagement and a human centered approach to change management, she led cross-agency efforts of the third most populous US County to train over 1,000 diverse employees and coach more than dozen elected and executive county officials as they implemented a transformation of the front end of its justice system.

Leah was born and raised in Florida, though her work has taken her all over the US. Recently, she worked with Pinellas County Health & Human Services on their behavioral health, justice, and human services systems integration strategy. She is a high-energy people-person, driven by her commitment to help government improve the lives of the people and communities they serve through modernized, innovative approaches to services infrastructure and workforce development.

Professional and Industry Experience

• KPMG, 2019 - present
• Chief Criminal Justice Strategist – Harris County TX Budget Management Department, 2017-2019
• Senior Program Manager – Justice Management Institute, 2016-2017
• Senior Associate – Pew Charitable Trusts, 2012-2013
• Practicing Attorney, 2004-2012
• Civil Litigation Associate, 2010-2012 
• Criminal Defense Associate, 2008-2010
• Assistant Public Defender – Missouri State Public Defender, 2004-2008

Paul Lipinski Related seminars and products

Principal

KPMG

Paul is a US Leader within KPMG’s Transformation Delivery Solution with a focus on State & Local Government. He has 25 years of hands-on experience in behavioral change management, organizational transformation, and workforce evolution.

Paul believes that bringing compassion, empathy, kindness, and love to transformations are the keys to success because people are the most important asset for your organization.

Select Industry Experience

• Led change management services to an Oracle Cloud implementation of the Chart of Accounts impacting finance and procurement system users for a Big 10 University.  
• Led the end-to-end Change Management and Training development to deliver a new target operating model and corresponding processes for a Medicaid Eligibility system for a US State.
• Led the Change Management, Training, and Culture evolutions for a Major US City to deliver a new Medicaid Eligibility System.
• Led the Organizational analysis for the Department of Homeless Services for a major US City which included build out an organizational model and change management strategy.
• Led the build-out of a new Vision, Operating Model, and Change Management strategy for the Department of Human Services for a major US State.
• Led the Organizational Transformation efforts of the Labor Market and Economic Development Department of a major US State.
• Led the Change Management and Training development and roll-out in multiple US States for new e-procurement systems.
• Let the end-to-end Change Management and Training Transformation efforts to deliver a new financial system for the Transportation Department of a US State.

Rachel Cullity Related seminars and products

Student Advisor

AGA Boston Chapter

Rachel Cullity is a criminal justice and cybersecurity student who will earn her Master's in the spring. She aspires to pursue a Ph.D. in criminal justice, specializing in cybersecurity. Rachel serves as the President of The Graduate Professional Student Association (GPSA) and Alpha Phi Sigma-The National Criminal Justice Honors Society at Bridgewater State University.

Edi Gold Related seminars and products

Senior Manager/Director

KPMG

Edi Gold designs transformational initiatives to optimize organizational performance and implement them with a focus on end-user adoption. She lead teams through the development of adoption and engagement interventions that get to the heart of the matter and answer "so what?" and "what's in it for me?" for impacted stakeholders. Edi is energized by opportunities to work cross-functionally across organizations to develop solutions that address your unique needs and challenges. She has 10+ years of experience with public sector and healthcare organizations under going significant digital transformations and change.

Professional and industry experience

• Operating model and organizational design:
  • Structured a future-state operating model based on changes to a client’s technology infrastructure. Developed a shared understanding of how systems and processes would impact new roles and responsibilities and prepared workers to operate in their new environment with adoption tactics specific to their roles.
  • Evolved a pharmacy’s product organization by leading an organizational redesign effort to create clear ownership of E2E customer experiences, actively manage the entire product suite, promote code reusability, and eliminate operational barriers and dependencies. In this effort, led cross-functional leadership through a series of workshops to define the scope of change, form recommendations, determine the structure, and create and execute a change plan.
• Technology adoption, training design, and delivery:
  • Trained front-line staff to use new technology-enabled eligibility system to administer state funded benefit programs. Coordinated with state policy groups to develop classroom and web training. Developed a just-in-time training program. Evaluated end-user adoption through readiness assessments.
  • Designed the future state of the client’s global e-learning site. Devised process solutions to improve user satisfaction, reduce errors, and improve the brand reputation.
• Strategic change management:
  • Guided a product organization through a series of alignment meetings to prioritize the work driving the greatest business impact, seeing dramatic improvements in CSAT due to better prioritization of work that affects core customer experiences.
  • Coordinated efforts between state agencies, vendors, insurance carriers, and enrollment workers in building a health insurance marketplace. Developed program for a Call Center to train the new workforce on complex Affordable Care Act policy. Organized a Command Center to support go-live reporting and issue resolution.
  • Developed strategy and design of an onboarding program to enable front-line associates to adopt the desired culture of a new customer-centric business model.