Nonprofit Conference (E1512330)

Lynn Albala, CPA, CMA, CGMA, is the chief financial officer of InfoSight Partners, LLC, a technology BI consulting firm. She has more than 30 years of experience and has held a variety of leadership roles for the organizations she has served. She is considered a thought leader in the world of nonprofit financial informational needs. A member of the New Jersey Society of CPAs, the American Institute of CPAs and the IMA, she has and continues to serve in several leadership capacities for the New Jersey Society of CPAs. She was selected as a Women of Note by magazine in 2012. Ms. Albala is a graduate of Penn State University.

Joseph R. Blatt, CPA, is a Senior Audit Partner in Loeb and Troper LLP which is dedicated solely to the Not-for-Profit and Health Care sectors. He heads the Firms private school practice as well as services a broad spectrum of not-for-profit and health care organizations. His areas of expertise include auditing/ accounting issues, OMB-Circular A-133 and HUD audits Mr. Blatt has also lectured for the National Association of Independent Schools, National Business Officers Association and the New York Association of Independent Schools. Mr. Blatt served on the finance committee of the New York State Association for Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Providers and is currently a member of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants’ Not-for-Profit Committee and the New Jersey State Society of Certified Public Accountants’ Nonprofit Interest Group.

James W. Brackens, Jr. is the Vice President of Ethics and Practice Quality at the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). His responsibilities include providing strategic and tactical direction for the following teams:

• Peer Review
• Professional Ethics
• Employee Benefit Plan Audit Quality Center
• Governmental Audit Quality Center

Rick is a partner with FORVIS (which is the result of a merger between BKD and DHG) with more than 25 years of experience serving not-for-profit organizations. He is based in the firm’s New York office and is a member of FORVIS’ Higher Education Center of Excellence, which is an internal committee focused on addressing issues important to the higher education industry. Rick focuses on audits and advisory services for not-for-profit and higher education organizations.

Prior to this role, he worked at the FASB, where he served as a supervising project manager for almost six years. In that role, he was the project manager on Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2016-14, Presentation of Financial Statements of Not-for-Profit Entities; ASU 2018-08, Clarifying the Scope and Accounting Guidance for Contributions Received and Contributions Made; and ASU 2019-03, Updating the Definition of Collections. He also was coordinator for FASB’s NFP Advisory Committee and Private Company Council. Before joining the FASB, Rick was vice president and controller at a large national museum in New York for seven years and a senior manager with a large international accounting firm where he worked for 14 years and specialized in audits of higher education institutions and other not-for-profit organizations.

Rick is a member of the AICPA Not-for-Profit Expert Panel. He is a lecturer at Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies in their Non-Profit Management program. He also has been a frequent speaker with NACUBO, the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), and various state CPA societies.

He is a CPA in New York and New Jersey and is a member of the AICPA and New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants. Rick is a graduate of Montclair State University, New Jersey, with a B.S. degree and an M.B.A. degree.

David L. Cotton, CPA, CFE, CGFM is chairman of Cotton & Company LLP, Certified Public Accountants, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. Cotton & Company has performed grant and contract, indirect cost rate, financial statement, financial related, and performance audits for more than two dozen Federal inspectors general as well as numerous other Federal and State agencies and programs. Dave received a BS in mechanical engineering (1971) and an MBA in management science and labor relations (1972) from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA. He also pursued graduate studies in accounting and auditing at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (1977 to 1978).

Dave served on the Advisory Council on Government Auditing Standards (the Council advises the United States Comptroller General on promulgation of Government Auditing Standards—GAO’s yellow book) from 2006 to 2009. He served on the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) Anti-Fraud Programs and Controls Task Force and co-authored Managing the Business Risk of Fraud: A Practical Guide. He served on the American Institute of CPAs Anti-Fraud Task Force and co-authored Management Override: The Achilles Heel of Fraud Prevention. Dave is the past-chair of the AICPA Federal Accounting and Auditing Subcommittee and has served on the AICPA Governmental Accounting and Auditing Committee and the Government Technical Standards Subcommittee of the AICPA Professional Ethics Executive Committee. Dave chaired the Fraud Risk Management Task Force, sponsored by COSO and ACFE and is a principal author of the COSO-ACFE Fraud Risk Management Guide.

Dave has testified as an expert in governmental accounting, auditing, and fraud issues before the United States Court of Federal Claims and other administrative and judicial bodies. He has been an instructor for the George Washington University masters of accountancy program (Fraud Examination and Forensic Accounting), and has instructed for the George Mason University Small Business Development Center (Fundamentals of Accounting for Government Contracts).

Dave was the recipient of the ACFE 2018 Certified Fraud Examiner of the Year Award (“presented to a CFE who has demonstrated outstanding achievement in the field of fraud examination … based on their contributions to the ACFE, to the profession, and to the community”).

Maureen C. Donohue, CPA, is the director of Finance & Technology for the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants. Previously, Ms. Donohue worked in public accounting for more than twelve years and handled a variety of clients including manufacturing, wholesale, professional service firms and not-for-profit organizations. Ms. Donohue is currently on the Board of Directors of Margaret Anna Cusack Care Center in Jersey City NJ, and has served as chair of the Finance Committee since 1998. She also serves on the Advisory Board of Catholic Campus Ministry in the Archdiocese of Newark and is a past trustee of Shelter Our Sisters in Bergen County, NJ, where she served for more than seven years and held the offices of treasurer and president.

Robert R. Lyons, CPA New York, NY Rob has 40 years of experience in the field of public accounting including experience with both regional and national Big 4 accounting firms. Rob’s emphasis has been in the not-for-profit tax and audit fields for the past thirty years. In addition to professional activities, he has taught and lectured in various advanced educational programs. Prior to Joining MP&S, Rob was the Director of Not-For-Profit Tax for KPMG’s New York office and had direct responsibility for tax operations for over 250 medium to large size not-for-profit clients including various pension trust activities. Rob’s specialization includes but is not limited to the areas of unrelated business income, use of for-profit subsidiaries, IRS intermediate sanctions, alternative investments and various other exempt organization reporting and compliance issues. In addition, he has consulted extensively with non-profits in the area of planned giving and development, expansion and growth potential. He has written numerous articles in the Journal of Taxation for Exempt Organizations and Tax Advisor Direct. Rob’s book credits include: Getting Started with Non-Profits, Non-Profits-Advanced Tax Issues, the 990 Workshop, CPA: Guide to Planned Giving, and Form 990: AICPA’s Answer to Unlocking the Tax Complexities. Rob is a member of the American Institute of CPAs and the New York State Society of CPAs and is a CPA licensed to practice in New York State, Florida, the District of Columbia and Virginia.

Shelly R. Masi is an audit partner in KPMG's Metro New York Higher Education and Not-for-Profit practice located in Short Hills, New Jersey office. She has 25 years of experience providing audit services to higher education and other not-for-profit organizations in New Jersey and New York. She has significant financial statement audit experience following both GASB and FASB standards, as well as experience in performing audits of pension plans and grant audits in accordance with Uniform Guidance and New Jersey OMB Circular 15-08. In addition, she has assisted higher education and healthcare organizations with bond financing transactions and has analyzed financial results through benchmarking and consideration of leading practices. She is a firm designated Single Audit Review Partner who is responsible for independent review of single audit reports and work papers. She is also a firm designated Employee Benefit Resource Partner who is responsible for the independent review of employee benefit plan reports. She is an SEC concurring review partner, responsible for concurring partner review of tax-exempt bond offerings.

Thomas Masnaghetti is the Chief Financial Officer/Executive Vice President of Hudson Community Enterprises. He provides strategic guidance in addition to operational and programmatic support to the organization, supervises the Finance/Accounting, HR, Payroll and IT units and is the chief financial spokesperson for the organization.

Hudson Community Enterprises is a non profit organization based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1957 as a community rehabilitation program and focuses its efforts in the area of job preparation, training and job retention services for individuals with disabilities and other barriers to employment.

Mr. Masnaghetti was nominated for the 2015 Nonprofit CFO of the Year award in the Large Nonprofit (over 51 employees) category.

Louis Mezzina is a Senior Advisor with the Not-for-Profit Services Practice at Prager Metis, a member of Prager Metis International Group. Lou brings over 40 years of experience serving a diverse array of not-for-profit clients.

Lou has worked closely with well over 100 colleges, universities, and other not-for-profit organizations, including AARP, American Heart Association, the Archdiocese of New York, Duke University, Fordham University, Johns Hopkins University, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the March of Dimes, Metropolitan Opera, the New York Community Trust, and Wildlife Conservation Society. Beyond accounting, auditing, and financial reporting, he has assisted organizations and the nonprofit sector with respect to operations, risk management, and governance.

Lou is a noted speaker and has presented often at industry conferences, including the AICPA Not-for-Profit Industry Conference, NACUBO’s Higher Education Accounting Forum, NJCPA Nonprofit Conference, and the GWSCPA Nonprofit Symposium. His many years of leadership and service have earned him the National Association of College and University Business Officers’ inaugural Business Partners Service Award and the NJCPA Service Medallion.

Edward Miller is a Partner in the Northeast Higher Education Practice. Mr. Miller joined Arthur Andersen LLP in 2001 and served clients in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors. He joined Grant Thornton LLP in May 2002 and has since been fully-dedicated to serving clients in the not-for-profit sector.

Mr. Miller's clients have included the Salvation Army; Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, The Robin Hood Foundation, Sarah Lawrence College, Ithaca College, Marist College, Manhattanville College, Molloy College, Seton Hall University, St. Francis College, Adelphi University, Drew University, Iona College, American Museum of Natural History, Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, Securities Investor Protection Corporation, The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America, Fedcap Rehabilitation Services, Inc., United Cerebral Palsy Association of Greater Suffolk, Inc., Daytop Village, Inc., The National Arthritis Foundation, the ASCPA, AmeriCares Foundation, Lighthouse International, Teach for America and various other not-for-profit organizations.

Mr. Miller received a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting, summa cum laude, from the State University of New York at Albany. He is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of New York and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants. He is also a member of Grant Thornton’s National Not-for-Profit Leadership Team.

Dennis Morrone, CPA is the partner-in-charge of Grant Thornton’s National Not-for-Profit & Higher Education audit practice. Prior to joining Grant Thornton, Mr. Morrone was part of Arthur Andersen’s Metro New York not-for-profit practice. Mr. Morrone has represented Grant Thornton on the AICPA’s Center for Government Audit Quality. He is a member of Grant Thornton’s national not-for-profit leadership team and part of the Firm's professional excellence and technical committees. He has taught numerous courses on not-for-profit topics and has also written several articles for Grant Thornton’s not-for-profit industry letters as well as for the Not-for-Profit Times. He has also recently been appointed to the AICPA Not-for-Profit Industry Conference Planning Committee. Mr. Morrone earned a B.S. in Accounting from Villanova University and is a member of the AICPA and the NJSCPA.

Warren Tranquada is the EVP & CFO of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, based in Newark. After six years in that position, he will assume the role of EVP and COO in April 2015. In this new role, Mr. Tranquada is responsible for organizational governance and operations, including supervising the finance, IT, ticket services, human resources, event rentals, food services, site operations and house management functions. He also facilitates the organization’s strategic planning efforts. NJPAC has a $40M annual budget and has a multi-faceted mission including arts education, performing arts presentation, community engagement and economic development. Before joining NJPAC, Mr. Tranquada was a partner and co-founder of Aperio, a leading social sector consulting firm. He has consulted with organizations internationally in the areas of earned income development, and strategic planning. Prior to Aperio, he was a Vice President at Chase Manhattan Bank, and an Associate Consultant at Bain & Company. Mr. Tranquada has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University in Montreal. He is the winner of NJBiz’s 2014 CFO-of-the-Year in the category of Large Non-Profit. He is also a past recipient of NJBiz’s Forty Under 40 award.