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FEATURED MAIN STAGE SPEAKERS
Publisher, The Woodard Report, CEO, Woodard®️ and Host of Scaling New Heights®️
Joe Woodard
Read BioKelly Richmond Pope
Education Speaker, Innovator & Forensic Accounting Expert
Dr. Kelly Richmond Pope is a nationally recognized expert in forensic accounting and white-collar crime research. She is an award-winning educator, researcher, and documentary filmmaker. She currently serves as Professor of Accounting in the School of Accountancy and Management Information Systems at DePaul University, where she teaches managerial and forensic accounting. Her research focuses on organizational misconduct, ethics and fraud, and corporate culture and compliance systems designed to confront these challenges. Dr. Pope's research on executive misconduct culminated in directing and producing the award-winning documentary, All the Queen's Horses, in 2017. All the Queen's Horses explores the largest municipal fraud in U.S. history. In 2018, Dr. Pope became a TED speaker with her impactful and timely TED Talk entitled "How whistle-blowers shape history”. In 2020, the American Institute of CPAs and the CPA Practice Advisor named Dr. Pope among the top 25 most powerful women in accounting.
Dr. Pope has received numerous teaching and innovation awards including the DePaul University Lawrence W. Ryan Distinguished Teaching Award, the MERLOT Award for Exemplary Online Learning Resources in Business (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching), the American Accounting Association Diversity Section Innovation in Research Award, and the AICPA Mark Chain/FSA Teaching Innovation Award. One of her proudest moments to date was receiving the invitation to be the 2019 Fall Commencement speaker at her alma mater, North Carolina A&T State University.
Dr. Pope currently serves as a board member and chair of the Greater Chicago Food Depository audit committee. She is a former director and finance chair for Mercy Hospital & Medical Center, former director of the Illinois CPA Society and former member of the governing council for AICPA. She received her bachelor of science in accounting from North Carolina A&T State University and her masters in accountancy and doctorate in accounting from Virginia Tech. She is a licensed certified public accountant (CPA) in the state of North Carolina.
Nicole Davis stands at the helm of Butler-Davis Tax & Accounting, BD Payroll, and Groundworx Contractors as their founder and CEO, directing a dedicated team of 26 professionals. With over twenty years of expertise, she offers extensive knowledge in accounting, tax, financial oversight, and advisory services, catering to diverse clientele from various sectors. She possesses a unique prowess in tax strategy and is adept in small business accounting, notably within the construction, independent pharmacy, and service-oriented business industries.
Prior to establishing Butler-Davis, Nicole's professional journey was rooted in corporate accounting for prominent Fortune 500 entities. She initiated her career at ConocoPhillips, a leading oil and gas enterprise located in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
Holding memberships with the American Institute of CPAs and the Georgia Society of CPAs, Nicole's educational accolades include an MBA from the University of Tulsa and a summa cum laude Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Grambling State University. Currently, she serves as the Vice Chair of the AICPA Practitioners Planning Committee and is a Committee Member for the Professional and Personal Liability Insurance Programs of the AICPA. Furthermore, Nicole is an active participant in both the Rockdale and Newton Chambers of Commerce.
Nicole and her spouse, JW, reside in Georgia and are proud parents to five children. On social media, she's amassed a substantial audience of over 27,000 followers across various platforms, where she frequently posts about her life as a wife, mom, and CPA. Nicole is passionate about traveling, penning down her thoughts, whipping up meals, and indulging in reality TV shows.
Jeff Siebert
Former Head of Consumer Product at Twitter, Co-star of Netflix's The Social Dilemma
Jeff Seibert is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor who was recently named one of
Insider’s Top 100 Seed VCs. He's currently the co-founder and CEO of Digits, where
he's building the next-generation finance stack for small businesses and their
accountants. Previously, he served as Head of Consumer Product at Twitter and starred
in the Netflix phenomenon The Social Dilemma, which was nominated for Best
Documentary at the 2021 BAFTA Awards. Seibert co-founded Crashlytics (acquired by
Twitter for over $100 million), led the development of Fabric (acquired by Google after reaching two billion smartphones), and, before that, co-founded Increo (acquired by
Box).
A self-taught programmer, Seibert released his first app at the age of thirteen,
and went on to lead the Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders seminar series at Stanford
University.
As an author, consultant, business coach, and national speaker, Joe has trained over 125,000 accounting and business professionals in areas of practice development, changing technology trends, strategic consulting, and how to maximize the use of accounting software in their practices.
Joe founded Woodard Events, LLC (aka Woodard®️) a training and resource organization for accounting professions that provides education, community, and coaching offerings through onsite training events, virtual training events, and intensive, coach-led practice advancement courses. Joe is the host of one of the world's leading training conferences for accountants and bookkeepers called Scaling New Heights®. For every year since 2014, Joe has been recognized by Accounting Today as one of the Top 100 Influential People within the accounting profession.
Joe regularly publishes articles for numerous news sources and media organizations that service the accounting profession, including The Woodard Report, the media arm of Woodard®️ that reaches over 100,000 readers each year.
OTHER MAIN STAGE SPEAKERS
Davis Bell
Chief Executive Officer, Canopy Tax, Inc.
Davis Bell is the CEO of Canopy, an award-winning, cloud -based practice management software suite designed to increase efficiency and boost revenue for accounting firms. Davis has held leadership roles in strategy, operations, and finance at a variety of tech companies and he is passionate about building software that delights users.
Deborah has over 35 years of accounting experience. She continues to contribute to the accounting profession by sharing thought leadership on the direction of accounting and advisory services and presenting at numerous conferences. She regularly consults with organizations to optimize their Client Accounting and Advisory Service (CAAS) practices.
Deborah has led technology teams for various platforms, including QuickBooks Online, Xero, Sage Intacct, and a wide range of third-party applications. Her primary focus is helping organizations grow and achieve their strategic goals by providing technology recommendations, streamlining administration, improving processes, optimizing business workflows, and implementing best practices.
Deborah is dedicated to ensuring the ongoing financial and operational success of organizations seeking growth. She recognizes the transformative impact of technology on businesses and is well-versed in training, analyzing systems, understanding integrations, and providing guidance on the implementation of third-party applications. Additionally, she troubleshoots areas of concern to enhance overall operational efficiency.
Patricia Hendrix is the Senior Vice President of Community at Woodard and Producer of Woodard’s Reality Style Case Study project, “Tech Makeover". With over 28 years of experience at the helm of an accounting practice and specializing in QuickBooks and QB-Ecosystem products, Patricia leads a team of mentors at Woodard that provide practice and professional transformation to small business advisors to optimize their practice and improve their advisory skills through structured community learning, mentorship and accountability.
Patricia also leads an elite team of mentors in Woodard's Premium Program, a top tier mentoring program with highly structured leadership and executables designed to create significant wealth, balance and productivity for their clients in a direct mentor-to-leadership environment.
Patricia has been Certified and Advanced Certified in QuickBooks since Intuit's QuickBooks ProAdvisor program began, and was the first to receive the Master Certification from the National Advisor Network. As well as being rated a "TOP 100 Advisor" by Insightful Accountant for 4 consecutive years, she is the founder and CEO of Ten Key Business Solutions, Inc, a 10-year veteran of Vistage International and a forever student of leadership, business management, parenting, and overall life management through spiritual awareness and the uplifting empowerment of others.
Ben has led many successful sales and revenue teams, helping businesses enhance their e-commerce, inventory, and order management capabilities while delivering amazing customer experiences. In addition to these roles, Ben spent a decade working for a large telecommunications company, leading commerce initiatives of varying sizes and types — from initiation to delivery and run-time. He’s passionate about the impact software can have on a business and working with high-performing teams to deliver results.
Ben Richmond
Xero, US Country Manager
Ben Richmond is a chartered accountant and U.S. country manager at Xero, where he is responsible for driving Xero’s growth in the region. Ben has been recognized by CPA Practice Advisor as a “20 Under 40 Influencer” and was named Accounting Today’s “Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting.”
Val Steed
Director Accountants at Zoho
Awards and Recognition:
• Twice recognized as Accounting Today’s Top 100 Influential Accounting Professionals
• AICPA Certificate of Appreciation - Strategic Planning Committee
• Alumni Professional Achievement Award – Utah State University
• Outstanding Discussion Leader Award – Indiana Society of CPAs
• Outstanding Discussion Leader Award – Utah Association of CPAs
• Three-time recipient of the AICPA Outstanding Discussion Leader Award
Professional Service:
• 1995 Chairman of the AICPA’s Technology Conference
• Three-year Member - AICPA’s Strategic Planning Committee
• Four-year Member - AICPA’s Information Technology Executive Committee
• Five-year Member - AICPA’s Microcomputer Conference Committee
• Two-term Chairperson of the Consulting Services Committee
• Two-term Chairperson - CPE Committee for the Utah Association of CPAs
• Life-Loyal Sigma Chi
Val Steed graduated from Utah State University where he received both his Bachelors
of Science (BS) in Accounting and his Masters of Accounting (MA). Val was an
active member of the Sigma Chi fraternity where he served as Treasurer.
After college, Val worked for Deloitte Haskins and Sells of Salt Lake City, Utah, and
then with Hansen, Steed, Bradshaw & Malmrose P.C. of Salt Lake City. Val was
with Hansen, Steed, Bradshaw & Malmrose P.C. for twelve years and was a
shareholder for six years before leaving to start K2 Enterprises.
Currently, Val is the Director Accountants for Zoho Corporation. He has twelve
years’ experience in public practice and has been involved with the accounting
technology industry since 1985.
Ed Kless
Sr. Director of Partner Development and Strategy, Sage
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.
Ed hosts the Sage Advice Podcast and co-hosts the VoiceAmerica TalkShow Network’s The Soul of Enterprise with Ron Baker, founder of the VeraSage Institute where Ed is also a senior fellow. They coauthored The Soul of Enterprise: Dialogues on Business in the Knowledge Economy, a compendium of a few of the episodes.
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 and has spoken at many conferences worldwide on project management, pricing, and knowledge workers. He is also active in the Information Technology Alliance (ITA) and has been named to Accounting Today’s list of the 100 Most Influential People in Accounting numerous times including 2019. Additionally, Ed is a faculty member of the Professional Pricing Society.
Andrew Lassise
Founder, Tech 4 Accountants, a Rightworks Company
Andrew Lassise is the founder of Tech 4 Accountants, a Rightworks Company that specializes in technology and cyber security for accountants. For years, the company has helped tax accountants meet the IRS’ requirement for a Written Information Security Plan (WISP). Under his guidance, the company authored the first and most comprehensive security plan template, meeting all IRS, FTC, and GLBA standards.
To date, the Tech 4 Accountants WISP is utilized by many Fortune 500 companies and a broad range of accounting firms. The company has appeared multiple times on Accounting Today’s Top 100 VARs list and The Manifest's Top 100 Cyber Security Companies in the world.
When he's not saving the world from hackers and malware, Andrew enjoys golf, traveling, cooking, and spending time with his wife, Emma, and his three children.
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