MAcc Advisory Board

Members of the MAcc Advisory Board provide advice, counsel and support that help make this one of the premier graduate accounting programs in the country. Those who are members of accounting firms are active in all aspects of the program—from admissions, to curriculum, to internships and, of course, hiring.

Thomas J. "Tom" Aaron

Tennessee Managing Partner , Assurance and Advisory Services
Deloitte & Touche
Nashville, Tennessee

Tom is in his third decade of providing audit and accounting, consulting and tax services to health care and insurance entities. His experience includes assistance in health system formation, initial public offerings, acquisition and divestiture due diligence for financial and strategic buyers (including three $1+ billion health care provider transactions), bankruptcies, litigation support, internal controls and implementation of managed care strategies.

Anthony V. "Tony" Aaron

Americas Leader, Quality and Risk Management
Valuation and Business Modeling Principal
Ernst & Young Transaction Advisory Services
Ernst & Young
McLean, Virginia

Tony serves as Americas Leader of Quality and Risk Management for the Ernst & Young Valuation and Business Modeling practice, acting as a key liaison between EY's National Office Accounting and Auditing Groups, EY's National Tax Practice and the VBM Practice. Tony also is a member of EY's Americas Ethics Oversight Board. Tony served EY clients for over 25 years in Southern California before relocating to EY's McLean, Virginia, office, where he works with clients in Washington, DC, and across the Mid-Atlantic.

Greg Anglum

Managing Partner
Grant Thornton
Raleigh, North Carolina

Greg has been practicing in public accounting for more than 15 years. Prior to joining Grant Thornton LLP, Greg worked for Arthur Andersen LLP. Greg has served a wide array of public and private companies, primarily in the financial services, retail/distribution, life sciences and technology industries. Greg earned both MBA (accounting) and BA (economics) degrees from Vanderbilt.

Ken Bishop

President and CEO
NASBA
Nashville, Tennessee

Ken L. Bishop serves as president and chief executive officer of NASBA as well as chief executive officer of NASBA's ethics arm, the NASBA Center for the Public Trust (CPT). In recent years, Bishop has been instrumental in the adoption of legislation for "CPA Mobility" whereby CPA's increase their ability to practice throughout the U.S. without the need to be licensed separately in each state. Prior to joining NASBA, Ken worked in the areas of state government and law enforcement.

Mark H. Crocker

Executive Director
Tennessee State Board of Accountancy
Nashville, Tennessee

Mark, a native of Nashville, began his career in accounting in 1987 and has held many positions in the public, private and government sectors. He accepted the position of Investigator for the Tennessee State Board of Accountancy in August of 2004 and has been the Executive Director since October of 2007. In addition to his regular full-time positions, Mark also enjoys teaching at local universities. He has been a certified public accountant in the State of Tennessee since 1992, and holds professional memberships in the Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Alberto W. Dent

Partner, Transaction Services
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Atlanta, Georgia

Alberto, who has more than 15 years of transaction experience, leads PwC's Tax Valuation services and Latin American Valuation services, and is a member of the Transaction Services Leadership team as the National Diversity Leader. Alberto has assisted clients in large, complex global transactions including numerous deals well in excess of $10 billion. Alberto is a CPA in the State of Georgia and holds an MBA as well as a Master in Professional Accounting from the University of Miami.

Sam B. DeVane

Managing Partner
Ernst & Young
Nashville, Tennessee

Sam has more than 25 years of public accounting experience serving clients throughout the Southeast, including 13 years as an audit partner. The majority of Sam's career has involved service to clients in the Retail and Consumer Products (RCP) sector, including numerous manufacturers, distributors and retailers. Sam has significant experience coordinating services for SEC registrants and services related to major transactions.

W. Rick Donnalley

Principal, Economic and Valuation Services
KPMG
Atlanta, Georgia

Rick is the Southeast practice leader for Valuation Services and is based in KPMG's Atlanta office. He joined KPMG in 1990. Rick has more than 20 years experience valuing business entities and assets in a broad range of industries for financial reporting, tax and M&A purposes. Prior to joining KPMG, Rick was employed for two years as a Financial Analyst for Kimberly-Clark. Prior to that, Rick played professional football in the NFL for seven years.

Mark Edwards

Partner, Valuation - Southeast Region Leader
Grant Thornton
Charlotte, North Carolina

Mark is a partner in the valuation services practice of Grant Thornton and serves as the Practice Leader for the Southeast Region. Prior to joining Grant Thornton, Mark spent over 13 years working with a Big Five public accounting firm and other national valuation firms. Mark has been working in the valuation profession for more than 20 years and has worked with numerous public and private clients on financial reporting, litigation, transaction advisory and strategic planning.

Michael P. "Mike" Emmert

Executive Vice President & Senior Managing Director
Navigant Consulting
Chicago, Illinois

Mike, a CPA, has spent more than 30 years assisting clients and counsel with the accounting, financial and business aspects of complex business conflicts. He has worked on false claims act matters (qui tam), fraud investigations, financial reporting investigations and other forensic matters, and has broad experience in merger and acquisition disputes, including acting as an arbitrator and damages expert.

Randy Laszewski

Managing Partner
KPMG
Nashville, Tennessee

As Nashville managing partner, Randy directs the activities of the assurance engagement teams, reviews engagement results and conclusions, and determines the contents of the accountants' report. For over 25 years he has provided a full range of audit services for a variety of clients, including large publicly held corporations, banks, health care, manufacturing, real estate and retail companies. Prior to joining KPMG, Randy was Assistant Controller of the Coca-Cola Financial Corporation.

J. Michael "Mike" McGuire

National Managing Partner—Markets, Industry, People & Culture
Grant Thornton
Charlotte, North Carolina

As the National Managing Partner for Markets, Industries, People and Culture, Mike focuses on the client experience both domestically and internationally, marketing and sales, as well as the development of the firm culture and continuous improvement of the employee experience. His diversified experience includes working closely with high-growth, start-up and middle-market companies in a variety of industries, including technology, services, construction, manufacturing, venture capital, distribution, retail and franchising. Mike is also the Partner Chair of Grant Thornton's University Recruiting Advisory Council, responsible for oversight of the firm's national campus recruiting program.

Kevin Moss

Principal, Global Valuation Service Line Leader
Deloitte & Touche
Atlanta, Georgia

Kevin has more than 20 years of experience in providing valuation and financial consulting services worldwide for the purposes of mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, divestitures, stockholder disputes, corporate reorganizations, financing, allocation of purchase price and tax planning. He has also conducted business planning transaction analysis and market valuations, and has extensive experience in the analysis and valuation of equity securities, debt instruments, derivative securities and intangible assets.

Leslie D.J. Patterson

Partner. SESA People Leader
Ernst & Young
Atlanta, Georgia

Leslie is the Southeast Sub-Area People Team Leader and a Partner at Ernst & Young LLP.  In her current role she is responsible for the People processes for the 2,000 person practice across 14 offices and the E&Y Caribbean practice. Leslie has been with Ernst & Young for almost 20 years.  Prior to her current role, Leslie was the Americas Director of the Office of Diversity Strategy & Development, co-leading the firm's Inclusiveness efforts.  She worked with the firm's leadership to implement programs and initiatives that promote a culture of inclusiveness.

Henry Phillips

Vice Chairman
Regional Managing Partner - Northeast
Deloitte LLP

As a regional managing partner in the Northeast, Henry is responsible for driving growth, quality, marketplace and talent initiatives for 13 offices in nine states. He joined Deloitte in 1991 and became and audit partner in 2001. Henry also currently serves as the lead client service partner for one of the world's leading investment and advisory firms and is a member of the Deloitte U.S. Merger & Acquisition Services Leadership Council.

David M. Pickett

Managing Partner
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Nashville, Tennessee

A Partner in the Assurance Practice, David has more than 20 years of experience in public accounting, serving clients in primarily the insurance and healthcare industries. As office managing partner for the Nashville practice, David has overall responsibility ensuring that local engagement teams deliver quality client service. David has experience in providing auditing and financial advisory services to healthcare and large complex entities. He has assisted clients with resolution of various issues with the Securities and Exchange Commission including complex purchase accounting issues.

Dion P. Sheidy

Advisory Partner
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Nashville, Tennessee

Dion will be the partner in charge of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Nashville Office and Health Care Advisory Practice. Dion has extensive experience in delivering services to clients within the health care and health insurance industries. Dion's engagements include providing services to integrated health care delivery systems, health maintenance organizations, dental maintenance organizations, indemnity insurers, health care institutions and case management and utilization review companies.

Richard Wells

Audit Partner
KPMG
Atlanta, Georgia

Richard began his career as a Senior Accountant for nine years at KPMG in the Atlanta, Georgia, office and was admitted to the Partnership in 2005. He has focused almost exclusively on the banking, finance and real estate industries. He has broad accounting and auditing experience with commercial and consumer banking and finance, mortgage banking, broker-dealers, investment management, hedge funds, securitizations, derivatives, real estate management, real estate funds and investment funds. Through working with his audit clients, Richard has addressed and resolved an array of difficult business and accounting issues related to these industries.

Emeritus Board Members

Jim Brady

Chief Executive Officer
Assurance & Enterprise Risk Services
India Private Limited
Deloitte & Touche
Atlanta, Georgia

David A. Costello

President and CEO (Retired)
National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA)
Nashville, Tennessee