Professional Speaker Series
Offered Fall and Spring semesters, the Professional Speaker Series (ACG3802) is designed to expose students to technical topics and emerging issues in accounting, business, and in related professions such as law. Guest speakers will provide a practicing professional’s insights regarding technical issues and concerns affecting the accounting profession. Some sessions will relate to professional career planning, and the speakers will discuss various specialty areas, unusual occupations, unique firm practice structures, or non-traditional career opportunities.
Attendance is limited to those students who have registered for the course or have advanced approval from the course coordinator. The course may not be repeated.
Fall 2023
Berkowitz Pollack Brant Advisors + CPAs
6:15-7:30pm, GER 126
Speakers: Leeland Bien, Jairan Shirazi, and Savannah Cabrera Snow
Topic: Why choose a Mid-Sized Firm? Our Experience as Tax Advisors
Leeland Bien
Leeland Bien is a Senior Associate at BPB based out of their Fort Lauderdale office. After graduating from UF’s Fisher School of Accounting, he began working in BPB’s tax department where he focuses on preparing tax returns for both individuals and businesses.
Jairan Shirazi
Jairan Shirazi has nearly 10 years of experience providing federal, state, and international tax consulting and compliance services to high-net-worth individuals, entrepreneurs, and growing companies. She is a Senior Manager in BPB’s Miami office.
Savannah Cabrera Snow
Savannah Cabrera Snow provides federal, state, and international tax consulting and compliance services to entrepreneurs, multinational corporations, and high net worth families. She focuses on growth strategies and works with family offices, commercial businesses, trading companies, and start-ups. She is an Associate Director in BPB’s Fort Lauderdale office and is a proud Gator alumna.
6:15-7:30pm, GER 126
Speakers: Ashley Graham and Mike Safra
Topic: A Career in Tax
Ashley Graham
Ashley is a senior manager in Deloitte’s Business Tax Services practice in Miami and has over 12 years of experience consulting with both public and privately held companies in a variety of industries, including real estate, retail, construction, and manufacturing. She has extensive experience providing tax compliance and consulting services for corporations, Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), and partnerships. Ashley earned her Bachelor of Science in Accounting at the University of Florida and her Master of Taxation from the University of Central Florida. She is a Certified Public Accountant.
Mike Safra
Michael is a tax partner in our Florida tax practice. Michael has over 20 years of public accounting experience and serves as the lead tax partner for many US corporations, REITs and partnerships specifically focused on serving private equity firms and portfolio companies in the Real Estate Sector. His experience in partnerships, and REITs have enabled him to add value to his clients in many ways, including LP/LLC agreement review, entity and transaction structuring, investor relations guidance, technology driven solutions to his clients and assistance with tax due diligence on transactions. Michael holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of Florida and a Master of Accounting from the University of Florida. Michael is certified in Florida and is a member of the AICPA & FICPA.
6:15-7:30pm, GER 126
Speakers: Chris Oatis, Todd Piacentine, and Tak Yealu
Topic: The Future of Accounting
Chris Oatis
Chris has over nineteen years of experience in public accounting, with over seventeen years of State and Local Tax focus. He joined Grant Thornton in November 2005. Chris has experience in numerous State and Local Tax service areas, including: income and franchise tax compliance for complex business structures with multiple legal entity types, business expansion consulting, legal entity optimization, refund opportunity reviews, apportionment studies, nexus analyses, state audit and controversy assistance, and ASC 740 preparation and documentation. Chris is a licensed CPA in Florida and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Todd Piacentine
Todd is a partner in Grant Thornton’s Assurance practice with more than 15 years of experience in public accounting, serving clients primarily in the manufacturing and distribution, technology, real estate, broker/dealer and citrus industries. Todd serves as the consumer and industrial products industry leader for Florida and is part of the professional standards team serving in a quality control review role on multiple listed and non-listed filers. Todd has comprehensive experience in providing auditing, accounting and review services, with specialized skill in meeting SEC and other filing requirements, implementing new accounting pronouncements under U.S. GAAP, reporting of acquisitions and divestitures of businesses and implementation of internal controls over financial reporting in addition to numerous other matters, including revenue recognition, equity transaction and fair value reporting matters. He serves both public and private companies across the above-mentioned industries, including multi-national clients with a focus on SOX 404 compliance in integrated audits.
Tak Yealu
Tak helps organizations innovate by diving deep to understand their needs before designing a solution that resonates well with their users. With over five years of project management experience, he has learned how to effectively translate user requests into actionable next steps leading towards the right solution. Previously, Tak developed a portfolio dashboard for a drug manufacturer’s supply chain providing broad visibility across 200+ products and 40+ products. Using an agile approach, he incrementally tuned the dashboard as needs were clarified along the development journey. Today, the Power BI dashboard centralizes previously disconnected data to help improve decisions that drive more than $20 billion in business value.
6:15-7:30pm, GER 126
Speakers: Lauren Hebbel and Tate Kubler
Topic: Purpose
Lauren Hebbel
Lauren Hebbel began her career with EY almost 11 years ago, where she spent eight years in the Atlanta Audit practice with an international rotation in Ireland. She has spent the past three years serving EY’s Personal Purpose efforts. As an Atlanta-based leader, strategist, and speaker, she especially loves motivating busy professionals to close their laptops and experience the world around them. She has led international teams in EY’s Assurance practice, trained with the co-creators of EY’s Personal Purpose and Vision methodology, and has been recognized for engaging presentations on the power of purpose and why it matters at the organizational and personal level. So far, she’s empowered over 20,000 people to live each day with more meaning and connect to what matters most.
Tate Kubler
Tate Kubler began his career with EY Atlanta in 2003 and relocated to Tampa in 2010 to serve in the global manufacturing and distribution industry with a specialization in IT technology. Throughout his 19+ year career, Tate has served a variety of public and private clients primarily in the manufacturing, distribution and retail, food and beverage, and media and entertainment industries. Tate became an Audit Partner in 2017. He is a Certified Public Accountant registered in both Florida and Georgia and is a member of the Florida Institute of CPAs (FICPA) and AICPA.
6:15-7:30pm, GER 126
Speaker: Candy Poels
Topic: What it is like to work in Corporate Finance/Accounting
Candy Poels
Candy Poels is Program Leader for the U.S. Future Finance Leader’s Program at Honeywell. Candy is responsible for all aspects of recruiting, the internship program, and participant career development throughout the program. Honeywell is a Fortune 100 software-industrial company that delivers industry specific solutions that include aerospace and automotive products and services; control technologies for buildings, homes, and industry; and performance materials globally. Our technologies help everything from aircraft, cars, homes and buildings, manufacturing plants, supply chains, and workers become more connected to make our world smarter, safer, and more sustainable. Prior to this role, Candy was Bombardier Sr. Finance Manager responsible for planning, accounting, financial analysis and strategic goal alignment. Prior to that she was the Airbus Sr. Finance Manager, Manager of Financial Planning and Analysis, Manager for the OEM, Aftermarket, & Engineering Cost Accounting group, and held various other roles in accounting and finance. Candy holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a Master’s in Business Administration from W. P Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.
6:15-7:30pm, GER 126
Speaker: Kelly Anderson
Topic: Career Discussion – Accounting Careers in Corporate America
Kelly Anderson, Sr. Director Project Analysis and Reporting, is responsible for the financial operations and compliance of the clean energy asset portfolio of NextEra Energy Resources. Kelly has been with NextEra for nine years with prior roles leading teams in both the Financial Reporting and Forecasting disciplines. Prior to joining NextEra, Kelly was the VP of Management Financial Services for CEMEX, a global producer of heavy construction materials, and the Controller of Accounting & Financial Compliance for Motorola, a global provider of wireless communication services. Kelly has a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of Florida, a Master of Science in Accounting from Florida Atlantic University, and is a Certified Public Accountant in Florida. Kelly and her husband Scott are a blended family with four children ranging in age from 16 to 25.
6:15-7:30pm, GER 126
Speakers: Katerina Alonso and Jesse Rodriguez
Topic: Why choose a Mid-Sized Firm – Shared Tax Advisor Experience, Trends, and Emerging Issues
Katerina Alonso
Katerina leads the University Relations division of Kaufman Rossin’s Talent Acquisition team. She focuses on recruiting efforts across the state of Florida, New York, and the East Coast. Katerina grew up in Miami, by way of Chicago, and graduated from Florida International University with a Bachelor of Psychology. Additionally, she completed a Master of Science in Human Resources Management at Nova Southeastern University. Before joining the firm, Katerina was involved in Talent Acquisitions for a leading South Florida Hospitality firm. Since starting her career with Kaufman Rossin in 2022, Katerina has built strong relationships with universities and their students interested in exploring opportunities in the CPA, Advisory, and Consulting industry. She does all of this while continuing to demonstrate and highlight Kaufman Rossin’s “people-first” values. She is bilingual in English and Spanish.
Jesse Rodriguez
Jesse is a director in Kaufman Rossin’s tax advisory group where he serves high net-worth clients as well as businesses in professional services, real estate investments, and technology industries. Jesse is a Miami native with over 9 years of experience in client service, process improvement, federal tax compliance, and tax consulting. His knowledge includes providing tax planning, advisory, and compliance services for high-net-worth individuals and families, sole proprietors, pass-through entities, and corporations. He has extensive experience with business entity structuring, as well as investment and real estate accounting. Jesse graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and a Master of Accounting from the University of Florida and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Florida. He is bilingual in English and Spanish.