2009 Speakers

Doug Sleeter

Doug Sleeter has taught over 30,000 accountants and QuickBooks users how to properly use QuickBooks software. Doug has worked with hundreds of QuickBooks consultants in numerous industries since 1994. Doug was a pioneer in developing the first QuickBooks seminars in the country. Doug consults with several software and hardware companies on product design, marketing, and distribution.Doug's in-depth knowledge of QuickBooks and his "systems" approach to solving small business accounting problems has earned him the reputation of being one of the nation's leading QuickBooks and accounting software experts. Doug is the author of numerous books, videos and courseware materials including: The QuickBooks Consultant's Reference Guide, QuickBooks Fundmentals, Intermediate and Complete college textbooks. Doug is also the co-author of: QuickBooks Point of Sale Consulting, QuickBooks for Not for Profit Organizations and The Successful QuickBooks Consulting System.

M. Darren Root

M. Darren Root, CPA.CITP, is the Executive Editor of The CPA Technology Advisor. Mr. Root is also in public practice as the principal of Root & Associates, LLC, in Bloomington, Indiana. He is President of RootWorks, a consulting practice that helps professional accounting firms implement technologies and best practices. Mr. Root serves on the Board of the AICPA’s CITP Credentials Committee and is a former member of the Board of Directors for the Indiana CPA Society. He is a respected thought leader in the profession, speaking at dozens of professional organizations each year, and frequently serves as a guest lecturer at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.

Amy Vetter

Vetter

Amy Vetter, CPA.CITP,  serves as CFO and Executive Director for Technology In A Box specializing in operational accounting and QuickBooks Consulting services. Her expertise includes streamlining internal policies and procedures and integrating accounting software programs to maximize performance and productivity. Amy’s diverse background includes internal auditing, financial and operational process improvement for Fortune 500 companies and private industries, as well as external financial statement audit work for KPMG. Amy is a contributor and national speaker for Intuit's courses for Certification and Training of QuickBooks ProAdvisors and Accountants as a member of the Intuit Trainer/Writer Network as well as a co-author of The Sleeter Group's QuickBooks end user training materials.  Amy has served as a participant in the Accountant and Advisory Customer Council for Intuit, Inc. during 2006-2008, has been recognized by The CPA Technology Advisor as an outstanding 40 under 40 technology-based Accountant and was also awarded South Florida Business Journal's Up & Comer Award in 2007 for her expertise in accounting. Additionally, Amy is the Expert Contributor on All Things QuickBooks for The Progressive Accountant, a premier digital resource for tax and accounting professionals. She is a licensed CPA in the State of Florida and Certified Information Technology Professional (CITP), Advanced Certified QuickBooks® ProAdvisor, Certified QuickBooks® Enterprise and POS ProAdvisor, and a Sleeter Group Certified Consultant. Technology In A Box has offices in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota and Florida. For more information, call 877/824-6229 or visit www.TechnologyInABox.net.

Randy Johnston

Randolph P. (Randy) Johnston has been a top rated speaker in the technology industry for over 30 years. Randy writes a monthly column for CPATechnology Advisor, as well as creating regular articles for the Journal of Accountancy, other publications as well as being the author of numerous books. His influence throughout the accounting industry is highlighted once again this year by being a recipient of the 2008 Accounting Today Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting award for the fifth consecutive year. Among his many other awards he holds the honor of being one of nine technology stars in the U.S. by Accounting Technology Magazine. He has started and owns multiple businesses including K2 Enterprises in Hammond, Louisiana and Network Management Group, Inc. in Hutchinson, Kansas. Computer Reseller News awarded his NMGI company the Top 75 Technology Innovators award for their DoubleCheck spam and virus control product.  His wife and four children enjoy many experiences together including theatre, music, travel, golf, skiing, snorkeling and model trains. His experience as a college instructor, management and technology consultant, and advisor to the industry will be obvious to you in today’s presentation. Please help me welcome Randy Johnston.

Leslie Shiner

Leslie Shiner - author, speaker, and trainer - has more than twenty years of experience working as a financial and management consultant for the construction industry.  As the owner and principal of The Shiner Group, she has helped both small and large construction companies better understand their business practices and maximize their profits. Ms. Shiner firmly believes training and education is instrumental in the growth and success of the small business.  She is also the author of numerous publications including the Profit Press Profit Guides: “Choosing ‘Best Fit’ Construction Management Software” and “Health Checkup for Your Construction Business”. She has just released the first book in the Money Maze Series, titled A Simple Guide to Turning a Profit as a Contractor. Ms. Shiner is an engaging speaker with a long history of rave reviews. She continues to receive high praise for her ability to take a boring, dry subject, such as financial management, and make it interesting and understandable. She has been a featured speaker at such events as Hanley Wood’s Remodeling Show, Deck Expo, World of Concrete, and JLC Live. She is a regular teacher and presenter for CEDIA Expo, The Sleeter Conference, Intuit’s Enterprise Conference, and Sage Summit.

Mario Nowogrodski

Mario Nowogrodzki, CPA.CITP is the founder and principal of Mendelson Consulting (established in 1992), based in South Florida, specializing in QuickBooks and information technology consulting services. He holds Master of Accounting Information Systems and Bachelor of Accounting degrees, and is a Certified Public Accountant since 1992. Mr. Nowogrodzki holds a number of QuickBooks certifications from Intuit, and is a member of the Intuit Accountant Speakers Bureau. A leading figure on the national QuickBooks scene, he was selected to be a charter member of the Enterprise Solutions Provider and the POS Retail Solutions Provider Programs with Intuit, and he serves on the Intuit Solutions Provider Program Advisory Council. Mr. Nowogrodzki is a frequent author and instructor of QuickBooks and technology topics for accountants and continuing education programs, and he was recently recognized as a “2008 Killer VAR,” a prestigious distinction awarded by Accounting Technology magazine.

Andrew Abrams

Abrams

Andrew B. Abrams, Founder and Executive Director of Technology In A Box, is one of the nation’s leading QuickBooks and Microsoft consultants, providing Information Technology and Accounting Software Solutions to small and medium sized business around the country. With over 15 years experience in accounting, management information systems, retail and sales, Andrew has guided manage business owners on how to improve their productivity through the use of their technology.  Andrew was one of the first consultants in the country to be certified by Microsoft as a Small Business Specialist and has won numerous awards from Intuit for sales and service as a charter member of the Intuit Solution Provider Program.  Andrew has been a featured speaker by Intuit, Microsoft and the Sleeter Group for webinars and conventions nationwide. Andrew received a Master of Science degree in Management Information Systems and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting both from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Sheldon B. Lubar School of Business.  Andrew is an Advanced Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, a Certified QuickBooks Enterprise and Point of Sale ProAdvisor, a Microsoft Certified Small Business Specialist, a Microsoft Certified Professional and a Sleeter Group Certified Consultant. 

Raymond Bantum

bantum

Raymond Bantum is a the President of Bantum Consulting Services, He specializes in providing Information Technology consulting services to Faith Based, Non-Profit, Governmental, and Healthcare organizations. He has over 23 years of accounting and technology consulting experience. He is a CPA, and a CITP (Certified Information Technology Professional), and a CMC (Certified Management Consultant). He also has experience in providing consulting, database, and forensic accounting services to the healthcare industry. He has served in the U.S. Air Force and received a Top Secret Security clearance while in service to his country. He was also an auditor with the accounting firm of Deloitte and Touche. He is a member of the AICPA, the Maryland Association of CPA’s, and the National Association of Black Accountants.

Leslie Capachietti

Leslie Capachietti has been working with small businesses for over 15 years, helping them both streamline and gain a better understanding of their financial operations using QuickBooks software. Having successfully owned and operated her own businesses, Ms. Capachietti has a personal understanding of the unique needs and resource constraints (both time and money) of business owners. She is National Speaker and Trainer for Intuit and is one of the country’s leading experts on QuickBooks Financial and QuickBooks Point of Sale software. Ms.Capachietti holds an MBA degree in Finance and Accounting from Boston University and was a member of Intuit’s Accountant and Advisor Customer Council from 2003-2005. She is one of the country’s leading authorities on QuickBooks Point-of-Sale, and her book, QuickBooks Point of Sale - Best Practices for Success, was published by The Sleeter Group in 2008.

David Cieslak

David Cieslak, CPA.CITP, GSEC is a Principal with Arxis Technology, Inc., a computer consulting firm.  He specializes in micro-computer accounting systems, information security, the Windows operating environment, eCommerce, handheld computing, systems development and project management. Mr. Cieslak is currently an instructor for K2 Enterprises and frequent speaker for the California Society of Certified Public Accountants (CalCPA), the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and other state accounting societies.  He has taught micro-computer classes for California State University at Northridge and written articles for The Quantum PC Report for CPAs,CSCPA Outlook,California CPA, and the AICPA InfoTech Update.  He is currently on the editorial board of the CPA Technology Advisor and the California CPA.  Mr. Cieslak currently chairs the Sage ACCPAC Business Partner Advisory Council. He is an active participant with the CalCPA State Technology Committee and Westside Micro-computer Users Discussion Group.  

Danny Do Couto

Danny Do Couto is the Consultant Representative and Manager for Method Integration.  He has been a part of the Alocet Incorporated family since 2003 where he helped in the maturity of Alocet’s existing brands, QXpress Scheduling Software and LM Software.  In 2006, he switched his focus to building the team, organizational structure, and business network for Alocet’s new Method Integration division.  Danny brings with him a strong background in management and technology, having completed his education at Seneca College in Computer Engineering and Network Security.  His passion is helping accountants, consultants and product developers with implementing Method into their businesses, and is quickly rising on the “who’s who” in the small business accounting software community.  He frequently travels throughout the United States and Canada spreading the word about Method and is a regular contributor to the Method Integration blog.  Danny lives in his hometown of Toronto, Ontario – Canada, and can be reached at 1-888-925-6238 ext. 708, or via email at d.docouto@methodintegration.com.

Esther Friedberg Karp

Esther Friedberg Karp is principal of CompuBooks Business Services in Toronto.  Besides being an Advanced Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor and  Certified QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions ProAdvisor in the United States, she is a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor and a longtime member of the Voice of Advisor Council in Canada.  She is also an Esteemed member of the Intuit Speakers Bureau in both Canada and the U.S. Esther is a frequent contributor to Intuit publications on both sides of the Canada/U.S.  border, and she has been a featured speaker at QuickBooks user conferences in both countries, as well as a webinar presenter. Esther’s first article for ProConnection was about multicurrency in QuickBooks. She has written two follow-up articles since then for ProConnection dealing with multicurrency in QuickBooks. In addition, she has authored and edited educational material for The Sleeter Group, Intuit Canada, Intuit, Inc., and others. She has been a featured Expert during Ask the Expert week for the Intuit Community. Her company’s clients hail from all industries in a number of countries, and they depend on CompuBooks to provide them with seamless administrative and accounting systems.

Michael Gardner

Michael Gardner is the vice president of compliance at Avalara, Inc., where he is primarily responsible for management of all company  tax content, maintaining the SST certified service provider status, and a team which remits  25,000+ tax returns each month.   Michael joined Avalara in 2007 with more than 15 years of experience as a professional service partner.  Prior to Avalara, Michael was the partner in charge of the tax technology solutions practice at The SC&H Group. He was also co-founder of Taxconnect, a successful tax technology services firm, and was a regional practice leader and SALT strategies professional with KPMG.  Michael has assisted hundreds of companies throughout the United States, Canada, and Western Europe successfully implement a variety of automated tax compliance solutions.  Michael is a member of the State Bar of California and an active member of industry tax and financial associations. A frequent presenter on tax technology issues, Michael has authored articles on transaction tax reform, global tax automation trends, and industry best practices for using multijurisdictional tax content.

Michael’s education includes earning his juris doctor degree from the Thomas Jefferson School of Law, a bachelor of arts in history and economics from George Mason University, as well as  achieving  executive certificates in project management methodologies, and the use, implementation and training on specialized software applications.

Barry Friedman

Barry Friedman, CPA, brings more than 35 years of experience in accounting and technology marketing to BizActions. Previously, he was the founder and CEO of GovCon, where he developed an online electronic commerce community that brought together thousands of IT contractors and hundreds of government entities. Prior to that he was the CEO of Friedman and Fuller, an accounting and business consulting firm, which was sold to American Express. He earned a MBA in Business Administration from Loyola College.

 

Shane Hamby

Shane Hamby began his career with Intuit working QuickBooks in 1996 and is currently Product Manager for QuickBooks. He is considered a QuickBooks product expert within the company and the accounting community.



David Horwitz

David Horwitz is Community Manager and Director of Marketing at The Sleeter Group, where he has been employed since 2008. David is a veteran of Intuit and most recently served in the role of Relationship Manager on the Accounting Professionals team. David grew the Intuit Accountant Speakers Bureau, and enhanced Intuit's relationships with national and state CPA societies and accounting associations and their local chapters by improving communications and providing them with training services for their members. Prior to working at Intuit, David managed the Advanced Project Management professional education program at Stanford University. David has also held various strategic roles in marketing and alliances at Silicon Graphics, Baltimore Gas & Electric, and Infinite Technologies. He possesses an MBA from Loyola College and received his BS in Marketing from the University of Maryland.

Grant Kimball

Grant Kimball, has been the VP of Sales at Fishbowl since it was founded in 2001. In 2008 Fishbowl was named to the Inc. 500 and the Deloitte Fast 500. Out of all 300 add-on packages to QuickBooks Fishbowl is the #1 requested application on the Intuit Marketplace. Grant has worked in Consulting and Sales his entire career and received his Master’s in Computer Integrated Manufacturing from BYU in 1990

Diane Krause

Diane Krause, CPA, President and founder of Krause Accounting & Consulting Services, LLC (established 1998) is a newly appointed member to the Intuit Trainer and Writer Network, is a Certified Sleeter Group Consultant and holds Advanced Certifications in QuickBooks® as well as Certifications in QuickBooks® Enterprise and Point of Sale versions.  Diane's background includes being a computer and accounting instructor at the Fort Atkinson, WI campus of the Madison Area Technical College, where she also conducts QuickBooks® software workshops.  Diane’s firm works exclusively with QuickBooks® software (and many add-on products) and provides a wide array of QuickBooks® software consulting and general accounting services.   Her firm assists businesses and other accounting firms that are short on manpower and expertise and she thoroughly enjoys assisting businesses build better accounting systems to help them grow and succeed.  Her passion of teaching QuickBook® to existing and new users is evidenced in one client’s comments that “the thing that sets Diane above all others is her outstanding training abilities. She is clear and methodical so that one step naturally follows to another. At the same time, she has a warm and friendly approach to training that makes everyone feel comfortable and at ease.” 

Gregory Lafollette

Mr. Lafollette has practiced public accounting for nearly 35 years, served as an executive for one of the country's leading accounting software providers and now heads the profession's premier technology magazine. He continues to practice as a Senior Manager of Tax and Technology Consulting with the Top 25 firm of Eide Bailly, LLP, and is extremely involved with the AICPA's technology efforts. He chairs its prestigious CITP Credential Committee, and serves on the TECH+ Planning and the Top Tech Initiatives committees. Greg speaks extensively and last year presented in 14 states to nearly 40 different groups (over 4,000 individuals) on accounting technology related topics. Greg and his wife chose to live in their hometown of Sioux Falls, SD.

Cameron Lilly

Cameron Lilly is the Director of Sales for AdvanceWare Technologies Inc.  He has over 10 years of Sales & Marketing experience in the software industry, including with Complete Innovations Inc., which achieved a ranking of the 7th fastest growing company in Canada according to Hot Profit Magazine.  Cameron brings to the conference a passion for helping small and midsize companies increase their revenue and maximize ROI by streamlining their business processes.  Cameron is leading the charge that is resulting in a growing awareness and use of AdvancePro Inventory & Order Management software by the community of QuickBooks users.  Cameron and AdvanceWare’s vision is to demonstrate immediate and significant ROI for any small to midsize business that buys, sells, or ships inventory.  Showcasing how AdvancePro’s cost-effective, robust and fully scalable solution provides seamless integration into all versions of QuickBooks will be at the forefront of his presentation..

Michelle L. Long

Michelle L. Long is the owner of Long for Success, LLC specializing in QuickBooks Consulting & Training services as well as coaching small business owners to start and grow their business.   She is an Advanced Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor and has a unique relationship with Intuit as one of the few national trainers, consultant for product development and author for Intuit Academy.  In addition to teaching thousands of people about QuickBooks, Michelle is the author of the book Successful QuickBooks Consulting: The Comprehensive Guide to Starting and Growing a QuickBooks Consulting Business. She was Technical Editor for Laura Madeira’s book: QuickBooks 2009 Solutions Guide and is a Certified QuickBooks Enterprise ProAdvisor, Certified QuickBooks POS ProAdvisor, and Sleeter Group Certified Consultant. Michelle was named a Financial Services Champion of the Year for 2007 by the Small Business Administration in recognition of her dedication to helping entrepreneurs and small business owners. She is a Certified FastTrac Facilitator and has facilitated the Kauffman Foundation’s FastTrac NewVenture program and Listening to Your Business workshop. She has been instrumental in helping hundreds of entrepreneurs start and grow their business.

Laura Madeira

Laura Madeira is the owner of ACS, Inc., a software sales and consulting firm located in the greater Dallas, Texas area. Her affiliations with Intuit include being an Intuit Solution Provider, a select Member of the Intuit Trainer/Writer Network, Advanced QuickBooks Certified, Enterprise and Point of Sale Certified, member of the Intuit Solution Provider Advisory Council and a Sage Certified Consultant. For more than 22 years Laura has worked with companies of all sizes and from many varied industries. Her focus has been to help the small to mid-sized growing businesses become more successful by automating their internal accounting processes and reporting functions.

Additionally, Laura is a guest speaker for Intuit, providing training to thousands of consultants and accountants nationwide. She is also a respected author for Intuit writing technical training materials presentations and documenting her research and review of competing software solutions. Her QuickBooks at Year-End document is one of the most sought after publications that Intuit offers its ProAdvisor consultants. Laura has served on two Intuit Customer Advisory Councils, and has been a consultant representing the accountant community during product development for QuickBooks 2010. She earned her accounting degree from Florida Atlantic University. She is the also a published author of the QuickBooks 2008 Solutions Guide, QuickBooks 2009 Solutions Guide and 2009 QuickBooks Essentials DVD: For All QuickBooks Users, and co-author of QuickBooks 2009 on Demand; more information is available on her website: www.quick-training.com

Jody Padar

padar

Jody Padar, CPA. MST is a Certified Public Accountant experienced with Complex Federal & State Income Tax Compliance for Business & Individuals.  She is an Advanced Certified QuickBooks® Pro Advisor.  Jody is also a member of the Intuit Trainers and Writers network and a guest speaker and lecturer for PayCycle.  She has appeared in many trade publications and journals for her knowledge of technology.  Jody is an adjunct professor at Oakton Community College, where she teaches QuickBooks and Income Tax Courses.   Jody is a partner in the firm James J. Matousek CPA Ltd which she runs alongside her father.

Gail Perry

Gail Perry, CPA is a financial journalist, author, speaker, and instructor. She is the managing editor at AccountingWEB, the online daily newsmagazine for members of the tax and accounting community, with a subscriber base of 56,000 and an estimated readership of over 100,000 unique readers per month. Ms. Perry is a former senior tax accountant with Deloitte, and she continues to maintain a tax and financial consulting practice. She is the author of 28 books on various aspects of personal finance, taxation, and financial software, including Surviving Financial Downsizing: A Practical Guide to Living Well on Less Income. Ms. Perry has also written hundreds of articles for newspapers, magazines, and financial Web sites, she was a contributing editor for Accounting Today magazine for five years, and she was a weekly tax columnist for five years for the Indianapolis Star and Indianapolis News daily newspapers. Ms. Perry spent 10 years as a classroom instructor for the Indiana CPA Society, is a former college accounting instructor, and has led many live Webcasts covering various financial issues. She has also been a guest on various local and national television and radio programs. Ms. Perry currently teaches a college-level personal finance course, and she speaks at CPA society and other professional accounting conferences and events on various aspects of Web marketing and social media.

Eric Pulaski

Pulaski

Eric Pulaski is the founder of SmartVault Corporation in November of 2007, and currently serves as the company’s Chief Executive Officer. As founder, Eric has made it his personal mission to deliver a simple, low-cost paperless SaaS solution to small-businesses using QuickBooks. He contributed heavily to the initial formation and conception of SmartVault, and continues to play a vital role in the overall product design, roadmap, and go-to-market strategy. Prior to SmartVault, Eric founded and served as CEO and Chairman of BindView Corporation, a leading supplier of security management software solutions. Under his management, the company successfully evolved from a privately funded software development group through a successful IPO, and the ultimate sale of the company to Symantec Corporation in 2006.  

Shafat Qazi

Qazi

Shafat Qazi is the CEO and Founder of BQE Software Inc.  Shafat has been involved with professional services businesses for over 20 years and is internationally recognized for his simple yet effective business management ideas.  Shafat not only manages the company but is also the chief architect behind the actual programming of the company's flagship product BillQuick. Shafat possess both the business skill sets required to run the corporation and lead the development of new and innovative products such as BillQuick.

MB Raimondi

raimondi

MB Raimondi, CPA, CITP has a Masters in Taxation and has been in practice over 25 years.  The focus of her practice now is mainly QuickBooks consulting and training.  She has taught QuickBooks nationally to both end users and accountants for over 10 years.  She has used QuickBooks since the DOS version helping many small businesses.  She is an active user of QuickBooks Remote Access and also uses and trains on ProSeries tax software. MB is an Advanced QuickBooks Certified ProAdvisor as well as being certified in QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions.  She is a charter member of the Intuit Trainer/Writer Network. 

Phil Romine

Romine

Phil Romine is a partner and VP of Research and Development for Right Networks, the leading provider of QuickBooks Desktop Pro, Premier, and Enterprise  hosting in the world.  Right Networks has leveraged Phil’s extensive experience in operating systems architecture and distributed computing to develop an advanced, light-weight virtualization technology to provide end-to-end-redundant, on-demand computing reliably and efficiently.  In addition, through Phil’s leadership, Right Networks has developed high-performance financial data aggregation solutions for large multi-site organizations.  These technologies combine to enable Right Networks to deliver the ultimate turn-key solution for remote access and business continuity to a growing community of satisfied accounting firms, small businesses, franchises, and not-for-profit organizations ranging from sole proprietorships to Fortune 50 corporations. For more information on Right Networks, please visit www.rightnetworks.com.

George Ruul

Ruul

George Ruul, Netfira’s Founder and CEO, has over 20 years of experience building financial systems for small to medium businesses.  Over this time he has developed a deep understanding of the issues and requirements of small businesses and of the shortcomings of existing e-commerce systems.  Traditional B-to-B hubs and ecommerce websites just haven’t worked for buyers or sellers as they continue to use email, phone and fax to exchange information on product pricing and availability and to process orders. Recognizing this massive market opportunity, George assembled a team of industry leading software engineers in Australia, and established Netfira to develop an electronic trading system using new generation technologies and an innovative architecture. George’s formal training is in physics, math and business economics.

Naseem Saab

Naseem Saab is passionate about helping small businesses succeed! Naseem is the president and founder of Results Software and DPS Consulting, LLC with more than 22 years of experience in the computer consulting and software development industries. Naseem is a recognized pioneer in the CRM industry and office automation technologies. His success in providing business solutions to small and mid-size businesses is an outgrowth of his management experience and business philosophies. Recognizing the consistent need of businesses to maximize the efficiency of limited resources, Naseem developed and launched Results in 1986. Leveraging the Results model, Naseem helps his clients streamline their operations, increase efficiency and improve customer relationships.

Brian Saunders

As the CEO of Edison's Attic, Mr. Saunders has spent almost a decade consulting with small and mid-sized professional services firms and building the highest rated time and billing system on the Intuit marketplace. Before helping to start Edison's Attic, Mr. Saunders was the CEO of DaVinci Software: one of Chicago's premier software consulting firms during the 1990's.  DaVinci was in the Crain's list of Top Software Firms and employed 70 consultants the year that Mr. Saunders sold the company to the venture firm Wind Point Partners in 2000.  Clients included Kraft Foods, Ameritech, Nicor Gas and Comdisco as well as several prominent Chicago-area startup firms.  Mr. Saunders sat on the advisory boards of several of those startup firms, was a frequent speaker on navigating the technology revolution, and was the entrepreneur-in-residence at DePaul University’s Kellstadt Graduate School of Business for the final 2 years of his tenure at DaVinci. Mr. Saunders experience with startup ventures, as well as his years of experience in managing and consulting with professional services firms, gives him a unique perspective on the changes unfolding in the services arena today.

BJ Schaknowski

BJ Schaknowski, Director of Intuit Solution Provider Channel, joined Intuit in 2008 to lead Intuit’s Mid Market and Retail Solution direct and channel sales teams.  In 2009 he transitioned into a new role where he is responsible for the overall development and execution of the company’s newly consolidated solution provider channel strategy.  Before joining Intuit, BJ held several senior positions at Sage Software including leading sales operations and strategy, M&A and North American customer migration.  He held senior sales leadership positions with New Horizons Computer Learning Centers where he oversaw enterprise sales to the Fortune 500 and with Knowledge Alliance, a VC funded technology training firm, where he helped build the sales organization from the ground up.  BJ spent eight years serving in the United States Marine Corps Reserves in the infantry and is an active marathoner and Ironman triathlete.  He holds a BA from the State University of New York at Geneseo and a MBA from The University of Georgia’s Terry School of Business.

Marilyn Sudbeck

Marilyn Sudbeck, CPA, is a Member of the Intuit Accounting Professionals Trainer  and Writer Network, one of 11 Tier 3 members nationwide and one of 9 members of the Intuit Solution Providers Council. She is an Intuit Solution Provider, Advanced Certitifed QuickBooks ProAdvisor, Certified QuickBooks POS ProAdvisor and Certified Sleeter QuickBooks Consultant. She consults with CPAs, accountants, bookkeepers and QuickBooks users regarding their use of QuickBooks and many 3rd party add-ons.  In 2004, QuickBooks mailed a case study of Marilyn’s work with the QuickBooks Point-of-Sale system to 70,000 accountants across the United States. Marilyn has made QuickBooks presentations at the annual conference of the Illinois Society of CPAs, the Rocky Mountain Area Conference for Finance and Accounting Professionals, the Colorado Society of CPAs and The Sleeter Group’s annual QuickBooks Consultants’ conference.  She teaches QuickBooks courses at the University of Denver Law School in their Graduate Tax Program.  She serves on the CPE Rules Subcommittee for the Colorado State Board of Accountancy. Marilyn has a Bachelors Degree in Mathematics, Teachers College, from the University of Nebraska and a Masters Degree in Advertising Management from the University of Denver. She has been working with and teaching QuickBooks since 1996.   

Chuck Vigeant

Chuck Vigeant is the Managing Partner of ACCOUNTiGRATE, LP and is known as the “grandfather” of Crystal Reports and Business Intelligence for QuickBooks.  He is considered the foremost expert on using the ODBC driver and the Intuit SDK for data analysis and integration. Chuck is a sought after speaker and instructor of topics ranging from proper hiring procedures and developing business plans, to QuickBooks usability, custom reports, and data mining. Currently, Chuck is a member Emeritus of the Intuit Accountant and Advisor Council, a member of the Intuit Speaker’s Bureau; an Advanced Certified QuickBooks Pro Advisor, and an Intuit data engineer consultant.

Bill Whitson

Bill Whitson

Bill Whitson began his career with Lacerte in 1996 and is currently the program manager responsible for the production of Intuit’s online training for accountants. He has designed several in-person and online courses for QuickBooks, Payroll, Lacerte and Intuit’s Document Management Systems. He is considered a product expert within the company and the accounting community. He is the lead course developer, senior content manager, and the senior presenter for all Lacerte and DMS instructor-led training courses. Bill delivers these courses to over 3,000 Lacerte customers annually and is a prominent contributor to Intuit’s Accountant Live Community as well as other tax and accounting forums. Bill has also run his own local tax practice since 1998.

Grant Wickes

Grant Wickes

As vice president of marketing for Wasp Barcode Technologies, Grant Wickes sets the strategic direction and oversees tactical execution of the company’s marketing programs. This includes branding, online and direct marketing, public relations and social media. Wickes’ marketing and sales experience spans more than two decades, the majority of which has been spent growing small technology companies. His many customer visits and participation at industry events provides perspective and learnings that he enjoys sharing with people who share his entrepreneurial spirit. Wickes has a commerce degree from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. He lives in Dallas with his wife Anne and two children.