Speaker Bios

Jamie Baker, CPA, CGMA
Jamie serves as the SALT Director in KRD’s Tax practice. She has over 17 years of progressive experience in tax accounting, tax compliance and tax research in a multitude of industries, including software, retail, restaurant, lodging, recreation, manufacturing, and construction.

She works with all areas of federal, multi-state, and local tax compliance, including income tax, sales and use tax, property tax, and occupancy tax. Her areas of expertise also include S-corporations and partnerships.

Jamie works to help KRD plan proactively and focus on being forward thinking advisors to our clients. She is heavily involved in working to streamline tax processes at the firm and be on the cutting edge of technology industry-wide for both our firm and clients.

Jamie graduated from Western Carolina University, receiving both her Bachelor of Business Administration and Master of Accountancy from the university. Jamie is a CPA, and a member of the AICPA and North Carolina Association of CPAs (NCACPA).

Geof Brown, CAE
Geoffrey ‘Geof’ Brown, CAE, is president and CEO of the Illinois CPA Society (ICPAS), one of the largest state CPA societies in the nation. Brown also serves as president and CEO of CPAs for the Public Interest and ex-officio board member of the CPA Endowment Fund of Illinois.

A seasoned certified association executive (CAE), Brown has more than 23 years of experience as an association professional. Before joining ICPAS in 2022, he served as CEO of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA), the nation’s leading professional association of fee-only financial advisors, for nine years. Prior to NAPFA, Brown was an account executive with Sentergroup, an association manager at SmithBucklin Corporation, and held multiple positions with North American Interfraternity Conference.

Brown served as the board chair for Association Forum and is an active member. He is also an active member in the American Society of Association Executives and is a board member for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and the Association of Fraternal Leadership & Values. Brown earned his bachelor’s degree in government and politics from the University of Maryland.

Jennfier Burke, CPA, MST
Jennifer Burke, CPA, MST is a Tax Partner in Crowe’s National Exempt Organization Tax Practice. She has been with Crowe her entire career, which includes over nineteen years providing professional tax compliance and consulting services. Ms. Burke’s clients include private foundations, higher education institutions, healthcare systems, trade associations, cultural arts organizations, and other not-for-profit organizations. She has deep expertise in the IRS Form 990 series, alternative investment reporting and compliance, disclosure of foreign activities, and unrelated business income tax issues. She also serves as a member of the Illinois CPA Society Not-For-Profit Committee.

Sirmara Campbell (she/her/hers)
Sirmara Campbell is Chief Human Resources Officer at LaSalle Network, a national staffing, recruiting and culture firm. Campbell has 25 years of experience within staffing and Human Resources, and whose expertise has helped LaSalle Network be recognized by more than 100 culture and revenue-based awards including being named to Crain’s Chicago Business’ Best Places to Work list more than 8 times. Campbell herself has been named to Crain’s Chicago Business’ list of Notable HR, DEI & Black Leaders, as well as Workforce Magazine’s Workforce Game Changers, Diversity Journal magazine’s Women Worth Watching, and Staffing Industry Analysts’ “Global 150 – Women in Staffing.

Christine Cheng (she/her/hers)
Christine Cheng serves as Executive Director of Secure Choice for the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office. In her role, she oversees implementation and expansion of the Illinois Secure Choice retirement savings program to increase retirement savings access for private-sector workers, helping to ensure that more Illinois workers can retire with dignity.

Tammy Daugherty, M.Ed.
Tammy Daugherty is a Change and Talent Strategist with over 25 years of consulting and industry experience in leadership development, change management, and building world-class learning organizations. She consults and speaks on change management, talent development, and culture shift. Tammy simplifies the complex process of taking a beautiful vision and integrating that into the very fabric of an organization. She believes wholeheartedly that when you lead yourself at a higher level, you can improve the “people” experience of those you lead and drive business results. Over the years, she’s had the privilege of partnering with many leaders as they learn to lead their organizations into the future.

Kathy A. Enstrom, MBA, EA, CFE
Kathy is the Director of Investigations for the Moore Tax Law Group based in Chicago and New York. She assists clients facing governmental investigations and civil matters involving all manner of alleged tax fraud and white-collar fraud.

Kathy Enstrom began her career as a Special Agent with IRS Criminal Investigation (CI) in 1995. In this role she investigated numerous complex federal tax and financial crimes cases. She was promoted into management in 2005 and eventually rose to the executive level. Kathy departed CI in 2021, and her time in federal law enforcement concluded with her role as Chicago’s Special Agent in Charge of FDIC-Office of Inspector General.

Melisa Galasso, CPA

Michael A. Gregory, BS, MS, MBA (he/him/his)
Michael Gregory, ASA, CVA, is the founder of Michael Gregory Consulting, LLC.

Mike collaborates with accountants, attorneys, and businesses that want to grow their businesses, be more productive and overcome conflict with others by enhancing collaboration. Mike also works with meeting planners looking for an engaging, relevant, and fun speaker with customized presentations.

As background, Mike has been a controller and run an organization with 1,200 employees in his career and completed over 2,500 mediations, negotiations, and facilitations. As a result of his collaborative approach clients have saved hundreds of millions of dollars. It has been his pleasure to give over 700 presentations in the U.S. and Canada based on the 12 books and over 55 articles he has written over the last 10 years.

Clients often share that their people are more focused on the tasks at hand, more confident when making difficult decisions, and more at peace in their professional and personal lives after attending Mike’s presentations.

Mike has served on over a dozen boards and including having served as the past Chair on the Ethics and Oversight Board of National Association of Certified Valuers and Analysts and currently serves on the Minnesota State bar Alternative Dispute Resolution Section Board. Mike is a Qualified Mediator with the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Mike has a BS from Valparaiso University, a MS from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an MBA from DePaul University.

On a personal note, he has the pleasure of seeing two little granddaughters at least weekly.

Mike may be reached at mg@mikegreg.com, and 651-633-5311. Check out all his books on Amazon.

Jim Hannan, CPA
Jim Hannan is the founder of IFG Chicago’s Advisory Practice and Outsource Accounting Solutions. He is a seasoned finance and accounting executive with more than 30 years of experience in public accounting at Crowe and KPMG as well as controllership roles. Jim is a recognized leader in Finance Transformation, Accounting Advisory, Accounting Outsourcing, Technical Accounting, Risk Management and Internal Audit, known for providing innovative solutions driving sustainable value.

Lavaughn M. Henry, PhD, CBE (he/him/his)
Dr. LaVaughn Henry currently serves as a Senior Policy Analyst in the Banking and Regulatory Policy Group of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). In this role he assists in the interpretation, analysis, proposal and drafting of policy guidelines, existing and proposed statutes and regulations, and studies, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, FDIC rules and regulations, the National Bank Act, and other relevant depository institution law. From 2021-2022 Dr. Henry served as Special Assistant to the Sr. National Director for Bank Supervision and Policy.

From 2019-2021, Dr. Henry served on detail from the FDIC as a Senior Economist on the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) in the Executive Office of the President in the White House. As a member of the CEA, he was responsible for analyzing economic issues related to banking, education, and housing policy.

Prior to joining the FDIC, from 2009 through 2016 he served as Vice President and Senior Regional Officer for the Cincinnati Branch Office of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. As the leader of the branch, Dr. Henry was responsible for building and maintaining a strong presence and reputation for the Federal Reserve throughout the central and southern Ohio, and eastern Kentucky region.

Roman Kepczyk, CPA, CITP, CGMA, LSS BB
Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA.CITP is Director of Firm Technology Strategy for Rightworks. His primary focus is helping firms throughout North America effectively use information technology and accounting applications to transform their practices by optimizing their tax, audit, CAAS, and administrative production workflows.

He has spent the past twenty-seven years consulting exclusively with CPA firms and prior to that, ten years with the CPA firm of Henry & Horne, (Arizona’s largest regional firm) where he was the partner in charge of the firm’s Management Advisory Services and Consulting practices. Roman also served as the firm’s Administrative partner where he oversaw Internal Accounting, Marketing, Human Resources, and was responsible for the creation and implementation of the firm’s technology plan and budget.

Roman has been named by INSIDE Public Accounting as one of the profession’s Most Recommended Consultants for the seventeen years through 2022, CPA Practice Advisors Top 25 Thought Leaders from 2011 through 2024 and Accounting Today’s Most Influential People in Accounting eighteen times.

On a technical level, Roman is a Certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (LSS BB), an AICPA Certified Information Technology Professional (CITP) and has earned the AICPA’s Robotic Process Automation and Data Analytics credentials. Roman has also earned the CPAFMA’s Professional Accounting Firm Manager designation for internal CPA firm practice management.

He has served on AICPA Council and is a former member of the AICPA PCPS Executive Committee, and a former Chairman of the AICPA’s Information Technology Executive Committee. He has served as a member of other AICPA initiatives, including the Special Committee on Enhanced Business Reporting, eBusiness Task Force, IT Best Practices, IT Research, IT Practices Committees, and Group of 100 projects. In addition, he is a former Chairman of the AICPA Top Technologies Task Force.

Shirley Koss

Daryl Krause, CPA
Daryl G. Krause, CPA, BBA

Mr. Krause has CPA certifications in several Midwestern states.

Since 2008, Daryl has been a frequent CPE program leader/facilitator for the AICPA, Surgent, the Indiana CPA Society, and other state societies throughout the United States, as well as for in-house programs sponsored by firms and organizations. He was recognized as a Surgent Outstanding Discussion Leader during the 2021, 2020 and 2018 CPE seasons. He was also a recipient of a 2021 Outstanding Facilitator Award issued by the AICPA & CIMA. He is experienced in both live and virtual CPE training delivery.

He has served in a variety of roles in the CPE delivery process including performing technical content reviews, authoring and being a contributing author to programs and technical publications, presenting webcasts for video recording and monitoring rebroadcasts of such webcasts.

Founded DG Krause LLC in 2005. DG Krause LLC performed employee benefit plan audit services from April of 2005 through October of 2023. Daryl served as the primary performer of these engagements as well as serving as the sign-off partner.

Previously he enjoyed 23 years of diversified responsibilities with Ernst & Young. Industries he served as an auditor included manufacturing, construction, real estate, and financial services. Roles included Ohio Valley Area Director of Employee Benefit Plan Services (in which he was responsible for overseeing the audit services provided to over 500 ERISA employee benefit plans each year for an eight-year period) and senior manager in the Entrepreneurial Services group. As a senior manager in EY’s National Professional Development group for a five-year period, he was involved in designing, developing, and delivering core curriculum Audit and Entrepreneurial Services CPE training programs for the entire U.S. practice. Mr. Krause holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

Rick Lazio
Rick Lazio is a former U.S. Representative from New York serving in Congress from 1993-2001. While there, he became a strong advocate for small businesses by sponsoring the successful Small Business Tax Fairness Act. After Congress, Rick moved to the private sector working for JP Morgan Chase as a Managing Director and then Executive Vice President.

Rick is committed to his continued interest and support of small to mid-sized businesses by brokering his insight and experience in the public and private sectors to provide strong incentives for job growth.

Steve Lenivy, CPA (he/him/his)
Steve Lenivy, CPA, is a Tax Managing Director in Crowe’s National Exempt Organization Tax Practice. With over twelve years of experience, Mr. Lenivy specializes in serving tax-exempt and mission-based organizations. His expertise spans a wide range of sectors, including publicly supported charities, taxable and tax-exempt healthcare organizations across the continuum of care, membership organizations, and investment vehicles with tax-exempt participants. Mr. Lenivy has significant experience in tax-exempt compliance and consulting issues, including federal and state unrelated business income tax matters and transactions between taxable and tax-exempt entities. He is passionte about accounting education and the future of the accounting profession, serving as a board member of the Missouri Society of Certified Public Accountants.

Mollie Lo (she/her/hers)
Mollie Lo, a seasoned CEO & Business Coach for LoTUS Mentoring, is a passionate advocate for the transformative power of entrepreneurship to drive positive change. With two decades of experience spanning HR leadership and entrepreneurial endeavors, she possesses a distinctive ability to guide career coaches in becoming successful CEOs of their businesses.

Mollie boasts a remarkable track record, having accelerated her coaching business to a six-figure enterprise within just one year. Her unique blend of expertise encompasses LinkedIn lead generation, attraction marketing, experienced-based sales, and excellence in business operations and execution.

With a proven ability to navigate both the corporate and entrepreneurial landscapes, Mollie is committed to empowering coaches to not only achieve but surpass their personal, professional, and financial goals.

Jennifer Louis

Brian Lunt
Brian Lunt is a Managing Director at Stevenson & Company in Evanston, IL. He is the founder of multiple businesses after working in M&A at GE and in public accounting at Arthur Andersen. Brian brings both his experience as a hands-on owner and in “big company” corporate finance to his middle market M&A advisory practice at Stevenson & Company; his clients include closely-held companies, firms owned by private equity and spin-offs from public companies. Brian is a graduate of the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

Mark Mirsky, CPA, MST (he/him/his)
Mark “Coach” Mirsky joined KRD when his firm, ROI Business Services, LLC, merged with KRD in 2022. Mark focuses on partnership, S-corporation, and multi-state taxation as well as counseling start-ups, mergers and acquisition of businesses, and international taxation. While Mark works with manufacturing/distribution, service firms, and related industries, he also represents a variety of clients including retail, healthcare, technology, virtual currency and web-based businesses, real estate, construction, and individuals.

His background includes working in the international tax group at one of the largest accounting firms in the world and two middle market firms located in the Chicago suburbs, focusing on closely held businesses serving as a firm wide resource for partnership taxation, international taxation, and multi-state taxation.

Mark is an Illinois licensed CPA. He also has a master’s in taxation from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He’s a member of the AICPA and ILCPAS. Mark was selected to teach fellow CPAs at the AICPA National Tax Education Program. Mark is currently an instructor with TaxSpeaker teaching CPAs and EAs around the country and taught in the past for AICPA, Western CPE, and Vern Hoven Tax Seminars. He teaches partnership, S corporation, C corporation, individual taxation, and tax law updates. He was a panelist for the first local Public Forum for the National Taxpayer Advocate office.

Mark is a community leader and served as Chairman of the Board for Bartlett Chamber of Commerce and sat on the committee to create a Transit Oriented Development Plan for Village of Bartlett. He’s also a soccer enthusiast having been to one UEFA Euro Cup and three FIFA World Cups including Russia. Currently, Mark is assistant varsity boys’ soccer coach at Bartlett High School. Previously, he was assistant varsity boys’ and girls’ soccer coach for Bartlett High School and assistant women’s soccer coach at Aurora University.

Guinevere Moore, JD
Guinevere Moore is a tax litigator who represents taxpayers in civil and criminal tax controversies. She advocates for taxpayers at the IRS examination and appeals levels and, if a settlement with the IRS cannot be reached, in litigation. She is the Managing Member of Moore Tax Law Group LLC as well as the Executive Director of US Partnership Representative, Inc., and in that role she serves as a professional partnership representative.

Ms. Moore has represented taxpayers throughout her career, and draws on her experience in working with her clients, with the IRS, and with opposing counsel to help craft and execute the best possible plan to resolve the issues her clients are facing. Ms. Moore has successfully defended taxpayers against assessment of all types of federal tax, including income tax, employment tax, estate tax, gift tax, civil penalties, and criminal penalties.

Matt Pelton
Matt Pelton is an Audit & Assurance Managing Director at Deloitte & Touche LLP. He is a CPA licensed in the State of Illinois, holds a certificate in ESG investing from the CFA Institute, and earned an executive certificate in advancing sustainability from NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business.

Building upon a foundation in standard setting, technical accounting, financial reporting, and transaction advisory, Matt leads teams on ESG reporting and readiness activities related to stakeholder engagement, investor communications, ESG strategy and regulatory reporting. His goal is to simplify a complex ESG ecosystem to advise companies on ways to prepare for imminent, assurance-ready reporting in a way that allows the client to unlock strategic opportunities aligned to their financial, impact, and growth goals.

Matt has significant experience with both public and private companies, including multinationals with global operations, advising cross-functional teams in several industries, such as technology, telecom, consumer, healthcare, industrial products, energy, and financial services. His primary areas of focus include regulatory readiness, governance and transformation; climate risk and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reporting; materiality assessments and other ESG strategy and communications activities.

Paul M. Perry, CISM, CITP, CPA | Member
Paul Perry has been with the firm since 2004 and is a Member and the practice leader of the Risk Advisory & Assurance Services Group. Paul and his team focus on cybersecurity, information technology-related projects, risk assessments, internal controls, internal audit and control related projects, including SOC engagements. Paul is also the leader of the firm’s Data Analysis Group, a team of individuals within the firm who provide data analysis solutions to both internal and external clients. For more than 11 years, he specialized in auditing and assurance services, serving clients in the nonprofit, governmental, financial, insurance and healthcare facilities/hospital industries. Paul holds the Certified Information Technology Professional (CITP) certification, awarded to CPAs who possess both information technology and business expertise. Paul is a thought leader, published columnist and performs 20+ presentations a year on a wide variety of technology and control-related topics to groups including corporate clients, ASCPA, HFMA, IIA and ISACA. He also offers insight to business leaders as a co-host of Warren Averett’s podcast, The Wrap.

Luis V. Plascencia, CPA, MST
Luis Plascencia is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) licensed in Illinois. His firm specializes in IRS Representation Services and Financial Statement Services to small businesses to mid-size businesses and non-profit organizations. Mr. Plascencia is a member of the faculty at Harold Washington College, one of the City Colleges of Chicago. Luis is the current Chairperson of the Illinois CPA Society (ICPAS) Legislators Tax Guide Task Force and previously served as the Chairperson of the ICPAS Tax Practice and Procedures Committee. Mr. Plascencia has served on multiple ICPAS Committees and American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Committees. Mr. Plascencia currently serves on the state board of accountancy, Illinois Board of Examiners.

Luis is a frequent speaker at ICPAS and AICPA Continuing Professional Education events. He is also a frequent guest on the Chicago Legal Clinic Immigration Issues Show where he discusses tax issues that affect immigrants.

He is an avid distance runner and cyclist. Luis is a charity runner for Organization for Autism Research – Run for Autism and has volunteered his time to Chicago Area Runners Association and local running clubs.

Michael N. Ripani, CPA, JD, CFE
Michael Ripani, JD, CPA, CFE, is a Senior Counsel with the law firm of Handler Thayer, LLP. Michael has over 30 years of legal experience in the areas of complex commercial litigation and is chair of the firm’s complex commercial litigation practice. Michael is a member of the Illinios CPA Society and former Trustee for the Village of Hinsdale. FUN FACT: After living in the suburbs of Chicago his entire life, when his youngest child went to college, Michael moved downtown and is enjoying life in the city.

Deborah K. Rood, CPA, MST (she/her/hers)
Deb is a Risk Control Consulting Director for the Accountants Professional Liability Insurance Program of Continental Casualty Company, a CNA company and the underwriter of the AICPA Professional Liability Insurance Program. She previously practiced public accounting for 19 years with regional public accounting firms.

As a state and local tax (SALT) practice leader with a regional public accounting firm, Deb provided consulting and compliance services to clients in a variety of industries including but not limited to manufacturing, distribution, professional services and transportation. She has conducted presentations at various AICPA and state CPA society conferences and has authored numerous articles.

Deb provides risk control consulting services for CPA firms in the AICPA program. She participates in the development and delivery of risk management training and education products including the live risk management seminar and self-study programs.

Education and Credentials :
Northern Illinois University, BS
DePaul University, MST
Certified Public Accounting, licensed in IL

Professional Affiliations:
Member of American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
Member of Illinois CPA Society
Illinois CPA Society Board Vice President
CPA Endowment Fund of Illinois Board Member and Former Chair
2021 and 2019 Illinois CP Society Distinguished Service Award Winner
2016 Illinois CPA Society Women to Watch Award Winner
Member and former chair of the Illinois CPA Society Practice and Procedures Committee
Former member and chair of Illinois CPA Society Tax Executive Committee
Former Member and chair of Illinois CPA Society State and Local Tax Committee
Former member of AICPA State and Local Tax Technical Resource Panel

John Sanchez, Business Coach
John Sanchez has broad and deep experience including public accounting, mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, and FP&A.

John started his career in public accounting, then transitioned to corporate finance. He worked several years in mergers and acquisitions and spent over 20 years in FP&A roles. He had significant roles at companies including Arby’s, Royal Caribbean Cruises, and AutoNation.

John started FPA Group, which provides FP&A consulting and training to finance and accounting professionals. His training covers a variety of topics using “leveraged training”, which focuses on the 20% of skills that deliver 80% of results. These include key pillars of communication, presentation skills, decision making, and mastering remote work.

John also hosts the “FP&A Fast Track” podcast, where he interviews FP&A experts and thought leaders and distills their tips and lessons learned into resources to help FP&A professionals put their careers on the fast track.

David B. Shiner, BSBA, CPA, JD, LLM (he/him/his)
A certified public accountant with a master of laws in taxation, David is uniquely qualified to counsel his clients on structuring transactions, such as domestic and foreign asset protection trusts, to reduce the risk of exposure to potential creditors, as well as minimizing exposure to federal and state estate taxes, by using grantor trusts, grantor retained annuity trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, irrevocable life insurance trusts, charitable lead annuity trusts and charitable remainder trusts. David battles the IRS both in administrative proceedings and in the U.S. Tax Court in gift, estate and income tax matters where hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars of taxes are at issue. He has also obtained Private Letter Rulings from the IRS to secure certainty over complex transactions.
Recent cases include:
Smiley v. Commissioner, Docket No. 29644-12, whether the purchaser of an overfunded pension plan must recognize taxable income and is subject to fraud penalties. (Trial March 2022)
Waldron v. Commissioner, Docket No. 14285-21P, whether the IRS properly certified a Seriously Delinquent Federal Tax Debt to the State Department. (Certification Reversed Sept 2021)
Liefer v. Commissioner, Docket No. 637-17, whether a defined value clause is valid for gift tax purposes to fix the value of a limited partnership interest gift. (Settled April 2019.)
Kravitz v. Commissioner, Docket No. 8651-15. Successfully obtained a no tax-due decision where the IRS issued a deficiency against four S corporation shareholders tax of over $6 million alleging inadequate basis to deduct losses (January 2019).
Goldstein v. Commissioner, Docket No. 361-18W. Whistleblower case to obtain recovery and information from IRS. (Settled August 2018.)
David’s practice also includes counsel on a wide range of matters for corporate clients such as entity formation, business succession planning, employee benefits, mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganizations and tax-deferred exchanges.

Susan Stutzel, CPA
Hello! I am Susan Stutzel, CPA, co-owner of PartnersCoach, Inc. A firm committed to raising up and equipping CPA firm leaders. I am a practicing CPA and Business Performance Coach and truly believe we all have untapped potential. I am blessed to have had the opportunity to discover my purpose and live out what I am most passionate about while helping others do the same through the work we do at PartnersCoach, Inc. We equip your people with the skills they need for the situations they encounter, through facilitation, speaking, training, and coaching.

Karrie Sullivan

Kim Szalkus, CPA, MBA (she/her/hers)
Kim Szalkus, CPA, MBA, is the Vice President of Financial Planning and Analysis for ReSource Pro (RSP). ReSource Pro specializes in business process outsourcing for the insurance industry. Kim joined RSP in September 2022, and is responsible for the company-wide budgeting, forecasting, strategic planning and business support. Since joining RSP, Kim has been focused on improving the efficiency of the team through the use of technology. RSP uses Workday and Adaptive Planning.

Before joining RSP, Kim spent 5 years as the Chief Financial Officer of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana (RMHC-CNI), which is the local RMHC chapter. Kim and her family have a personal connection to Ronald McDonald House Charities, after Kim’s family stayed at the RMHC in Minneapolis for several months. Prior to RMHC-CNI, Kim spent 3 years at HAVI (a supply chain outsourced provider) as the Vice President of Financial Planning and Analysis and 13 years at Tellabs (a telecommunications equipment provider), with her last role as Vice President Finance.

Kim has over 30 years of experience in both accounting and finance in industries such as business process outsourcing, supply chain outsourcing, telecommunications, healthcare, travel, technology and non-profit. Kim has successfully managed teams of all sizes, including global and cross functional teams.

Kim holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accountancy from Northern Illinois University, and an MBA in Management Accounting from DePaul University. Kim is a registered CPA in the state of Illinois.

LaTonya Wilkins, MBA (she/her/hers)
Founder of Change Coaches and Author of Leading Below the Surface, LaTonya Wilkins coaches CEOs, senior executives, and teams around the world. Global leaders typically call LaTonya when they are facing the following challenges: creating psychologically safe teams, improving connections across differences, effectively coaching their team to create accountability and trust, and building sustainable cultures of belonging.

LaTonya is a sought-after coach and keynote speaker who has inspired audiences across industries. She built her career working in HR, talent management, and learning and development at Fortune 500 companies before teaching and taking on progressive leadership roles at the University of Illinois’ Gies College of Business. LaTonya’s best-selling book Leading Below the Surface: How to Build Real (and Psychologically Safe) Relationships with People Who Are Different from You was recently featured as a top inclusion book for executives on seniorexecutive.com. It was also named one of the best psychological safety books of 2023 by Book Riot. LaTonya has been recognized as an excellent instructor by her undergraduate and MBA students.

LaTonya has been featured in publications such as Fast Company, the Los Angeles Times, NPR, Well+Good, and Inc Magazine, and was named a LinkedIn Top Voice in 2024. She is also currently an Adjunct MBA Lecturer for the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.