Checkpoint Learning Subject Matter Experts

Abe works in both compliance, keeping his clients out of trouble- and controversy, getting clients who come to him who are in trouble, out of trouble. Abe works with a variety of professionals, including graphic artists, performers, and other service professionals. Abe received his education at UCLA and is licensed in the state of California.

...including F500 companies, tax and accounting firms, law firms, elementary schools, teachers, and other groups. She is honored to be the creator and facilitator for Reuters Mindfulness Program, which provides programming for front-line journalists who cover war zones, protests, and natural disasters.

Andy is a Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel and has served as Chairman of the Missouri Bar Employee Benefits Committee and the Missouri Department of Insurance Liaison Committee. He received his J.D. degree from Emory University School of Law, where he was Research Editor of the Emory Law Journal. He is a contributing author of EBIA’s HIPAA Portability, Privacy & Security and Group Health Plans: Federal Mandates manuals.

Bill was a senior executive at The Thomson Corporation (now Thomson Reuters) and has also held positions as President and CEO of Frost & Sullivan, an international market research publisher; Vice President for New Product Development for Practitioners Publishing Company; and as Publisher at the American Institute of CPAs. Bill entered the accounting profession as an auditor with Coopers & Lybrand.

Brian earned his undergraduate degree in accounting from Eastern Illinois University and his Masters of Science in Taxation from Northern Illinois University.

Bryon has served as in-house counsel in the Tax Law department of ExxonMobil, and as commercial in-house counsel for Hewlett-Packard. After leaving in-house, Bryon was an associate attorney in the Tax Section of Kelly, Hart & Hallman, LLP, serving family offices and private equity and hedge funds in all matters of tax planning, controversy, and entity structure, formation and operation. Bryon’s practice now focuses on small business and startup operations with a special focus on tax and estate planning matters. Bryon also advises CPAs and tax preparers in compliance, planning and controversy matters. Bryon is currently advising the General Services Administration regarding blockchain initiatives in the federal government.

She was previously with the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers, and Treasurers. She has been a discussion leader for national conferences and training sessions and has provided training and technical assistance to state audit staff, local government officials, and CPAs who audit governmental entities. Ms. Upton has authored training programs for Thomson Reuters Tax and Accounting, Bisk Education, Inc., the AICPA Continuing Education Division, and the Association of Government Accountants (AGA).

In addition to his tenure with Thomson Reuters, he works as a financial, management and accounting entrepreneur serving clients in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, California, North Carolina and Bermuda. He received his finance and accounting education at The Florida State University in Tallahassee.

Christy received her law degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1998, where she wrote for the South Carolina Law Review. Christy is a contributing author of EBIA’s Health Care Reform for Employers and Advisors manual.

He graduated with high honors from the University of Texas School of Law and Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. Howard is a former editor and contributing author of, and current contributor to, EBIA’s HIPAA Portability, Privacy & Security manual, and is currently a contributing author of EBIA’s Group Health Plans: Federal Mandates, COBRA, and Employee Benefits for Domestic Partners manuals and a contributor to EBIA’s Self-Insu敲⁤效污桴倠慬獮洠湡慵⹬ĵ䠁漀眀愀爀搀 䈀礀攀ⴀ

Chris has also served as a tax partner and senior tax member for several local, regional, and national CPA firms. He was a member of the national AICPA S-Corporation Technical Resource Panel and the Qualifications Committee for the California Board of Accountancy. Chris is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in California, Texas, and North Carolina. Chris earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and Finance from the California State University, Northridge. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the California Society of Certified Public Accountants.

Dave has coached 48 youth baseball, softball, and bowling teams and is currently a high school bowling coach. He has run for 48 years, and as a meticulous accountant, he has calculated that he has run the circumference of Earth over that time. Dave’s love for running led to the theme of his practice management and development titled “Outrun the Pack in Tax.” Dave recently completed his 1,000th Gear Up seminar and has presented to over 100,000 accountants and small business owners across the United States for over 27 years.

Garrett is the author of two books, World Business Resources.com (published by McGraw-Hill in New York) and How to Conquer the World (published by Government Institutes in Washington, D.C.). He is co-author of Using the Web to Compete in a Global Marketplace (published by John Wiley and Sons). Since 1995, he has delivered thousands of Internet presentations and webinars to CPAs worldwide and hundreds of leading corporations, accounting associations, economic development agencies, government organizations and trade shows.

Prior to consulting, Jacquie was an Audit Manager at Ernst & Young LLP, specializing in both public and private companies. Upon leaving public accounting, Jacquie spent five years as a healthcare CFO in private industry. Jacquie graduated from University of Maryland with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, majoring in Accounting. She later earned a Master’s Degree in Healthcare Administration at Mercer University in Atlanta, GA.

Jason received his law degree from the University of Kansas in 2000 and an LL.M. in Taxation from New York University in 2001. Jason is a contributing author of EBIA’s Self-Insured Health Plans and Health Care Reform manuals and EBIA’s Form 1094/1095 Workbook for Employers and Advisors.

Prior to teaching at Loyola, Professor Kowal taught in the International Tax Program at Harvard Law School. She also practiced law with the firms of Irell & Manella in Los Angeles and Ropes & Gray in Boston, advising clients on the taxation of various business transactions, including cross-border, partnership and corporate structures. Professor Kowal holds a BS in Accounting with distinction from the University of Kansas, and a JD from UCLA School of Law where she was a member of the Order of the Coif.

Jody has a B.A. in psychology from Bethel University (MN) and holds several industry certifications recognizing her proven expertise in consumer-directed benefits and COBRA, including the ACFCI and CAS through the Flexible Compensation Institute and ABA’s HSAe

His expertise in Opportunity Zones includes the following accomplishments: Recognition as a “Top 25 Attorney” in the OZ field (named by Opportunity Zone Magazine in 2019 and 2020). A featured speaker at more than 25 national conferences on structuring Qualified Opportunity Funds and Qualified Opportunity Zone Businesses. An adjunct professor at Boston University Law School, teaching the only graduate-level course on Opportunity Zones in the US. Tax advisor for more than 50 successful QOFs, ranging from small private transactions to $300–500 million funds.

Joseph founded wapUcom, LLP, consulting with companies in web and wireless development. As a side project, he started DC WiFi to help create a web of open wireless WiFi access points across cities and to educate people about wireless security. Currently, Joseph is with Thomson Reuters Legal, managing a team of Technologists for both the Large Law, Corporate, and Government divisions in the United States. Joseph serves the top law firms in the world, consulting on legal trends and customizing Thomson Reuters legal technology solutions for enhanced workflows. He graduated from Providence College with a BA in Economics and Sociology, and earned his Masters in eCommerce and MBA from the University of Maryland, University College.

Julie previously served as an Audit Manager at Deloitte serving both private and public sector clients. Julie also worked with KPMG and with Firstar Corporation as a Controller for one of their regional banks. She also provided personal and small business income tax services to local clients. Julie is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Illinois CPA Society. She received a B.S. in Accounting from The University of Illinois.

She is the author and editor of several continuing professional education texts, as well as published articles on budgeting, financial literacy, cash-flow management, and the tax and accounting issues faced by professionals and small business owners. Prior to forming her firm in 2001, Laurie spent more than a decade with local and regional accounting firms and specialized in providing tax and accounting services to closely-held businesses. She began her public accounting career with the international firm of Price Waterhouse, in Boston, Massachusetts.

Previously, she served in the Cabinet for Human Resources, the Office of the Auditor of Public Accounts, and the office of the Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Ms. Watters has significant experience with the Single Audit Act and other laws and regulations governing federal grants. Additionally, she has worked extensively with local government in the implementation of new accounting standards, performing audits in accordance with Government Auditing Standards, and has additionally performed in a consulting capacity. She is a former Regional Vice President for the Southeastern Region of the Association of Government Accountants (AGA), a past President of the Central Kentucky Chapter of the AGA, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Kentucky Society of Certified Public Accountants.

Rick also served three years each on (IRSAC) IRS Advisory Committee, (ETAAC) Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee and served as a subject matter expert for (ACAT) Accreditation Council for Accounting and Taxation. 2019 will be his 16th year as a presenter for Gear Up seminars and 7th year as a webinar presenter for Thomson Reuters. Rick has been a licensed LPA in Iowa since 1983 and has been an Enrolled Agent since 1975.

Scott's interest in learning began at EY where he did a rotation in their national office working with the firm's national leadership within the learning, assurance, accounting, and technology groups to provide subject matter expertise to develop materials included within their core learning programs. Scott has also had experience in the private sector serving as controller of the physician division of Intermountain Health Care in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is currently a member of the adjunct faculty of the accounting departments at the University Minnesota and the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, Minnesota teaching graduate and undergraduate accounting and auditing courses.

Shawn was previously an Audit Senior Manager at Deloitte in Pittsburgh where he specialized in construction contractors, health care, not for profits, and middle market manufacturers. He also taught numerous local and national seminars for Deloitte. He began his career at E&Y. Shawn graduated from Duquesne University with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration majoring in accounting. He is a member of the AICPA.

He has also instructed courses in Financial Auditing and Accounting on an adjunct basis for the UCLA Certification of Accounting Program. He graduated with a Business Degree from California State University, Northridge and has an Inner MBA from New York University. Sunish has been leading programs with Checkpoint Learning since 2010 and this includes Auditwatch, Gear Up and Checkpoint Learning Webinars.

She served as director of development for the AICPA and as accounting department/MBA chair for two universities. She has practice expertise in compliance auditing for nonprofit organizations, governmental entities, employee benefit plans, HUD, financial institutions, broker-dealers, CIRAs, and contractors. After graduating from the University of Michigan, she joined a national accounting firm, where she received extensive auditing experience with governmental agencies, Fortune 500 companies, and in business consulting.

Tim has also served as a tax partner and senior tax member for several CPA firms. He was an editorial adviser for the AICPA’s Journal of Accountancy and served on several committees with the Virginia Society of CPAs. Tim earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and Finance from Mount Saint Mary’s University in Maryland. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Alliance of Merger and Acquisition Advisors, and the American Bar Association.

Tim currently lives in Havertown, PA with his wonderful wife, Carina and their dog Dixie. When Tim is not working, he enjoys his time by reading, gardening, traveling and of course walking the dog.

Born and raised in St. Lucia in the West Indies, Tony studied in the USA where he sat and passed the CPA exam. He started his career with Peat, Marwick, Mitchell and Co in New Orleans. He also worked with Coopers and Lybrand before starting his own practice in California in 1978. He specialized in tax for most of his career and spent a considerable amount of his professional time reading, writing and providing continued education to other tax professionals. Tony has been lecturing for Gear Up and Thomson Reuters for more than 35 years. He has also authored several tax manuals and other resource publications.

Recognized as a government and not-for-profit expert, Troy has been a featured speaker at seminars sponsored by the Florida Government Finance Officers Association (FGFOA) and the Florida School Finance Officers Association (FSFOA). She has authored articles related to the public sector that have been published in the Florida CPA Today magazine, a publication of the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants (FICPA), and the AICPA Journal of Accountancy. Troy received her Bachelor of Business Administration from Florida International University and her Master of Accounting from Nova University. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the FICPA, where she served for eight years on the Accounting Principles and Auditing Standards Committee and the past chair of the Editorial Committee for the CPA Today.