Inspiration Operatives

Karl Ahlrichs is a human capital thought leader with expertise in the people side of finance and accounting, and has a proven understanding of the motivation and psychology that enables behavior change and has direct experience in with the human capital strategies accounting and finance needs to recover from the impact of COVID.

Jean Caragher gets things done. For CPA firms seeking to improve their marketing, Jean is the go-to resource for strategy and implementation. With over 30 years of experience working solely with CPAs, Jean knows the challenges and opportunities firms face today. Her experience and knowledge, combined with her practical approach, help growth-focused CPA firms attract the best clients and talent. Jean is a Certified HubSpot Partner, and a Certified Instructor of Advanced Pricing Methods®.

Shehan is a renowned speaker who has performed speaking engagements with many organizations, including Google, Coinbase, Lyft, AICPA, American Bar Association, and State CPA Societies. Head of Tax Strategy at CoinTracker, Shehan is one of the handful of CPAs in the country who is recognized as a real-world operator and a conceptual subject matter expert on cryptocurrency taxation.

Shaynaco LLC provides a wide range of services to individuals and businesses in a variety of industries. At Shaynaco LLC, we strive to meet each client’s specific needs in planning for the future and achieving their goals in an ever-changing financial and regulatory environment.

Randy Crabtree, co-founder and partner of Tri-Merit Specialty Tax Professionals, is a widely followed author, lecturer and podcast host for the accounting profession and and was recognized on the "Ones to Watch" list by Accounting Today in 2021. Since 2019, he has hosted the bi-weekly “The Unique CPA,” podcast, which ranks among the world’s 10% most popular programs (Source: Listen Score).

Lisa Dy, CPA, is the founder of Boundless Potential Coaching, where she empowers analytical professionals in accounting, finance, engineering, and tech to exceed their own expectations and find true fulfillment. Lisa's mission is to help others find joy, happiness, and fulfillment.

Jennifer helps businesses solve tough problems with strategic solutions. She is a business generalist and an accounting expert who can make the complicated awesomely simple. For more than 20 years, she has been helping businesses focus on their core values and strengths to transform inefficiency and chaos into a profitable entity with an energized team.

Jina Etienne is a consultant and speaker on diversity, inclusion, culture and belonging. She creates training programs and workshops to help clients move forward in their D&I journey. She is a story-teller and speaks candidly about her experiences, hard lessons and ‘aha’ moments that helped her understand the importance individuality, the value of curiosity and the courage it takes to “just” be yourself.

Loren Fogelman is a keynote speaker and one of America’s top ranked business coaches. She’s been steadily recognized by HubSpot in its annual list of the world’s top 22 business coaches. She delivers talks and workshops at major accounting conferences such as Accounting Today’s Firm Growth Forum and Accountex.

Melisa F. Galasso is the founder and CEO of Galasso Learning Solutions LLC. A CPA with nearly 20 years of experience in the accounting profession, Melisa designs and facilitates courses in advanced technical accounting and auditing topics, including not-for-profit and governmental accounting. Her passion is providing high-quality CPE that is meaningful, creates efficiencies and improves quality, and positively impacts ROI. She also supports essential professional development, audit level training, and train the trainer efforts.

Will is the founder and owner of Will Hill Consults, LLC; a coaching and consulting firm serving the tax and accounting profession. Will has been serving the Tax & Accounting community since 2001. Will’s excitement and passion for seeing firms achieve their success is palpable in all of his interactions.

Adrian Hong is owner of Hong Consulting, LLC., a consulting firm that helps clients measure and report on their sustainability. It does so by identifying material reporting topics, key metrics, internal controls, and data necessary to tell the client’s story about how it impacts its community. Hong Consulting also educates accountants and other professionals on ESG matters to help them build vital skillsets for the future.

At the helm of financial transformation stands Scharrell Jackson, a visionary leader, seasoned expert, and catalyst for change in the world of accounting. With an unwavering commitment to excellence and innovation, Scharrell has sculpted a legacy that transcends traditional paradigms, reshaping the landscape of modern accounting practices. As the Founder and CEO of Leadership in Heels, Scharrell has established herself as a trailblazer in the field of accounting transformation. With a keen eye for identifying emerging trends and a knack for anticipating future shifts in the industry, she has consistently stayed ahead of the curve, guiding organizations through the complex terrain of financial evolution.

Brian is an executive leadership coach who invites something greater that is already inside you. He challenges you to show up more consistently as the bigger version of who you already are. He has worked with hundreds of professionals through a one on one or group coaching relationship to help them overcome their leadership challenges. Companies also utilize Brian to provide workshops, presentations, and training sessions to thousands of people on various leadership and communication related topics.

Vince LoRusso is the CEO, Co-founder and challenge creator of TrueUp. After a decade of experience, coming from a Big 4 firm, and specializing in areas of audit, financial reporting in the private sector, and consulting for a variety of industries and company sizes, Vince is now using his CPA to bring skill validation and progression through skill-based challenges for all accounting, finance, and audit professionals.

Mark has conducted educational programs domestically and Internationally focusing on the efficient and effective application of audit methodology and digital tools as well as actively promoting the use of data analytics to enable teams to perform efficient and effective engagements. He is a speaker at various AICPA, ISACA and AAA conferences on changes in technology, data analytics and the impact on the profession. He has served on several domestic and International Firm committees and task forces developing audit software, audit methodology, and automation techniques.

Jackie Meyer, a 40 under 40 honoree since 2018, is leading the way by passionately coaching and consulting firms on practical and efficient solutions that improve the profession as a whole, from recruitment and retention to the impact of AI. Through her work, Jackie speaks to tens of thousands of accountants each year, offering transformational solutions to help firms thrive in the face of these challenges.

Bill Penczak spent the first 20 years of his career as a billable consultant for large national firms, and for the past 18 years has focused on professional services firms, including regional, national and global roles for EY, BDO, and Briggs & Veselka. In the past two years, two of his clients were cited as the fastest growing CPA firms in the country by Accounting Today magazine.

Mike is the Managing Partner of MRA Learning, a full service learning and development consulting firm, providing curriculum planning, course design, custom course development and learning operations support. MRA Learning specializes in the development of skills and organizational competencies that enable organizations to solve problems and achieve business goals.

Michelle (Golden) River is a growth and profitability strategist and a seasoned Certified Professional Facilitator (CPF). She’s the former partner and growth leader of Top 60 accounting firm K·Coe Isom, and a 20-year industry consultant. She launched Fore LLC in 2017 to help CPAs understand and implement pricing-model changes that best serve both our evolving profession and CPA firms’ customers.

Donny is the founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC, an advisory-focused CPA firm concentrating on innovation management and organizational development for small businesses, middle-market organizations, and nonprofits. Donny is a recognized thought leader and educator in the Accounting Technology, IT Risk Management, and Performance Management fields; his dedication to helping accountants and organizations leverage strategic technologies while proactively managing their business and technical risk is paramount.

Frank Stitely is a CPA and managing partner at Stitely & Karstetter, CPAs. He is also CEO of Clarity Practice Management, a publisher of cloud-based practice management software. Frank has owned his practice for over 29 years and developed Clarity Practice Management over the previous ten years to serve the needs of both his practice and his clients. His recently published book, The Relentless CPA, can be found at CPATrendlines.com.

Rubik Yeriazarian is the Founder of Flat Fee Consulting, LLC, where he helps accounting firms save time and maintain sanity during busy season by serving as their outsourced Excel and Data Help Desk for a monthly Flat Fee. Rubik has nearly 15 years of experience working in public accounting at various firms (Big 4 -> Boutique -> Mid-Market -> Top 10) and has witnessed the data challenges faced by accounting firms and clients of all sizes.