Our Companies

Domenic Sanelli

• Director, Managed Services
• Connor Group

Domenic is a Director in Connor Group’s Managed Services practice. He specializes in digital transformation, project management, technical accounting issues, and SOX compliance. Domenic has served a variety of public and private clients in telecom, technology, manufacturing, and financial service industries. Prior to Connor Group, Domenic spent ten years in public accounting in a variety of leadership roles. His experience includes leading two IPO clients through their first year of SOX compliance. Domenic has led successful implementations of 606 and 842 in four different industries. 

Lisa Robinson

• Speaker, NetSuite CPA and Senior Principal Compliance Manager
• Connor Group

Lisa is a CPA and a Senior Principal Compliance Manager at NetSuite. Lisa is responsible for enabling customers to navigate audit, risk and compliance challenges. She has more than 25 years of executive financial leadership, from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies. Prior to joining NetSuite she was a CFO of a company where she led the implementation of NetSuite.

Dan Weiss

• Sr. Manager, Technical Accounting
• Connor Group

Dan is a Senior Manager in Connor Group's Technical Accounting group, where he has spent the last 6 years advising clients across several industries on technical accounting and financial reporting issues. Prior to Connor Group, Dan spent 2 years at PwC as an auditor with a focus on publicly listed companies in the insurance industry. Dan is a licensed CPA in the state of New York, has a Masters' degree from the Graduate School of Professional Accounting at Northeastern University, and a Bachelor’s degree from Hamilton College.

Caroline Yan

• Director
• Connor Group

Caroline is a Director in Connor Group’s Technical Accounting and IPO Services practice. During her time at Connor Group, she has worked on engagements such as IPO readiness, S-1 filings, and various accounting assessments in complex transactions. She has developed in-depth technical knowledge of revenue recognition, lease, stock-based compensation, debt and equity financing transactions, embedded derivatives, and variable interest entities.

In addition to involving in various ASC 606 client engagements, Caroline has actively participated in Connor Group’s ongoing communication process with FASB and AICPA, developed and reviewed training materials, and co-instructed internal trainings and external conferences on matters relate... Read more

Rochelle Rausch

• Partner, Technical Accounting
• Connor Group

Rochelle is a Partner in Connor Group’s Technical Accounting and IPO Services practice managing client engagements such as IPO/SPAC readiness, the S-1/S-4 filing process, preparation of Regulation S-X compliant financial statements and providing assistance on a variety of technical accounting issues. Rochelle has experience in multiple industries, including life sciences, financial services, real estate and consumer products. Prior to Connor Group, Rochelle worked at Deloitte & Touche, LLP most recently leading their Southern California Accounting & Reporting Advisory Services division and also served in their global offering services practice in London, U.K. and their National Office Accounting Consultation practice in San Franc... Read more

Deepika Sandhu

• Partner, Financial Operations
• Connor Group

Deepika is a Partner in Connor Group's Financial Operations (FinOps) practice. Deepika has more than 20 years of direct industry, management consulting and Big-4 experience business process improvement, financial operations and organizational effectiveness. Deepika has led numerous projects for high-growth companies in the areas of close process optimization, public company readiness, internal controls and system implementations and optimizations. Deepika also has significant experience in risk consulting, helping clients to quantify and pro-actively mitigate risks and assessing companies overall internal control effectiveness. Previously Deepika was a Senior Manager in the advisory practice of Grant Thornton LLP and the head of Business... Read more

Lauren Bowe

• Partner, Financial Operations
• Connor Group

Lauren is a Partner in Connor Group's Financial Operations practice. She has a combination of industry and professional services experience in financial operations, controllership, business process improvement, accounting systems, and internal controls.

Lauren partners with clients’ senior finance executives in fast-paced, high-growth environments to provide strategic solutions to a variety of operational accounting challenges pertaining to people, processes, and systems. Lauren has extensive experience introducing and improving business processes to prepare the finance organization for the public company environment. She works with clients designing and implementing practical recommendations that optimize the use of systems and im... Read more

Nicole Garizio

• Supervising Senior
• Connor Group

Nicole is a Supervising Senior in Connor Group’s Technical Accounting and IPO Services practice. She brings her experience in assisting with financial statement preparation and reporting, audit preparation, and carve outs across various industries and multinational corporations. Nicole has focused in collaborating with her clients to assist in the adoptions of the new leasing standard, revenue standard, and other complex technical accounting transactions. Nicole is a Certified Public Accountant (New York) and holds a Bachelors in Business Administration from Hofstra University.

Erik Olson

• Director, Connor Group
• Connor Group

Erik Olson is a Director in Connor Group’s Digital Solutions practice. He is a strategy executive driven by advanced analytics and passionate about helping companies unlock new ways to grow their revenue and enterprise value. His blended background in data science, finance, and strategy gives him a unique edge in seeing opportunities for businesses to identify market opportunities and gain competitive advantage. His area of expertise is applying advanced quantitative methods in corporate and business strategy, data operations, market analysis, capital allocation and competitive intelligence. Erik is a proven leader in all things data driven decision making and passionate about helping clients tap into new insights. Prior to joining Conno... Read more

Nicole Killela (Garizio)

• Manager, Technical Accounting
• Connor Group

Nicole is a Manager in Connor Group’s Technical Accounting and IPO Services practice. She brings her experience in assisting with financial statement preparation and reporting, audit preparation, and carve outs across various industries and multinational corporations. Nicole has focused in collaborating with her clients to assist in the adoptions of the new leasing standard, revenue standard, and other complex technical accounting transactions. Nicole is a Certified Public Accountant (New York) and holds a Bachelors in Business Administration from Hofstra University.

Alec Schon

• Manager, Technical Accounting
• Connor Group

Alec is a Manager in Connor Group’s Technical Accounting and IPO practice. He has experience in preparing technical accounting memorandums on complex financial transactions and the implementation of new accounting guidance. Additionally, Alec has experience preparing SEC-compliant financial statements for both domestic and foreign issuers.

Prior to joining Connor Group, Alec was a Senior in Ernst & Young’s Financial Accounting Advisor Services (FAAS) group, where he focused primarily on helping Fortune 500 companies successfully implement ASC 842, Leases. Alec has also worked as a research assistant at the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB). At the GASB, Alec assisted teams on preparing Board memorandums and stakeho... Read more

Blake Collins

• Partner, Technical Accounting and IPO Services
• Connor Group

Blake is a Partner specializing in technical accounting and IPO services, providing assistance to a range of both public and private multi-national and smaller early-stage companies across a variety of industries with technical accounting issues achieving public company readiness. He has extensive experience across a broad range of technical accounting and financial reporting areas, including revenue recognition, leases, business combinations, goodwill and intangibles, various debt and equity transactions, stock-based compensation, SEC reporting and compliance, and financial statement preparation.

Tyler Richtsmeier

• Director
• Connor Group

Tyler is a Director in Connor Group’s Financial Operations practice. He has significant experience implementing systems, processes, and controls in complex and fast paced environments. Tyler is a critical thinker and understands the importance of effectively leveraging business applications. 

Prior to joining Connor Group in New York, Tyler worked for Groupon as Manager of Financial Systems. Before Groupon, he worked for Honeywell in various accounting roles. Tyler graduated with a Bachelors of Business Administration from the University of Michigan. 

Tyler is a leader in Connor Group’s NetSuite practice and holds several NetSuite certifications. 

Dan Minahan

• Internal Operations Project Manager
• Connor Group

Dan Minahan is a Senior Manager in the Project Management Office at Snagajob, America’s #1 hourly work marketplace. Dan is an insightful project manager and team leader with over 15 years of experience in technology and operations. With proven leadership, facilitation, and creative problem-solving skills, he brings a thoughtful and detailed-oriented approach to tackling problems and realizing outcomes. From design to implementation, Dan emphasizes transparency, collaboration, and alignment to achieve valuable impact. Over the past year and a half, Dan led an order to cash process revamp and financial tech stack implementation at Snagajob.

Jesse Fillerup

• Partner, Technical Accounting
• Connor Group

Jesse is a Partner in Connor Group’s Technical Accounting practice, leading complex revenue recognition projects and providing support on all aspects of ASC 606. He and his team assist clients in the following areas: 
- Creating revenue recognition policies and other documentation 
- Advising on systems selection 
- Creating use cases 
- Analyzing standalone selling prices 
- Providing deal desk and contract review services 
- Providing operational close support 

Prior to joining Connor Group, Jesse spent more than 15 years as an auditor and in various management roles within the revenue recognition groups at two Fortune 500 companies. He has an ability to foster collaboration an... Read more

Athena Dunbar

• Director, Technical Accounting
• Connor Group

Athena is a Director in Connor Group’s Technical Accounting group, providing assistance to clients with technical accounting issues, IPO readiness and the S-1 filing process. Athena has extensive experience with lease accounting, revenue recognition, stock-based compensation, complex debt and equity arrangements, business combinations, public and private financial statements preparation, and SEC filings. Prior to joining Connor Group, Athena was in the audit practice at Ernst & Young spending time in their San Francisco and Toronto, Canada offices. Athena graduated from McGill University and a Chartered Professional Accountant (Ontario, Canada). 

Kim Smith

• Director, Strategic Markets
• Connor Group

Kim is a Director in Connor Group’s Strategic Markets practice. Kim has over 15 years of public accounting experience and has served a variety of companies in the technology, consumer products and manufacturing industries on a multitude of topics, including business combinations, stock-based compensation, consolidations, SEC reporting matters, and general accounting matters as well as the differences between IFRS and US GAAP. Prior to joining Connor Group, Kim worked for International Game Technology PLC as the Senior Director of Financial Reporting. Before IGT, Kim worked for Ernst & Young in their Technical Accounting Advisory Group providing assistance to companies in various industries on a multitude of projects, including acquis... Read more

Dave Forster

• Senior Manager, Technical Accounting
• Connor Group

Dave is a Senior Manager in Connor Group’s Technical Accounting practice. He is a Certified Public Accountant in NY with over 7 years of combined consulting and industry experience. Dave specializes in helping companies apply GAAP to complex transactions, including divestitures, acquisitions, and IPOs. Additionally, he has consulted in technical accounting issues such as ASC 606 implementation, debt-equity, SEC reporting, audit preparation, and management experience.​ 

Prior to joining Connor Group, Dave worked at PwC, RSM, and in industry where his work focused on external audit, transaction support, technical accounting, external financial reporting, financial modeling, FP&A, and issue-based consulting.​ ​

Dave res... Read more

Jeff Hark

• Director, Technical Accounting
• Connor Group

Jeff is a Director in Connor Group’s Technical Accounting and IPO Services Practice. He has significant experience in technical accounting and financial reporting matters, including business combinations, lease accounting, share-based compensation, revenue recognition and financial statement preparation.  

Prior to joining Connor Group, Jeff spent 13+ years with PwC in Boston in their audit practice serving both public and private clients in the financial services industry.  Jeff also spent four years in the advisory practices of two other national accounting advisory firms, working with a variety of clients in the technology and life sciences industries, including serving in controllership roles. 

Jeff is a Certi... Read more

Matt Lepley

• Partner, Technical Accounting
• Connor Group

Matt has significant experience in complex accounting issues including business combinations, leases, revenue recognition, financial instruments, and public offerings. He has strong background in internal control and processes, especially with high-growth companies.  

Prior to joining Connor Group (May 2021), Matt spent 12+ years at Deloitte in Boston in their audit practice. While at Deloitte, Matt served a broad range of clients including large multi-national entities to emerging growth companies who were both public and private in the technology, consumer products, life science, and financial services industries.  

Corey Saunders

• Partner, Transformation and Risk
• Connor Group

Corey leads the national Transformation & Risk Solution Practice for Connor Group. With over 20 years of Big 4, consulting, and private sector experience, Corey specializes in the governance, risk, and financial accounting complexities of high-growth companies, including the rapid maturation of internal controls over financial reporting, business process improvement, and organizational scaling. His clients are focused within varying technology and life sciences sectors, including SaaS, eCommerce, medical device manufacturing, and pharmaceuticals.

David McGuire

• Managing Director, Financial Operations
• Connor Group

David is a Managing Director with over 20 years of experience assisting clients with finance strategy, processes and systems, complex technical accounting matters, SEC/GAAP regulations, SOX/internal controls, financial reporting, and assistance with clients’ financial statement audits.

Keith Denham

• Guest Speaker from Persefoni
• Connor Group

Keith is the EVP of Global Markets at Persefoni. He joined Persefoni with over 25 years of experience in governance, compliance, and technology consulting. His expansive career across risk management and corporate governance includes 20 years at Deloitte, during which he held several leadership positions. He oversees the growth of the company’s carbon accounting solutions while providing counsel on sustainability strategies, risk management, and compliance to support client implementation of Persefoni’s carbon accounting technology. 

Mallar Mukherjee

• Director, Technical Accounting
• Connor Group

Mallar is a Director in Connor Group’s Technical Accounting practice. He has significant experience in complex technical accounting and financial reporting matters. His areas of expertise include advising public and private companies in technology (SaaS, Adtech, Transaction Processing), agribusiness and retail sectors on complex technical accounting issues and SEC reporting matters. Mallar has extensive experience with implementation of ASC 606, Revenue Recognition, ASC 842, Leases and ASC 326, Credit Losses standards, including evaluation of ongoing internal controls and disclosure processes as well as operational implementation of new accounting standards.   

Prior to joining Connor Group, Mallar was a Senior Manager at EY i... Read more

Bryan Bayless

• Speaker, VP, Revenue Center of Excellence with Gong
• Connor Group

Bryan Bayless leads the Revenue Center of Excellence at Gong, building upon his previous role where he established and managed revenue operations. His experience and expertise have been instrumental in propelling Gong's success and its go-to-market strategies. Before joining Gong, Bryan's career encompassed various finance and operations leadership positions. Notably, he led Global Go-To-Market Operations at McAfee until 2018. His influence extends beyond his primary role, as he serves on the board of directors for Judy Security. Additionally, Bryan actively participates in the SaaS ecosystem as both an advisor and investor, focusing on revenue-oriented companies.

Ursula Schorn

• Partner
• Connor Group

Ursula is a Partner in Connor Group's Financial Operations (FinOps) practice. Ursula has over 20 years of consulting, direct industry and Big 4 experience in finance & accounting, strategy, business process improvement, financial operations and organizational effectiveness. Ursula has led projects related to process optimization, finance transformation and performance management in an effort to improve performance, reduce inefficiencies, improve controls and enhance the overall operations of finance organizations. Before joining Connor Group, Ursula was a consulting CFO with Ravix Group, working with early stage companies to guide all aspects of their finance function, including establishing accounting systems and processes to ensure... Read more

Becca Smith

• Speaker, Solutions Architect, Netgain Solutions
• Connor Group

Becca Smith is a solutions architect at Netgain Solutions in their Lehi, UT office. Becca works with companies of all sizes to determine if Netgain software is a good fit for their accounting needs. She graduated with a masters degree in tax with a minor in information systems from Brigham Young University. She worked to get her CPA certificate before starting at Deloitte in their Business Tax Service group in the San Jose, CA office. While working at Deloitte, she worked with small to large corporations and a variety of VC partnerships providing her with a broad variety of clients. 

After Deloitte, she moved to Netgain where she worked on the implementation team, gaining a deep knowledge of NetSuite and the potential for Netg... Read more

Dominick Kerr

• Partner, East Region Leader
• Connor Group

Dom is a Partner and East Region Leader in Connor Group’s Technical Accounting Practice and a resident in the New York office. In this role, he provides guidance and leads client service engagements on a variety of technical accounting issues including leasing, debt and equity financing transactions, revenue recognition, business combinations, embedded derivatives, foreign currency, stock and employee compensation, and new accounting standard implementation. He is the leader of Connor Group's thought leadership and client service roll out around the new leasing standard (ASC 842). Dom is also a member of the FASB Small Business Advisory Committee and is a developer and presenter of training classes for external and internal audiences and... Read more

Mike Brandstetter

• Partner, Technical Accounting
• Connor Group

Mike is a Partner in Connor Group’s Technical Accounting and IPO Services practice, providing assistance to clients with technical accounting issues and helping clients achieve IPO readiness. Mike has extensive experience with revenue recognition, business combinations, consolidation and variable interest entities, complex debt and equity arrangements, derivatives, goodwill and intangibles, inventory and related reserves, stock-based compensation, financial statement preparation and SEC Reporting. 

Prior to working at Connor Group, Mike worked as an audit professional at PwC in San Jose, California and Singapore, for more than 11 years, most recently as a senior manager serving both public and private multi-national and small... Read more

Matt Skaruppa

• Speaker, CFO of Duolingo
• Connor Group

Matthew Skaruppa has served as the Chief Financial Officer of Duolingo since February 2020. Before Duolingo, he served as Vice President of Goldman Sachs. Previously, he served as Principal at KKR Capstone and as a consultant at Bain & Company. Mr. Skaruppa holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Keyur Shah

• Partner, Technical Accounting
• Connor Group

Keyur is a Partner in Connor Group’s Technical Accounting and IPO Services group providing assistance to clients with technical accounting issues and helping clients achieve IPO readiness. Keyur has extensive experience in working with stock-based compensation arrangements (including employee stock purchase plans), analyzing complex equity structures and financing arrangements, business combinations, financial statements preparation, and foreign currency issues.  

Prior to working at Connor Group, Keyur spent a number of years working within the Transaction Services group at both KPMG and PwC working with Companies in the consumer products, technology, financial services, and life sciences sectors.    

Keyur is a Ce... Read more

Ben Tingey

• Senior Manager, Technical Accounting
• Connor Group

Ben is a Senior Manager in Connor Group’s Technical Accounting and IPO Services practice, aiding clients with technical accounting issues. This includes financial statement preparation, business combinations, stock-based compensation, ASC 606 adoption, and ASC 842 adoption. 

Prior to joining Connor Group, Ben worked for KPMG, and most of his experience has been on large public company audits in the software industry. As part of his auditing experience, he has had the opportunity to work on significant acquisitions and carve-outs. 

Ben is a Certified Public Accountant (CA - Active) and graduated with his Master of Accountancy from Brigham Young University. 

Dmitry Petrichenko

• Director, Technical Accounting
• Connor Group

Dmitry is a Director in Connor Group’s Technical Accounting and IPO Services group primarily engaged in assisting clients with resolving technical accounting issues and achieving IPO readiness. Most recently, Dmitry is serving pre-IPO and public clients in software, technology, and biotechnology industries. 

Prior to joining Connor Group, Dmitry worked in the audit practice at EY serving public and multinational private clients in various industries, including industrial products, retail and consumer products, utilities, and telecommunication. 

Dmitry is a Fellow Certified Chartered Accountant (ACCA, UK) and Certified Public Accountant in the state of California

Catherine Gilliam

• Director, Technical Accounting
• Connor Group

Catherine is a Director in Connor Group’s Technical Accounting and IPO Services practice providing her clients with assistance on complex technical accounting issues and helping them through the S-1 filing process. Catherine has extensive experience with revenue recognition, stock-based compensation, complex debt and equity arrangements, public and private financial statements and SEC filings. 

Prior to working at Connor Group, Catherine was in the audit practice at PwC spending time in their Toronto, Canada and London, England offices. Catherine graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada and is a Chartered Accountant. 

Luke Johnson

• Director, Technical Accounting
• Connor Group

Luke is a Director in Connor Group’s Technical Accounting practice, aiding clients with technical accounting issues. He has extensive experience with revenue recognition, lease accounting, acquisitions, debt offerings, public and private equity offerings, and stock-based compensation. 

Prior to his two years at Connor Group, he worked as an audit professional at Ernst & Young, spending two years in the Redwood Shores, California office. Luke then transferred to the Salt Lake City, Utah, office working for more than 6 years, most recently as a manager serving both public and private multi-national and small companies in a variety of industries. His international audit experiences include acquisitions, SEC reporting and com... Read more

Derek Anderson

• Partner
• Connor Group

Derek Anderson, CPA, has over a decade of corporate controller and VP finance experience spanning public and PE- and VC-backed private growth companies. Derek joined Connor Group in 2018 to help launch the firm’s Managed Services Practice, a practice dedicated to providing premium controller services primarily focused on operational accounting and finance matters. Derek has assisted multiple public and IPO companies through audit preparation, financial statement preparation and review, material weakness remediation, acquisition accounting and systems integration, standard costing implementations, and he has served as interim corporate controller. Prior to Connor Group, Derek spent eight years in industry as a corporate controller and fin... Read more

Carlin Simmons

• Director, Managed Services
• Connor Group

Carlin Simmons, CPA, is Connor Group's Director of Managed Services. He has over 12 years of progressive experience and leadership, engaging with public and privately held domestic and international companies. He has proven success in internal controls/SOX 404 compliance, technical accounting, project management, financial statement review, and SEC reporting. Carlin is a Big 4 alumnus, having spent nine years at PwC in the assurance practice. While at PwC, he worked closely with multiple clients managing and executing audits. For publicly held clients, Carlin reviewed and provided feedback for SEC-required filings, proxy statements, and SEC comment letters. He has extensive experience with SOX programs, including risk assessment, RCM, co... Read more

Andé Lampert

• Manager of Partnerships, Netgain
• Connor Group

Andé Lampert, CPA, is a Partnership Manager at Netgain. After receiving a Bachelor of Accounting from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, Andé began her audit career with BKD (now Forvis) in their Denver office. After three years with BKD, Andé joined a consulting firm where she worked with high growth, pre-IPO Software as a Service (SaaS), Biotech, and AI companies, facilitating the adoption of technical accounting standards and acting as interim controller across industries. In her role as interim controller, Andé assisted clients with establishing best practices while gaining efficiencies throughout their monthly-close process. Andé is passionate about supporting clients and partners in using automation and technology to enhance... Read more

Matt Lepley

• Partner, Technical Accounting
• Connor Group

Matt has significant experience in complex accounting issues including business combinations, leases, revenue recognition, financial instruments, and public offerings. He has strong background in internal control and processes, especially with high-growth companies.  

Prior to joining Connor Group (May 2021), Matt spent 12+ years at Deloitte in Boston in their audit practice. While at Deloitte, Matt served a broad range of clients including large multi-national entities to emerging growth companies who were both public and private in the technology, consumer products, life science, and financial services industries.  

Michele Clarkson

• Partner, Technical Accounting
• Connor Group

Michele is a Partner in Connor Group’s Technical Accounting and IPO Services practice, providing assistance to clients with technical accounting issues and helping clients achieve IPO readiness. Michele has over twenty years of experience in leading new standard implementations (revenue recognition and leasing), M&A and divestiture transactions, and reporting challenges from the lenses of advisor, preparer, and auditor. 

Prior to working at Connor Group, Michele has worked as a technical accounting consultant at RSM, an assistant controller at a public company, and an audit professional with PwC. Michele is a Certified Public Accountant in Pennsylvania and graduated from Penn State University. 

Jagdish Sohal

• Director, Technical Accounting
• Connor Group

Jagdish is a Director in Connor Group’s Technical Accounting and IPO Services practice, providing assistance to clients with technical accounting issues and helping clients achieve IPO readiness. She has experience with revenue recognition, including ASC 606 adoption, lease accounting adoption under ASC 842, stock-based compensation, business combinations and worked on a number on biotech IPOs including financial statement preparation and S-1 filings. 

Prior to joining Connor Group, Jagdish worked as an audit professional at EY Redwood Shores, California, for 6 years as a senior manager serving both public and private companies with a focus in the biotech industry and started her career with EY Reading, UK.   

Jagdi... Read more

Michele Clarkson

• Partner, Technical Accounting
• Connor Group

Michele is a Partner in Connor Group’s Technical Accounting and IPO Services practice, providing assistance to clients with technical accounting issues and helping clients achieve IPO readiness. Michele has over twenty years of experience in leading new standard implementations (revenue recognition and leasing), M&A and divestiture transactions, and reporting challenges from the lenses of advisor, preparer, and auditor. 

Prior to working at Connor Group, Michele has worked as a technical accounting consultant at RSM, an assistant controller at a public company, and an audit professional with PwC. Michele is a Certified Public Accountant in Pennsylvania and graduated from Penn State University. 

Frank Vukovits

• Speaker, Principal Evangelist at Fastpath Solutions
• Connor Group

Frank Vukovits is currently Principal Evangelist at Fastpath Solutions. He has over three decades of experience as an auditor and business software professional, and he has held many previous leadership roles in implementation and management of numerous ERP projects, along with Corporate IT Executive Management. He was in corporate IT audit for GTE/Verizon for twelve years and holds Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) and a Certified Information System Auditor (CISA) designations. He also passed the CISSP exam in 2001. He is a frequent speaker at IIA, ISACA, software publishers, and user group conferences.

Kevin Hutchings

• Financial Operations Supervising Senior Associate
• Connor Group

Kevin Hutchings is a supervising senior at Connor Group. 

Lee Berliner

• Director, Financial Operations
• Connor Group

Lee is a Director in Connor Group’s Financial Operations practice, where he assists clients with improving their finance organization processes, public company readiness and SOX implementation. Lee has extensive experience assisting clients with understanding and optimizing their business processes, particularly revenue and procure-to-pay, by identifying efficiencies and controls that would improve their processes.

Alexandra Bresso

• Director, Technical Accounting
• Connor Group

Allie is a Director in Connor Group’s National Quality Team in the New York City office. During her time at Connor Group, she has worked on various accounting assessments in complex transactions. She has developed in-depth technical knowledge of the new leasing standard, stock-based compensation, financing transactions, public equity offerings, variable interest entities, inventory costing, and business combinations. 

In addition to her involvement in various client engagements, Allie has actively participated in Connor Group’s ongoing communication process with FASB, developed training materials, and co-instructed internal training on various technical matters. 

Prior to joining Connor Group, Allie worked for Price... Read more

Mike Lemus

• Speaker, Donnelley Financial Solutions (DFIN) SME
• Connor Group

Mike Lemus is a Subject Matter Expert for Donnelley Financial Solutions (DFIN), a leading provider of software and technology-enabled financial regulatory and compliance solutions in the United States. He provides insights and perspective into the financial reporting process for both private and publicly traded companies to maximize the value of DFIN’s ActiveDisclosure reporting software. Mike utilizes his fifteen years of experience in public accounting and financial reporting to communicate best practices and to provide reporting teams with process improvements. He also serves as a liaison with DFIN’s product team and organizational thought leaders to develop software functionality and to update company representatives with current ind... Read more

David Wood

• Speaker, Glenn D. Ardis Professor at Brigham Young University
• Connor Group

David is passionate about understanding new technologies and implementing them into the curriculum of Brigham Young University, where he works as the Glenn D. Ardis professor of accounting. David received his Ph.D. at Indiana University and his BS and MAcc degrees at Brigham Young University. At BYU, David teaches accounting data analytics and accounting information systems. David has published over 150 articles in a combination of respected academic and practitioner journals, monographs, books, and cases. His research has won multiple best paper awards. David is a current or past editor at five journals and editorial board member for nine journals. He works with the EY ARC to develop curriculum that is provided for free to academics thr... Read more

Steve Attanasio

• Speaker, Senior Director , Business Applications at Dataiku
• Connor Group

Steve currently works as the Senior Director of Finance and Business systems at Dataiku. He also spent about 2.5 years in EY’s advisory service and about 5 years with Connor Group earlier on in his career. He completed his Accounting and Finance degrees at Fordham University.

Laura Stephens

• Partner, Technical Accounting
• Connor Group

Laura has nearly 20 years of experience advising clients through multibillion-dollar transactions, including IPOs, M&A and spinoffs/divestitures. She has extensive technical knowledge of complex accounting and financial reporting requirements and the application to both private and public companies. Her diverse client portfolio includes healthcare, technology, media, telecommunication, industrial products, and consumer market companies ranging in size from small startups to large, accelerated filers. In addition to serving clients, Laura leads Connor Group’s southeast market and is responsible for recruiting. Laura also delivers training on a variety of topics where she is a subject matter expert including IPOs, business combinations... Read more

Russ Higgins

• Partner, Technical Accounting
• Connor Group

Russ is a Partner in Connor Group's Technical Accounting practice, leading the firm's DC Metro. With over 17 years of experience, he has worked with a diverse range of organizations, from early private companies to the Fortune 500. His expertise spans accounting, reporting, and internal controls, including technical accounting, audit support, IPO readiness, SEC reporting, SOX compliance, M&A, bankruptcies, restatements, and material weaknesses. Russ has significant experience in satellite/telecom, aerospace & defense, healthcare, manufacturing, and technology sectors.​ 

Before joining Connor Group, Russ led audit and advisory engagements at Deloitte for public and private companies across various industries, including... Read more

Katie Fisher

• Senior Manager, Technical Accounting
• Connor Group

Katie is a Senior Manager in Connor Group’s Technical Accounting practice. She is an expert in applying US GAAP to account for complex transactions, including revenue contracts, leases, JVs, M&A and divestitures, derivatives and hedging, financing, stock-based compensation, and many others.  Prior to joining Connor Group, Katie was a finance controller of technical accounting at Corning Incorporated, a consultant and auditor at a regional CPA firm servicing high-tech startups, manufacturing clients, credit unions, and nonprofits, and an audit professional at PwC servicing clients in the financial services industry. ​ ​ 

Katie is a Certified Public Accountant in New York and graduated from UCLA with a Bachelors in Business... Read more

Vanessa Li

• Senior Manager, Technical Accounting
• Connor Group

Vanessa Li is a Senior Manager in Connor Group’s Technical Accounting team in the DC office. She has over 10 years of combined public accounting and industry experience, mainly in audit services, technical accounting, operational accounting, and financial reporting. She has developed technical knowledge of software capitalization, revenue recognition, new lease standard, convertible debt, debt refinance, stock-based compensation, and business combination.​ ​ 

Prior to joining Connor Group, Vanessa worked for CliftonLarsonAllen in the audit practice primarily with private companies in various industries. After that, she worked as the Accounting Director for a health-tech company in the DC metro area. Vanessa is a Certified Publ... Read more

Casey McKinley

• Senior Manager, Financial Operations
• Connor Group

Casey is a seasoned leader in the Financial Operations practice at Connor Group, specializing in AI and Automation. With over 18 years of experience, Casey has considerable expertise in accounting, operations, data analytics, and compliance. 

His career trajectory includes leadership roles in finance transformation, global risk management, and audit. Before joining Connor Group, Casey led multiple teams within data analytics and global risk management at a major advertising firm and spent seven years sharpening his skills in public accounting with a Big 4 firm in both the US and the UK. 

Casey is a licensed CPA in California (inactive) and holds a Lean Six Sigma certification. He earned his B.A. in Psychology and a... Read more

Spencer Moon

• Director, Technical Accounting
• Connor Group

Spencer is a Director in Connor Group’s Technical Accounting and IPO Services practice, assisting clients with IPO readiness, S-1 preparation, SEC reporting, and technical accounting matters. Spencer has extensive experience with financial reporting, revenue recognition, business combinations, lease accounting, debt, stock-based compensation and earnings per share calculations. 

Prior to joining Connor Group, Spencer worked in the audit practice at Deloitte in Salt Lake City gaining a wide range of experience in multiple industries. During his time at Deloitte, Spencer was actively involved in applying data analytics to the audit practice and developed a data analytics tool which was released globally to provide greater insigh... Read more

Brett Phillips

• Manager, Technical Accounting
• Connor Group

Brett holds the position of Manager withing the Technical Accounting division of Connor Group. His professional journey commenced at EY’s San Jose office, where he collaborated with clients to address accounting challenges through technological solutions. During his tenure, he acquired proficiency in intelligent automation, data visualization, and data manipulation. Subsequently, Brett transitioned to EY’s assurance practice in Salt Lake City gaining exposure to a diverse range of industries including SaaS, biotech, and healthcare. 

Upon his affiliation with Connor Group, Brett has provided his expertise to clients across a spectrum of technical domains. These include SEC reporting, initial public offerings, business combinati... Read more

Jason Pikoos

• Managing Partner, Client Experience
• Connor Group

Jason is a Managing Partner and leads Connor Group’s Technology and Innovation, including AI driven solutions. 

Jason brings over 20 years of accounting, operational and technology experience, working with high-growth and technology companies. Jason is a leader in business transformation, technology strategy and automation for the purpose of enabling high growth companies to scale and grow. He has also helped and guided over 50 companies in preparing for their IPO. Jason is an expert in helping clients drive operational excellence through processes improvement, systems & automation, data and analytics and organizational changes. Jason focuses on high-growth and technology companies, where he works across all finance, accou... Read more

Aleks Zabreyko

• Managing Partner, Strategic Initiatives
• Connor Group

Aleks is a Partner and Strategic Markets Leader at Connor Group. Aleks has extensive hands-on US GAAP and IFRS experience advising clients and other Connor professionals in multiple technical areas, including revenue recognition, business acquisitions and dispositions, capital markets including IPO and cross-border transactions, stock compensation, inventories, complex financial instruments, SEC reporting and regulations; and various complex or unique transactions. 

Aleks is a member of the FASB’s Emerging Issues Task Force (EITF), AICPA’s Digital Assets Working Group, as well as Financial Reporting Committee of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). He participates in providing industry feedback to the FASB and other... Read more

Jagdish Sohal

• Director, Technical Accounting
• Connor Group

Jagdish is a Director in Connor Group’s Technical Accounting and IPO Services practice, providing assistance to clients with technical accounting issues and helping clients achieve IPO readiness. She has experience with revenue recognition, including ASC 606 adoption, lease accounting adoption under ASC 842, stock-based compensation, business combinations and worked on a number on biotech IPOs including financial statement preparation and S-1 filings. 

Prior to joining Connor Group, Jagdish worked as an audit professional at EY Redwood Shores, California, for 6 years as a senior manager serving both public and private companies with a focus in the biotech industry and started her career with EY Reading, UK.   

Jagdi... Read more

Austin McNeil

• Director, Tehcnical Accounting
• Connor Group

Austin is a Director in Connor Group’s Technical Accounting & IPO Services practice. Austin provides assistance to clients with technical accounting issues, audit preparation, and helps clients achieve IPO readiness. Austin has experience in technical areas such as revenue recognition, business combinations, debt and equity transactions, and public and private financial statement preparation. 

Prior to joining Connor Group, Austin worked for EY, gaining experience in both private and public sectors within primarily the tech and manufacturing industries. He performed audit procedures on all sections of the balance sheet and P&L as well as SOX walkthrough/control testing procedures for all business cycles. Additionally,... Read more

Jennie Jiang

• Director
• Connor Group

Jennie has extensive experience in complicated accounting areas such as business combinations and asset acquisitions (ASC805), revenue recognition (ASC606), collaborative arrangements (ASC808), lease accounting (ASC842), consolidation and variable interest entities (ASC810), share based compensation (ASC718), derivatives (ASC815), fair value (ASC820), financial instruments (ASC480/ASC825), investments (ASC320/ASC321/ASC323), financial statements preparation, IPO filings and SEC reporting. 

Prior to working at Connor Group, Jennie was an Inspection Specialist at PCAOB. This followed over a decade at Deloitte & Touche, where she worked as a Senior Manager in both the San Francisco and Beijing offices, serving a diverse range... Read more

Justina Brown

• Director
• Connor Group

Justina Brown is a Director at Connor Group, adept at optimizing monthly close activities and processes, financial statement consolidation and preparation, process documentation and SOX internal controls. Her most recent engagements have involved leading first year PCAOB-standard audit readiness, SOX implementation, and daily accounting operations with internal Connor Group consulting teams spanning 3-4 service lines and client resources while at times acting as the clients’ interim controller. Her interim corporate controller work has also included experience leading clients through significant rounds of VC and PE financing and IPOs. 

Stefan van Duyvendijk

• Speaker, Accounting Operations Evangelist at FloQast
• Connor Group

Stefan van Duyvendijk is the Accounting Operations Evangelist at FloQast. Previously, Stefan served as the Corporate Controller for Kodiak Cakes, a private equity owned, leading consumer packaged food company, and as a Controller for Skullcandy, a multinational headphone CPG. These positions followed his five years at KPMG. His experience includes ASC 606 implementation, reduction of financial close timelines, accounting operational improvements, business combinations, financial statement audits, SOX audits and implementation, management reporting, debt, treasury, and systems integrations/implementation.

Aidan Parisian

• Partner, Data Analytics and Operations
• Connor Group

Aidan is a Partner in Connor Group’s Digital Solutions practice.He is based in the Bay Area where he is responsible for leading our efforts to empower finance, accounting, and operations leaders with data-driven insights and outcomes. He has extensive experience in leveraging organizational data to drive performance. 

Aidan comes to Connor Group from Fastpath where he served in several different leadership roles, including over both Sales and Product, and was the Chief Customer Officer until their acquisition by Delinea. His expertise enables our clients to marry the power of data & analytics with effective operational guidance to drive business growth, scalability, and profitability. Prior to Fastpath, Aidan was a Directo... Read more