IssuesWatch with Ralph Thomas (Live Replay) (E1707354)

Ed Guttenplan co-founded WilkinGuttenplan in 1983 and is the managing shareholder of the firm. In addition to his administrative duties in managing the strategy, personnel and financial aspects of the practice, Ed provides a wide array of accounting, tax and business advisory services to closely held and family owned businesses in the construction, food service, manufacturing, technology, engineering, medical, dental, sales industries and community associations. Ed’s real estate practice includes the development of budgets and forecasts, consultation regarding condominiums, cooperative corporations and homeowner association’s management, as well as guidance on accounting and tax matters related to project development and litigation support services. Prior to co-founding WilkinGuttenplan, Ed worked in private industry for both regional and international accounting firms. Ed also services many community associations including active adult communities, cooperatives, mixed-use and multi-association communities.

Ed was the 2017/18 president of the NJCPA and serves as chairperson of the Nominating Committee. He graduated Cum Laude with a B.S. in business administration and Magna Cum Laude with an M.B.A. from Boston University.

Ellen McSherry is Chief Operating Officer for New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants (NJCPA). She oversees the management of all programs that support the organization's strategic plan, mission and objectives. Ellen provides overall staff supervision as they work to achieve the organization's goals and objectives. She also manages all aspects of budgeting and resource requirements. Ellen has been with the organization for more than 25 years. Before her tenure at NJCPA, Ellen was a senior manager at Ernst & Young, overseeing audit executions for Nabisco, International and Becton Dickinson along with audits for the firm’s various health care clients. Ellen holds a Master of Science in Accounting from Northeastern University Graduate School of Professional Accounting and Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Assumption College. She holds CPA and CGMA (Certified Global Management Accountant) certificates. She's also a liaison to the NJCPA Board of Trustees and sits on its Strategic Planning, Risk Management, Volunteer Relations and Retirement Savings Committees and liaises to its Council of Past Presidents. She was honored by the Executive Women of NJ as a "Salute to the Policy Makers" recipient and by the NJCPA as a "Woman of Note." Ellen is a wine enthusiast and enjoys watching basketball, going to concerts, and traveling to her favorite places like Europe or California. She's a Eucharist minister for St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Bloomfield.

Ralph is the CEO and executive director of the New Jersey Society of CPAs. He was appointed to AICPA’s National Commission on Diversity and Inclusion and the AICPA Foundation Board. Ralph is a former national and chapter president of the National Association of Black Accountants, was chair of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy’s State Society Relations Committee and is a member of the accounting advisory boards of Lehigh, Rutgers, Seton Hall, Montclair State, Felician and Thomas Edison universities and Middlesex County College. In January 2018, he was invited by Senate President Steve Sweeney to join his bipartisan Economic and Fiscal Policy Working Group. Additionally, Ralph was selected for the last eight years by Accounting Today as one of the “Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting.”