Nonprofit Conference (E1912570)

Frank is an emeritus partner of WithumSmith+Brown, PC (Withum) with over 35 years of accounting and auditing experience. He is a licensed CPA in New York and New Jersey and has significant experience working with SEC registrants, small and large private entities in various industries, including hedge funds, private equity funds and finance companies. Frank is a member of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and was a former member of the AICPA Peer Review Board. He is a past president of the NJCPA and currently chairs its Peer Review Executive Committee. Frank is a frequent lecturer on accounting and auditing and is a co-author of three accounting books.

Scott Brown is a Partner at PKF O’Connor Davies with more than 15 years of experience with the Firm. Scott services clients out of the Firm’s Cranford, New Jersey and New York City offices.

Scott specializes in auditing and tax consulting, working with a variety of not-for-profit organizations including, private foundations, independent schools, arts and cultural organizations and membership organizations.

Scott is an active lecturer for Firm-sponsored continuing professional education courses and frequently speaks at outside organizations and associations. He also authors and contributes to numerous monthly tax and accounting bulletins provided to the Firm’s not-for-profit clients.

Alex is an audit partner in the Not-for-Profit and Health Care practices of PKF O’Connor Davies, LLP. He has eighteen years of experience in public accounting. His areas of specialty include audits of not-for-profit entities, health care entities and special needs clients, cost reporting as applicable to health care and not-for-profit entities, and single audits conducted in accordance with the Uniform Grant Guidance. Alex is also an adjunct professor of accounting at the City University of New York. He serves on a number of professional and academic affiliations and is a board member of the New York State Education Department State Board for Public Accountancy. He has authored articles on accounting, audit, tax and education and he has presented on both a professional and academic level.

Rick is a partner with FORVIS (which is the result of a merger between BKD and DHG) with more than 25 years of experience serving not-for-profit organizations. He is based in the firm’s New York office and is a member of FORVIS’ Higher Education Center of Excellence, which is an internal committee focused on addressing issues important to the higher education industry. Rick focuses on audits and advisory services for not-for-profit and higher education organizations.

Prior to this role, he worked at the FASB, where he served as a supervising project manager for almost six years. In that role, he was the project manager on Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2016-14, Presentation of Financial Statements of Not-for-Profit Entities; ASU 2018-08, Clarifying the Scope and Accounting Guidance for Contributions Received and Contributions Made; and ASU 2019-03, Updating the Definition of Collections. He also was coordinator for FASB’s NFP Advisory Committee and Private Company Council. Before joining the FASB, Rick was vice president and controller at a large national museum in New York for seven years and a senior manager with a large international accounting firm where he worked for 14 years and specialized in audits of higher education institutions and other not-for-profit organizations.

Rick is a member of the AICPA Not-for-Profit Expert Panel. He is a lecturer at Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies in their Non-Profit Management program. He also has been a frequent speaker with NACUBO, the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), and various state CPA societies.

He is a CPA in New York and New Jersey and is a member of the AICPA and New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants. Rick is a graduate of Montclair State University, New Jersey, with a B.S. degree and an M.B.A. degree.

Magdalena M. Czerniawski, CPA, MBA, is a partner at Marks Paneth LLP and a member of the firm’s Nonprofit, Government & Healthcare Group. With nearly 17 years of nonprofit industry experience, she provides tax services to a wide array of nonprofits, including charitable organizations, social welfare organizations, professional associations and private foundations.

In addition to providing tax planning and advisory services, Ms. Czerniawski specializes in matters related to ASC 740-10 (FIN 48), the reporting requirements that govern contributions, compensation, unrelated business taxable income, lobbying costs, and public support testing. She also represents her clients as an authorized representative before the Internal Revenue Service and various state agencies. Furthermore, Ms. Czerniawski’s experience includes serving clients with matters related to employee benefit plans, healthcare organizations and hospitals, affordable housing entities, foreign tax filings and payroll tax returns.

Prior to joining Marks Paneth, Ms. Czerniawski was a Senior Tax Manager with a national accounting firm, where she focused on tax consulting and compliance for many of their highest profile clients. She has published various articles on industry-specific tax matters and has served as a speaker for internal and external seminars.

Maria Hooke currently serves as the Director, Exempt Organizations Examinations where she provides executive oversight of the nation-wide examinations program. Prior to this assignment Maria served as the Assistant to the Assistant Deputy Commissioner, Government Entities/Shared Services in the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division (TE/GE). In this role, she provided leadership for the Government Entities Division, including Tax Exempt Bonds, Indian Tribal Governments and Federal, State & Local Governments.

Maria has also served as the acting as the Director of Tax, Forms and Publications in Wage and Investment, the acting Director of Enterprise Case Management in Small Business/Self Employed and the Director of Business Systems Planning in TE/GE. She began her IRS career in 1985 as a Revenue Agent in Miami, Florida. Maria holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Accounting from St Thomas University in Miami, Florida.

Peter Lorenzetti is the Exempt Organizations Examinations Area Manager for the Northeast Area in the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division of the Internal Revenue Service.

Peter began his career in the Internal Revenue Service in June 1973, as a Tax Auditor in the Examination Division and joined the Employee Plans/Exempt Organizations Division in 1976 as an Internal Revenue Agent – Employee Plans Specialist.

Peter has held increasingly responsible positions in the Service, including Employee Plans Group Manager, Chief of the EP/EO Quality Review Staff, Senior Regional Analyst, Exempt Organizations Branch Chief and EP/EO Assistant Division Chief, prior to assuming his current position as Area Manager. Peter has had several acting assignments as the Director, EO Examinations. Peter has been an Instructor for Adelphi University in its paralegal program.

He graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Fordham University.

Robert R. Lyons, CPA New York, NY Rob has 40 years of experience in the field of public accounting including experience with both regional and national Big 4 accounting firms. Rob’s emphasis has been in the not-for-profit tax and audit fields for the past thirty years. In addition to professional activities, he has taught and lectured in various advanced educational programs. Prior to Joining MP&S, Rob was the Director of Not-For-Profit Tax for KPMG’s New York office and had direct responsibility for tax operations for over 250 medium to large size not-for-profit clients including various pension trust activities. Rob’s specialization includes but is not limited to the areas of unrelated business income, use of for-profit subsidiaries, IRS intermediate sanctions, alternative investments and various other exempt organization reporting and compliance issues. In addition, he has consulted extensively with non-profits in the area of planned giving and development, expansion and growth potential. He has written numerous articles in the Journal of Taxation for Exempt Organizations and Tax Advisor Direct. Rob’s book credits include: Getting Started with Non-Profits, Non-Profits-Advanced Tax Issues, the 990 Workshop, CPA: Guide to Planned Giving, and Form 990: AICPA’s Answer to Unlocking the Tax Complexities. Rob is a member of the American Institute of CPAs and the New York State Society of CPAs and is a CPA licensed to practice in New York State, Florida, the District of Columbia and Virginia.

Louis Mezzina is a Senior Advisor with the Not-for-Profit Services Practice at Prager Metis, a member of Prager Metis International Group. Lou brings over 40 years of experience serving a diverse array of not-for-profit clients.

Lou has worked closely with well over 100 colleges, universities, and other not-for-profit organizations, including AARP, American Heart Association, the Archdiocese of New York, Duke University, Fordham University, Johns Hopkins University, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the March of Dimes, Metropolitan Opera, the New York Community Trust, and Wildlife Conservation Society. Beyond accounting, auditing, and financial reporting, he has assisted organizations and the nonprofit sector with respect to operations, risk management, and governance.

Lou is a noted speaker and has presented often at industry conferences, including the AICPA Not-for-Profit Industry Conference, NACUBO’s Higher Education Accounting Forum, NJCPA Nonprofit Conference, and the GWSCPA Nonprofit Symposium. His many years of leadership and service have earned him the National Association of College and University Business Officers’ inaugural Business Partners Service Award and the NJCPA Service Medallion.

Brad is an assurance principal at CLA (CliftonLarsonAllen LLP). He has significant experience in financial reporting, tax compliance and planning for closely held businesses, SEC registrants, nonprofit organizations and strategic business planning, and in industries, such as real estate, construction, architectural and engineering, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. Brad is a member of the AICPA and the NJCPA, and was a former NJCPA president. In addition, Brad has served as an adjunct professor of accounting at William Paterson University and the College of Saint Elizabeth.

June is a principal at WilkinGuttenplan and is the president-elect of the NJCPA for the 2024/25 term. She has been a member of the NJCPA since 1995 and has served in a variety of capacities, including the Peer Review Executive Committee, Strategic Planning Committee and Volunteer Relations Committee, and was chair of the NJ-CPA-PAC Board of Trustees, chair of the Committee Operations Committee and vice leader of the Business Valuation, Forensic & Litigation Services Interest Group. She is also an active participant in the Accounting & Auditing Standards and Nonprofit interest groups. Before WilkinGuttenplan, June was the managing member of zbt Certified Public Accounting & Consulting, LLC. She is a former treasurer of Garwood Municipal Library; a recipient of NJCPA’s Volunteer Award in 2018 and its Women to Watch Award in 2019; one of New Jersey Monthly’s Leading Women in 2015 and one of NJBIZ Accounting Power 50 from 2020 to 2022.