Business & Industry Professionals Interest Group Meeting & Technical Session (E2301048)

Jeff is the vice president of government relations for the NJCPA. He works with the CEO and the Board of Trustees to create and implement advocacy initiatives that protect and promote the interests of the CPA profession, the business community and the public. Jeff monitors legislative and executive branch activity that impacts CPAs by writing position papers, developing grass roots membership activities to enhance lobbying efforts and raising money for the NJ-CPA-PAC. He is also a liaison to other pro-business groups like the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, New Jersey Business & Industry Association (NJBIA) and Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey (CIANJ) to coordinate legislative strategies. Prior to joining the NJCPA, Jeff worked on several political campaigns, worked for former Governor Jim Florio and for Common Cause New York. He previously owned a lobbying and public affairs firm. Jeff belongs to Compassion and Choices, the Humane Society and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Kathy is the CFO at the Matheny Medical and Educational Center, a licensed special hospital and school serving developmentally disabled individuals, and is the 2022/23 President of the NJCPA. In 2018, she was appointed to the Governor's Independent Developmental Disability Fee-for-Service Transition Oversight Board and the Governor's Independent Mental Health & Addiction Fee-for-Service Transition Oversight Board as a representative member of the NJCPA and continues to serve on these boards. Prior to working in the nonprofit space, Kathy worked in public accounting for 17 years, most recently as a senior manager for ParenteBeard, LLC, specializing in healthcare and nonprofit industries. Kathy is a member of several NJCPA interest groups including the Governmental Accounting & Auditing Interest Group, the Nonprofit Interest Group and the Education Foundation Board of Trustees.

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.”