Financial Institutions Conference

Charles E. Marston, CPA, MST
President, Director of Tax Group
SR Snodgrass PC

Chuck is the firm’s President and the Director of the Tax Group with 25 years of experience in corporate return preparation and overall tax planning, including over 18 years of experience working primarily with financial institutions and their tax needs. 

He earned his master’s degree in taxation in 2004 from Robert Morris University and acquired his bachelor’s degree in accounting in 1991, also from Robert Morris. 

Chuck is particularly proficient in compliance issues and interpreting the varying complexities in IRS, state, and local taxing entities as they relate to the banking industry.  His tax expertise and experience in the banking industry allow him to work with our tax clients to help them meet their tax compliance needs, understand the impact of their tax situation on overall business performance, develop appropriate tax strategies that are compatible with the specific goals of each institution, and stay aware of the current tax environment as it relates to the banking industry.  Chuck has also worked with a wide range of business types, including closely held private and S corporations, limited liability corporations, and partnerships. 

He’s a member of the Pennsylvania and American Institutes of Certified Public Accountants.  Chuck has published several articles on tax issues related to the banking industry and has been a speaker at various seminars.

Oct 2017

Daniel F. Hayes
Executive Director - Financial Services
Ernst & Young LLP

Dan Hayes is an Executive Director in the Financial Services Advisory Services practice of Ernst & Young LLP. Dan brings over 30 years of experience as an advisor to the financial services industry, allowing him to bring a proactive, holistic approach to identifying and solving complex business issues.

• Dan is co-leader of the Consumer Compliance practice and advises the largest banks on key consumer compliance risks.
• He worked closely with senior officials of the Federal Reserve, OCC, and FDIC on an independent foreclosure review.
• He has assisted banks in understanding the organizational, change management, and people issues involved in finance transformation.

Recent Experience
• Assisting institutions on remediation of potential SCRA and collection issues
• Advising institutions with key fair lending issues
• Led the independent consultant team for the foreclosure review of a large mortgage services company
• Advised several regional banks on implementing the CFPB ATR/QM mortgage rules
• Assisted several banks in reviewing HMDA filings
• Reviewed the compliance management systems of several non-banks in preparation for their first CFPB exam
• Performed a study for a financial services industry association on the impact of regulation on banks’ derisking

Prior to the financial crisis, Dan advised a number of Fortune 500 companies on various balance sheet and cost optimization strategies and assisted them in the implementation of those strategies.

Barry M. Pelagatti, CPA
Partner & Leader, Financial Services Industry Group
RKL LLP

Barry is a trusted advisor to his clients in the financial services industry. Throughout his many years of experience serving the financial services industry, Barry has advised clients on improving overall operating efficiency; reporting practices related to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting and Basel III. His responsibilities have ranged from financial statement review to consultation on complex accounting and reporting matters including mergers and acquisitions, capital market transactions and SEC reporting requirements.

Professional & Business History
Barry joined the firm in 2017 and has more than 20 years of experience in public accounting, most recently with a “Top 10” firm, as well as experience with an international firm.

Education
B.S. Accounting, St. Joseph’s University

Professional Activities & Memberships
• American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)
• Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA)
• AICPA Depository and Lending Institutions Expert Panel
• Delaware Society of Certified Public Accountants
• New Jersey Bankers Association
• Pennsylvania Association of Community Bankers

Sept. 2017

Robert E. Kafafian
President & CEO
The Kafafian Group Inc.

Mr. Kafafian is President & CEO of The Kafafian Group, a finance, strategy, and operations consulting firm that specializes in performance measurement, profitability outsourcing, strategic and capital planning, regulatory assistance, process/profit improvement, and investment banking advisory services for the financial industry.

Over the past thirty-five years he has consulted with and advised over 500 financial institutions in over forty states. He was instrumental in the design and development of a nationally established bank profitability software product and recognized as a leader in the performance measurement field of the banking industry.

He is a frequent speaker and writer on a variety of banking subjects and often quoted in banking periodicals.  He teaches at the Pennsylvania Bankers Association’s Advanced School of Banking, Pennsylvania Bankers Association’s School of Banking, the AMIfs Institute, America’s Community Bankers Center for Financial Studies, the Stonier Graduate School of Banking, the American Bankers Association’s School of Bank Marketing and Management, the Maryland Bankers Association’s Advanced School of Bank Management, and the New York Bankers Association Management School for Career Development.

Mr. Kafafian received his B.A. degree in Business/Economics from Moravian College, and his M.B.A. in Finance from Fairleigh Dickinson University.  He is Past President of the Board of Directors of the Association for Management Information in Financial Services (AMIfs), a member of the Financial Managers Society Strategic Issues Council, and is an active Board member of a number of other corporations, professional, community, and academic organizations.  He has written a book, published by AMIfs titled, KEYS TO COMMUNITY BANK SUCCESS/"Utilizing Management Information to Make Informed Decisions."

August 2016

Ivan Cilik, CPA
Partner
Baker Tilly Virchow Krause LLP

Ivan has more than 15 years of public accounting industry experience working with publicly traded and middle market companies. He has focused his practice on serving financial services companies. As an audit partner, Ivan’s responsibilities in the audit and accounting group include the coordination of the annual audit, including internal controls testing under section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley rule, assistance with financial statement reporting, consultation on accounting and reporting matters, and assistance with special transactional projects, including merger and acquisition activities. He also is experienced in all aspects of regulated entity and SEC reporting and filings under both the 1933 and 1934 Acts, communications with the SEC, and initial public offerings.

Experience
- Serves as the partner-in-charge on numerous SEC audit and advisory engagements
- Has eight years of previous audit and advisory services experience with a national accounting firm serving both publicly and privately held community banking institutions
- Experienced in SEC accounting matters and filings including initial public offerings, secondary debt and equity offerings
- Assists clients’ internal audit departments with SOX-related activities including control process definition, test planning and execution, and control assessment
- Provides remediation recommendations and implementation plans
- Experienced in accounting for acquisitions and performing due diligence procedures
- Experience in providing various regulatory advisory services (FDICIA, SEC and PCAOB) 

Industry involvement
- American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)
- Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA), Emerging CPAs Committee
- Pennsylvania Association of Community Bankers
- Pennsylvania Bankers Association
- Speaks at national and regional industry conferences

Education
Thiel College
Accounting and Business Administration

June 2016

Oksana K. Sweeney, CPA
Senior Manager
Deloitte & Touche LLP

Philadelphia, PA
215-796-3175
oksweeney@deloitte.com

Oksana is a Senior Manager in the Audit and Enterprise Risk Services (AERS) practice of Deloitte & Touche LLP. Oksana has 13 years of experience in public accounting, and has dedicated a significant portion of her career to the delivery of attest and advisory services to banking and financial institutions in the United States of America (U.S.) and, more recently, Europe, as she completed a 24 month assignment in the Financial Instruments Group within the Global IFRS and Offerings Services Group of Deloitte LLP in London (GIOS).

Oksana’s current role involves providing attest services to multiple SEC – registered financial institutions with global presence. In addition to rendering traditional audit services to her clients, she has provided insights on initial public offerings, private placements, leveraged buyouts, M&As, goodwill impairment, financial instrument impairment and valuations, consolidations, hedging, US GAAP to IFRS conversions, SOX compliance, and other complex accounting and U.S. regulatory compliance issues.

Oksana’s role during her rotation in GIOS, completed in 2012, involved providing assistance to her international clients in interpretation and application of complex accounting standards under US GAAP and IFRS, assistance through capital markets transactions in the UK, US, and European markets, and general compliance with ongoing financial reporting requirements in accordance with US GAAP, IFRS, and SEC rules and regulations. Oksana primarily focused on financial institutions or issues involving financial instruments (i.e. valuation and impairments, restructuring, transfers and factoring, securitizations, structured finance, consolidation, allowance for loan losses, and hedge accounting).

Oksana also served as an FSI Fellow with Deloitte & Touche LLP in FY 2011-FY 2013. In her role she supported a number of projects, including updating of the 2014 edition of the AICPA depository institution guide publication, and external speaking engagements.

Certification and Professional Association
Oksana is a CPA in the state of Pennsylvania, and a member of the AICPA and PICPA, and is on the Financial Institution Committee of PICPA.

Education
B.S.B.A. Accounting and Economics – University of Richmond, Virginia, United States

Sept. 2016

Glenn Richard James, JD, CPA
Partner, Tax Services
BDO USA LLP

Glenn is a partner in the Philadelphia office of BDO USA LLP.  He has extensive practice experience in tax, compensation and business consulting to financial services organizations including national and state chartered commercial banks and savings institutions, real estate investment trusts, investment partnerships, stock exchanges and foreign branch banks.  He serves as the financial institutions tax practice leader.  His technical expertise includes: incentive compensation planning and design; enterprise valuation consulting taxation of and accounting for share based payment; employee benefit plan design and operations consulting; corporate acquisitions and divestitures; mutual thrift conversions; credit union conversions; state tax minimization planning, compliance controversy negotiation and accounting for income taxes.

As a regular guest lecturer for universities, professional societies, institutes and trade associations Glenn has been a speaker for the Executive Enterprises Annual Bank Tax Institute, The former Bank Administration Institute, The Financial Managers Society, the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants, The Villanova University Annual Tax Forum, The Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants, The American Bankers Association, The Pennsylvania Association of Community Bankers, The New Jersey Bankers Association, the New York Bankers Association  and The former Community Bankers Association of New York State.  Glenn has been quoted in the Independent Banker, The American Banker, the Philadelphia Inquirer, The Philadelphia Business Journal, and The Pacific Business Journal.  

Glenn graduated from the Temple University School of Business Management, summa cum laude as  President's Scholar.  He received his juris doctorem from the Villanova University School of Law.  Glenn is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Tax Section. He is a former member of the Bank Tax Institute Advisory Board.

Robert M. Barilla
President and Founder
Cedar Hill Advisors, LLC

Cedar Hill Advisors, LLC was formed in October 2003 as a financial advisory firm that specializes in providing strategic advice and valuations regarding mergers, acquisitions, and strategic planning for the financial service industry. Cedar Hill is a specialist in fair value accounting for both bank and non-banking companies. Cedar Hill is proud to communicate that since inception it has completed work for over 100 financial institutions and participated in bank mergers with over $50 billion in assets.

Bob brings a unique combination of advisory, regulatory, and practical experience to the table for his clients. Prior to forming Cedar Hill, Bob was Senior Vice President of Corporate Planning and Director of Mergers and Acquisitions for Summit Bancorp, a super-regional bank which had over $40 billion in assets. Bob also served as a Director in the financial institutions group of Ryan Beck & Co., a nationally recognized investment banking firm serving financial institutions in the Mid-Atlantic States. Bob began his career as an Assistant National Bank Examiner for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. 

Bob earned his B.S. and M.B.A from LaSalle University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst. He and his family reside in Chalfont, Pennsylvania.

August 2016

Ian F. McDowell, CPA
Audit Principal
SR Snodgrass PC

Ian is a Principal and has developed expertise in all aspects of auditing and assurance services. 

He is particularly proficient with assisting public companies in their SEC regulatory filings under the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.  Ian has helped his clients navigate through business combinations as well as numerous public and private stock offerings.  He is adept at preparing and coordinating all aspects of financial statement audits and other assurance services. While most of Ian’s expertise is within the financial institution sector, he also has knowledge and experience in dealing with hedge funds, investment companies, broker-dealers, and manufacturers. Additionally, Ian has worked extensively with a variety of employee benefit plans. He remains informed of the ever-changing rules and regulations affecting these industries and assists his clients in dealing with accounting and financial matters that impact their business.

Ian received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Otterbein College. He is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Pennsylvania and is a member of the American and Pennsylvania Institutes of Certified Public Accountants. He also actively participates as a member of the PICPA’s Financial Institutions Committee.

Faye E. Miller, CPA
Partner, National Professional Standards Group
RSM US LLP

Faye Miller is a partner in the National Professional Standards Group of RSM US LLP. She serves as a firmwide technical resource for complex accounting issues involving financial instruments, such as derivatives, hedging, alternative investments, other than temporary impairment, and liability versus equity treatment associated with complex equity and debt financing arrangements.

As a firmwide technical resource, Faye conducts training, follows recent developments, assists engagement teams and advises clients on these matters. Faye also is a frequent speaker and author on topics involving financial instruments including proposed or recently issued related accounting guidance.

Faye brings over 20 years of experience in banking and public accounting to RSM US LLP, including serving as Director of Corporate Finance for a bank with $7 billion in assets, serving as an audit partner on numerous SEC registrant engagements for a regional firm, and serving as both an audit and tax professional while with a large national accounting firm.

Faye is a frequent speaker on topics such as new accounting pronouncements, financial instruments and other matters impacting financial institutions. She is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Maryland. She is a current member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and a past member of the AICPA Accounting Standards Executive Committee. Faye received her Bachelor of Science from Pennsylvania State University, and her Master’s degree from Villanova University.

Received 4/2015

Sudhir K. Kondisetty, CISSP, CISA, QSA
Principal, Risk Advisory Services
RSM US LLP

Sudhir Kondisetty leads the Philadelphia region risk advisory practice. In this role, Sudhir oversees projects over a wide range of services, including internal audit/SOX, IT risk, financial regulatory compliance, security, enterprise risk management, and more. Additionally, Sudhir serves as the managing partner of the Philadelphia office. Lastly, Sudhir services as RSM’s northeast leader of Culture, Diversity, and Inclusion (CDI), an important initiative to increase employee and client engagement.

Prior to leading the risk advisory practice, Sudhir was involved in leading IT risk advisory projects, including IT risk assessments, IT general controls reviews, network infrastructure security testing, Sarbanes-Oxley IT reviews, Payment Card Industry (PCI) audits, Service Organization Control (SOC) attestation engagements, and IT project management. He has 20 years of consulting experience in various industries.

Sudhir carries many professional certifications, including Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council Qualified Security Assessor (QSA), Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT), CheckPoint Certified System Administrator (CCSA), and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE).

Received 7/2016

Eric K. Bowman
Supervisory Examiner
FDIC

Mr. Bowman currently serves as a Supervisory Examiner for the FDIC Philadelphia Territory. He joined the FDIC in 1989 and served as a field Bank Examiner for 14 years. He has worked closely with new banks and on bank liquidations and closings. He has also assisted on Shared National Credit reviews and has worked on the development of FDIC operating systems. He has been actively involved in training and has served as an instructor at the FDIC’s Training Center for several years. In addition, he coordinates the Directors College outreach program for the FDIC New York Region. He graduated from Bloomsburg University in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration.

July 2016

Frank Dudek
Audit Managing Director
Deloitte & Touche LLP

Currently Frank is an Audit Managing Director with Deloitte & Touche LLP in the National Office SEC Services Group and has over 22 years of financial accounting, auditing and management experience, including the last 18 years with Deloitte.

Frank primarily serves the Financial Services Sector providing expertise with Banking and Finance; Investment Advisors/Asset Managers, including Private Equity; Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), including REITs holding operating properties, and REITs holding mortgages and mortgage-backed securities; and the Securities sector that includes public companies with broker-dealer operations.

As a technical consultation resource, Frank has worked extensively with Financial Services Sector engagement teams and clients to evaluate issues and provide recommendations related to the following areas:

•  Complex industry-specific SEC reporting and disclosure issues for the Financial Services Sector
•  Application of SEC guidance to scenarios or fact patterns related to industry-specific requirements
•  Initial Public Offerings, carve-out financial statements, merger and acquisition transactions, corporate reorganizations, and spin transactions
•  SEC comment letters

Frank’s significant clients as a SEC Services consultation resource include Apollo Global Management LLC, BlackRock, Inc., Blackstone Group L.P., KKR & Co. L.P., Lazard Ltd., Ally Financial Inc., Discover Financial Services, Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), Fifth Third Bancorp, General Motors Financial Company, Inc.; Charles Schwab Corporation, Eaton Vance Corp, E*TRADE Financial Corporation, Morgan Stanley, HCP, Inc., Monogram Residential Trust, Inc., Starwood Property Trust, Inc., TIER REIT, INC., Vornado Realty Trust, Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc., Apollo Residential Mortgage, Inc., and Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc.

Frank is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountants (OSCPA). He is a licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in Ohio and Connecticut.

August 2016

Alice Brent
Financial Institution Examiner
FDIC

Alice Brent is a Financial Institution Examiner with the FDIC with over six years of experience examining financial institutions in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. She serves as an Accounting Subject Matter Expert for the FDIC Philadelphia Territory and has successfully completed the Uniform CPA examination. She holds a Master of Science in Accountancy from the University of Notre Dame, and a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy and Bachelor of Arts in Chinese from Arizona State University.

Sept. 2016

Joe Brusuelas
Chief Economist
RSM US LLP

Joseph Brusuelas has over 20 years of experience in finance and economics and specializes in analyzing the U.S. monetary policy, labor markets, fiscal policy, economic indicators and the condition of the U.S. consumer. Prior to joining RSM in July 2014, Brusuelas spent four years as a senior economist at Bloomberg, LP and the Bloomberg Briefs newsletter group. As co-founder of the award winning Bloomberg Economic Brief, Brusuelas was named as one of the 26 economists to follow by the
Huffington Post. Earlier in his career, he was a director at Moody's Analytics where he covered the U.S. and global economies for the Dismal Scientist web-site. He also served as chief economist at Merk Investments LLC and chief U.S. economist at IDEAglobal.

In his current role, Brusuelas provides macroeconomic perspective to help clients anticipate and address the unique issues and challenges facing their businesses and the industries in which they operate. He also produces monthly economic reports for the middle market and for key industries within that market.

Brusuelas regularly appears on Bloomberg Television, Bloomberg Radio, and is frequently quoted by the financial press on the U.S. and global economies. He is the co-author of Forex Analysis and Trading: Effective Top-Down Strategies Combining Fundamental, Position, and Technical Analyses, and the upcoming "It’s Worse Than You Think: The US Economy and the Decline of the American Middle Class," both published by Wiley.

Professional Affiliations and Credentials
•  National Association of Business Economists and American Economic Association

Education
•  Bachelor of Arts, political science, San Diego State University
•  Master of Arts, political science, San Diego State University
•  Doctor of Philosophy, political economy and public policy, University of Southern California

July 2016

Wayne Gniewkowski
Principal
Crowe Horwath LLP

Mr. Gniewkowski is a Principal at Crowe Horwath LLP (Crowe) and lives in Columbus, Ohio. He has worked his entire career, 12 years, at Crowe serving clients nationwide but primarily in the Midwest and Northeast.

Wayne has assisted numerous financial institutions ranging from de novos to $60 billion bank holding companies. His primary focus is outsourced/co-sourced internal audit and consulting for operational, compliance and information technology controls. Wayne’s experience also includes insurance agencies and leasing companies.

He is a graduate of the University of Toledo. 

June 2016

Bailey Frye
Director & Client Executive
Crowe Horwath LLP

Bailey Frye is a Director and Client Executive with Crowe Horwath LLP (Crowe) and lives in Indianapolis, Indiana. He has been with Crowe since 2000.

He has assisted numerous financial institution clients with improving risk management and risk mitigation through forming 831-b small captive insurance companies.

Along with financial institutions, he has also assisted manufacturers with forming a small captive insurance company.

His experience and expertise also includes assisting clients with  AML (anti-money laundering) program development, model validation and governance, and consulting related to DFAST (Dodd-Frank stress testing and capital management).

He is a graduate of Murray State University.

June 2016

Jonathan Prejean
Managing Director, Deloitte Advisory
Accounting & Reporting Transformation
Banking & Securities

Jonathan has over 19 years of experience serving a variety of client types, primarily those in the financial services industry. Jonathan currently serves in Deloitte’s Accounting & Reporting Transformation (“A&RT”) practice. In addition to public accounting Jonathan participated in an accounting fellowship within the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Financial Stability, which oversaw the Trouble Asset Relief Program (TARP). Jonathan was also an examiner for the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA).

Jonathan provides advisory, accounting consultation, and audit support services relating to our clients’ capital markets transacting activities and related accounting, risk management and process/control issues. He has technical expertise in accounting for complex equity and debt transaction, derivatives, loans, securitization, mortgage servicing rights, structured finance, and consolidation. He follows standard setting activities related to FASB’s financial instruments projects and consolidation. Jonathan also co-leads the development of Deloitte solutions for the FASB’s current expected credit loss (CECL) model.

Kenneth J. Rollins, Esq.
Partner
Rhoads & Sinon LLP

Ken Rollins is a partner at Rhoads & Sinon LLP, and a member of its Financial Institutions and Corporate Finance & Securities practice groups. Ken’s practice focuses on advising financial institutions on matters involving regulatory compliance, acquisitions and divestitures, capital raising, strategic planning and compliance with federal and state securities laws. In this capacity, Ken regularly represents clients before the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, FDIC, OCC, Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities and SEC.

June 2016

Robert Anderson, CPA
Director of Accounting for Financial Institutions
Chatham Financial

Rob is a member of the Accounting Advisory team and advises clients in a wide range of industries, including banking hospitality, telecommunications, and pharmaceuticals. Prior to joining Chatham, Rob worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers in New York, where he primarily consulted multinational corporations, alternative investment funds and private companies on ASC 810, 815 and other technical accounting topics. Rob received his Masters of Accountancy from Brigham Young University.

June 2016

Todd Cuppia
Managing Director, Balance Sheet Strategy
Chatham Financial

Todd leads Chatham’s Balance Sheet Strategies Practice, assisting Financial Institutions manage complex economic risks.

Prior to joining Chatham, Todd spent eleven years with Stifel Financial as a Managing Director in the Fixed Income Research and Strategy Group as the head of Government Sponsored Enterprise Debt strategy and Co-Head of Fixed Income Product Strategy. In this role, Todd advised financial institutions, state and local government entities, and pension funds on cross sector relative value, macro-based portfolio strategies, and derivative hedging strategies.

Todd has been a frequent speaker at national investor conferences and has had numerous investment strategies featured in industry journals and financial newsletters.

July 2017