MEGA 2025

Jeffrey Bernstein

Jeffrey Bernstein is a director in Kaufman Rossin’s Risk Advisory Services practice. His focus includes security crisis planning and response, cybersecurity strategy, governance, compliance, training, and intelligence. Jeff is a member of the Kaufman Rossin Financial Investigations Team steering committee. In Jeff’s role he leads digital forensic and open-source intelligence investigations, many of which relate to ransomware, wire fraud/business email compromise and insider/human resources matters.

Jeff has extensive experience providing cybersecurity response, governance, risk and compliance services for private clients and family offices, as well as businesses in regulated industries, including financial institutions, investment firms, healthcare organizations and law firms. He has over 20 years of experience advising clients on the security and compliance of their networks, applications, systems, people, property and information. 

Prior to joining Kaufman Rossin, he was the managing director of cybersecurity advisory services and strategy at an independent public accounting and advisory services firm based in New York City. Jeff also founded Critical Defence, a security solutions firm that was recognized by a leading industry analyst as Best of Class in 2019.

Jeff is a recognized thought leader who has contributed to industry guidance, authored articles, written white papers, and been quoted by TV and print media. He is a contributor to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) SP 800-46 Rev. 3: Guide to Enterprise Telework Security and NIST SP1800-1: Security Electronic Health Records on Mobile Devices. His articles have been featured in Scotsman Guide, USA Today/Gannett publications, The Straits Times, and other outlets. He regularly presents at conferences and has lectured master’s studies classes at New York University.

Jeff has been an Advisory Board Member of the USF Muma College of Business Cybersecurity Education program and an Advisory Board member of the Ithaca College Cybersecurity Studies program. He is also an affiliate of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE).

He studied Computer Science and Business at Northeastern University and the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Erin Daiber

Erin Daiber is a relatable and results-oriented CPA turned coach, speaker & change agent in the accounting profession.  She is the founder of Well Balanced Accountants LLC and is known for her fresh approach and tailored solutions designed to uniquely suit your team of accountants.

Well Balanced Accountants started after she went from a high-performing accountant to a burned-out, now-recovering CPA.  Erin specializes in working with CPA firms to create a culture where accountants love to work, addressing key challenges such as engaging top talent, building an internal leadership pipeline, scaling growth, and planning for succession. 

She believes that leading in today’s environment requires a new level of leadership, creativity, and a willingness to break free from the status quo.  As a speaker, she shows accountants & bookkeepers how to develop the skills they need to transform themselves and their organizations so that they can spend more time on what matters most.

Marie Torossian

Gerald Donnini II

Gerald “Jerry” Donnini II is a Shareholder of the Law Offices of Moffa, Sutton, & Donnini, PA. Mr. Donnini concentrates in the area of Florida and Federal tax matters, with a heavy emphasis on the tobacco, convenience store and petroleum industries. He also handles a myriad of multi-state state and local tax issues. Mr. Donnini is a co-author for CCH’s Expert Treatise Library: State Sales and Use Tax.

Adrienne Robertson

Adrienne L. Robertson is an ERISA counsel and owns Robertson Retirement Law, LLC. She has more than 35 years of industry experience and is based in Denver. Her expertise is in ERISA and the tax laws governing qualified plans, including fiduciary concerns; operational compliance; plan design strategy; merger, acquisition, and controlled group issues; and recordkeeping and administrative considerations. She received her law degree from Widener University School of Law and worked as an attorney at Sherman & Howard LLC in Denver, and at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP (now Faegre Drinker) in Philadelphia. Prior to that, she was in-house counsel at the Vanguard Group. Ms. Robertson is a credentialed member of the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries (ASPPA), holding the Certified Pension Consultant and Qualified Pension Administrator designations. She is an at-large member of ASPPA’s Government Affairs Committee, was previously a member of the ASPPA Education and Examination Committee, and she is active in her local chapter of the Western Pension & Benefits Council (WPBC), having previously served on the WPBC Board. She has authored numerous articles for 401(k) Advisor, and frequently presents for clients, advisors, and industry groups.

H. French Brown IV

French Brown offers clients more than fourteen years of experience practicing law and lobbying in the area of state and local taxation.  French specializes in all Florida taxes including sales tax, corporate income tax, motor fuels tax, communications services tax, property tax, and documentary stamp tax.

French began his legal career at the Florida Department of Revenue, quickly rising to the position of Deputy Director of the Office of Technical Assistance and Dispute Resolution. Additionally, French served as the Department of Revenue's Legislative and Cabinet Affairs Director and staffed the 2012 Communications Services Tax Working Group.  In this role, he worked directly with Legislators, longstanding legislative staff, and the Governor and Cabinet offices.

Over the last ten years, Mr. Brown has been deeply involved with most major tax legislation moving through the Florida Capitol.  Through his representation of some of Florida's largest trade associations and taxpayers, French has directly worked on and advocated for tax legislation to benefit both companies and taxpayers.  

During that time, Mr. Brown has passed dozens of pieces of tax legislation, which have saved his clients and Floridian's billions in reduced state and local taxes.  This includes more than a billion dollars in corporate income tax refund paid in 2020 and 2022, which was a result of unintended state consequences of the Federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.  French was also instrumental in Florida adopting remote seller and marketplace facilitator provisions after the Supreme Court's 2018 Wayfair decision. 

In 2018, Mr. Brown served as counsel to the successful constitutional proposal to permanently preserve the State's annual ten-percent cap on commercial property tax increases, which passed by 66.5%.  

He assists his clients with Florida tax planning and controversies before the Florida Department of Revenue and local Property Appraisers, while maintaining a professional and amicable relationship with those that he used to work next to at the agency.

Jessica Battaglia

Jessica is an accomplished HR Services Area Manager with over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical, manufacturing, and consultative sectors. Her extensive background in human resources is complemented by her certifications as a SHRM-CP and PHR professional.
Jessica’s strengths lie in Training, Employee Relations, and Organizational Development. She is passionate about developing teams to reach their full potential, fostering both organizational growth and individual development.
Outside of her professional life, Jessica enjoys going to the beach, traveling, and indulging in the magical world of Harry Potter.
Jessica’s dedication to her field and commitment to continuous improvement underscore her professional excellence

Kevin Herzberg

Kevin is Grant Thornton’s National Indirect Tax Leader. He has over 29 years of broad-based state tax experience including abandoned and unclaimed property and multi-state tax planning, Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 review, ASC 740 tax accounting, mergers and acquisitions, ruling requests, tax controversy and tax compliance. Prior to joining Grant Thornton, Kevin’s experience at large international accounting firms has included serving as the tax practice leader, managing director and Florida state tax practice leader, serving as a resource for any technical Florida-based issue. Kevin also previously served as the statewide sales tax and property tax leader. Kevin has deep technical nationwide sales and use tax and Florida property tax experience. 

While at Grant Thornton, Kevin previously served as the Partner in Charge of the Tampa office, was the Central Florida Tax Practice Leader and a Federal Tax Partner. 

Kevin has served numerous clients ranging from the Fortune 500 to the middle market and has strong experience in the manufacturing, distribution, retail, transportation, hospitality and healthcare industry arenas.

Jordan Goodman

Jordan is a partner in HMB’s State and Local Tax (SALT) Group and focuses his practice on resolving complex SALT controversies for Fortune 1000 corporations and wealthy families, nationwide.

Jordan represents operationally complex companies in manufacturing, retail, financial services, e-commerce, broadcasting and telecommunications. As an attorney and CPA with decades of experience, Jordan has successfully resolved tax controversies in nearly every state and has counseled clients on the full range of tax issues and organizational structures affecting their businesses. He also represents numerous clients in multistate unclaimed property litigation and advises on a wide range of compliance issues.

Clients seek Jordan’s help on a full range of tax issues including corporate income, sales and use, franchise, local licenses, gross receipts, business and occupation, single business, capital stock and unclaimed property matters. He regularly advises on nexus, apportionment, business income, unitary business groups and residency, credits, losses, exemptions and the tax base.

Jordan represents clients in all facets of unclaimed property issues - from audit notifications and audit defense to protecting sensitive information and resolving legal challenges. Further, Jordan regularly partners with businesses to establish compliance through the voluntary disclosure process and strategic planning.

A sought-after lecturer and author on multi state tax issues, controversies and planning, Jordan is very active in the SALT community as a frequent staple to many major SALT institutions’ conferences and publications.

Nicole Graham

Nicole is a risk consultant at Aon, the national administrator of the AICPA member insurance program. She provides guidance and risk advice to regional and national CPA firms regarding professional liability, cybersecurity, employment practices, management liability, and other related exposures. Prior to joining Aon, Nicole was a partner at a national law firm.  For more than a decade, she defended accountants and other professionals against professional liability claims. Taking the lessons learned from when things went wrong, Nicole delivers matter-specific advice to Aon’s CPA firm clients and provides webinars, articles, and other materials on risk issues affecting the profession.

Roger Scarborough

Roger is the Director of the Florida Board of Accountancy and has been serving in this role since July of 2019. He retired from Farm Credit of Florida in 2018 after he served as CFO of Farm Credit of North Florida for 12 years. He currently resides in Gainesville, where he is married and has 4 daughters. 

Vanessa Rivera

Vanessa Rivera is the Sr. Manager of Membership Operations for the Florida Institute of CPAs. A proud graduate of the University of Central Florida, she has worked for over 10 years in the non-profit sector serving families of children undergoing medical treatment, ranging from acute to terminal diagnoses. 
After the events of the global pandemic in 2020, she decided to step out of her comfort zone and undergo a career transformation. During the past 4 years of working with the FICPA, Vanessa has developed a deep respect for our members and continuously strives to ensure they are set up for success. 
Vanessa is an Orlando native and currently resides in Kissimmee with her husband.  

Kevin Herzberg

Kevin is Grant Thornton’s National Indirect Tax Leader. He has over 29 years of broad-based state tax experience including abandoned and unclaimed property and multi-state tax planning, Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 review, ASC 740 tax accounting, mergers and acquisitions, ruling requests, tax controversy and tax compliance. Prior to joining Grant Thornton, Kevin’s experience at large international accounting firms has included serving as the tax practice leader, managing director and Florida state tax practice leader, serving as a resource for any technical Florida-based issue. Kevin also previously served as the statewide sales tax and property tax leader. Kevin has deep technical nationwide sales and use tax and Florida property tax experience. 

While at Grant Thornton, Kevin previously served as the Partner in Charge of the Tampa office, was the Central Florida Tax Practice Leader and a Federal Tax Partner. 

Kevin has served numerous clients ranging from the Fortune 500 to the middle market and has strong experience in the manufacturing, distribution, retail, transportation, hospitality and healthcare industry arenas.

Jordan Goodman

Jordan is a partner in HMB’s State and Local Tax (SALT) Group and focuses his practice on resolving complex SALT controversies for Fortune 1000 corporations and wealthy families, nationwide.

Jordan represents operationally complex companies in manufacturing, retail, financial services, e-commerce, broadcasting and telecommunications. As an attorney and CPA with decades of experience, Jordan has successfully resolved tax controversies in nearly every state and has counseled clients on the full range of tax issues and organizational structures affecting their businesses. He also represents numerous clients in multistate unclaimed property litigation and advises on a wide range of compliance issues.

Clients seek Jordan’s help on a full range of tax issues including corporate income, sales and use, franchise, local licenses, gross receipts, business and occupation, single business, capital stock and unclaimed property matters. He regularly advises on nexus, apportionment, business income, unitary business groups and residency, credits, losses, exemptions and the tax base.

Jordan represents clients in all facets of unclaimed property issues - from audit notifications and audit defense to protecting sensitive information and resolving legal challenges. Further, Jordan regularly partners with businesses to establish compliance through the voluntary disclosure process and strategic planning.

A sought-after lecturer and author on multi state tax issues, controversies and planning, Jordan is very active in the SALT community as a frequent staple to many major SALT institutions’ conferences and publications.

Thomas Bazley

Tom Bazley is a managing director with Weaver and Tidwell, LLP where he serves as the Private Client Services Technical Practice Leader. Tom's focus is on income and transfer tax planning for high net worth and high-income individuals and families. His experience includes income and estate planning for retirement benefits, including required minimum distribution rules, income tax effects of certain distributions, using retirement benefits for charitable planning and issues related to trusts as beneficiaries of retirement accounts.

Tom is a frequent speaker to state CPA societies and estate planning councils. He has appeared on radio shows to discuss issues related to income and estate tax planning, as well as published articles in the AICPA's The Tax Adviser. He has developed and presented content for Surgent McCoy, the largest provider of continuing educational material for CPAs.

Tom is a graduate of the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.

Roger Scarborough

Roger is the Director of the Florida Board of Accountancy and has been serving in this role since July of 2019. He retired from Farm Credit of Florida in 2018 after he served as CFO of Farm Credit of North Florida for 12 years. He currently resides in Gainesville, where he is married and has 4 daughters. 

Vanessa Rivera

Vanessa Rivera is the Sr. Manager of Membership Operations for the Florida Institute of CPAs. A proud graduate of the University of Central Florida, she has worked for over 10 years in the non-profit sector serving families of children undergoing medical treatment, ranging from acute to terminal diagnoses. 
After the events of the global pandemic in 2020, she decided to step out of her comfort zone and undergo a career transformation. During the past 4 years of working with the FICPA, Vanessa has developed a deep respect for our members and continuously strives to ensure they are set up for success. 
Vanessa is an Orlando native and currently resides in Kissimmee with her husband.  

Logan Gans

Logan E. Gans is a tax attorney and partner in the Miami office of Holland & Knight LLP. Logan regularly represents clients on U.S. Federal tax, international tax, and state and local tax matters. Logan also advises U.S. clients on outbound corporate and tax planning, including Subpart F, GILTI, and FDII matters. He counsels foreign clients on their inbound investments in the United States, including U.S. real property, corporate restructurings, and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. Logan also advises clients on the use of qualified opportunity funds for investments in opportunity zones and qualified opportunity zone businesses. He also counsels high net worth private clients on estate, trust, and gift tax matters. A Florida Certified Public Accountant, Logan also is experienced in advising clients on partnership tax planning, pre-immigration tax planning, 1031 exchanges, tax due diligence, transfer pricing, and tax compliance. He also represents clients on tax controversy matters, including penalty appeals, the Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures, and the Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures. Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Logan was a partner at Shutts & Bowen LLP and an international tax senior consultant at Deloitte LLP.

Sherry Lam

Sherry is a Senior Manager in Crowe LLP's Fort Lauderdale office, and has over 20 years of experience providing tax and business consulting services, specializing in state and local sales and use tax matters. 

Sherry's client service experience includes assisting clients in tax process improvement studies, refund analysis, audit defense, voluntary disclosure negotiations, nexus studies, mergers and acquisitions, transactional consulting, product and service taxability reviews, procedures documentation, ASC 450 reviews, exemption certificate reviews, sales tax outsourcing, and bankruptcy matters. 

Sherry has extensive experience with public and private companies in numerous industries including retail, manufacturing, technology, information services, professional services, construction contracting, telecommunications, and utility.

Paul Brown

Paul Brown joined the FICPA in November 1992 and is the VP of Professional and Technical Standards for the Florida Institute of CPAs (FICPA). One of Paul's main duties is to serve as the technical reviewer in Florida for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Peer Review Program.  The program administers approximately 350 reviews annually in Florida and oversees approximately 90 peer reviewers.  Paul also assists members in the areas of professional ethics and professional standards. As part of his role in the peer review program Paul has previously been an instructor and author of continuing education programs for the AICPA and FICPA, for which he had received several outstanding discussion leader and author awards.  Paul serves on the AICPA's Peer Review Standards Task Force, Technical Reviewers Advisory Task Force to the Peer Review Board and serves as staff liaison to two committees of the FICPA.

Amanda Ribeiro

Amanda is a tax professional in KPMG’s state and local tax group, specifically focused on indirect tax. She serves as a technical resource for her expertise in Florida sales tax and administrative procedure.

Amanda has over a decade of state indirect tax experience, including extensive work in the consulting and state tax controversy space. Prior to joining KPMG, Amanda was with a boutique law firm that focused exclusively on Florida state and local tax. Her work ran the gamut from white collar criminal defense to sales and use tax audit defense and litigation. Throughout her career she has served numerous clients ranging from the Fortune 500 to the middle market and has strong experience in a variety of industries including manufacturing, distribution, retail, transportation, hospitality and healthcare. Amanda is based out of Fort Lauderdale and serves clients throughout the state with technical Florida tax issues.

Cory Van Arnum

Cory is a tax professional in KPMG’s state and local tax group, specifically focused in indirect tax.  Practicing since 2018, he assists private and public companies with a wide range of indirect tax consulting and controversy needs.  His experience spans across the construction, ecommerce, healthcare, manufacturing, power and utilities, technology, and telecommunications industries.  Cory is a frequent speaker and author for KPMG on state and local indirect tax issues

Adriana Yepes

Adriana Yepes, CPA, is a supervising project manager at the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB).  Since joining the FASB in 2014, Adriana has played a key role in several projects, including projects on the definition of business, the equity method of accounting, the derecognition of nonfinancial assets, and the scope of derivatives accounting.

Adriana brings deep and wide-ranging experience in financial reporting and complex transactions.  Prior to joining the FASB, Adriana was a director in PwC’s Transaction Services practice, which advises clients on mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and other corporate finance transactions.  She specialized in helping clients navigate complex financial reporting issues, with a focus on areas such as consolidations, business combinations, joint ventures and variable interest entities.

Earlier in her career, Adriana spent three years as a Vice-President in the Accounting Policy Group of an investment bank and prior to that in the audit practice of another Big 4 CPA firm, serving medium to large public clients across the technology, energy and health care industries. 

Adriana holds a bachelor’s degree from Florida International University and master’s degree from the University of Miami.  She is a Certified Public Accountant in Florida.

Laurie Lee

Laurie has practiced business law for over twenty years. She opened her own law firm, The Legal Department for Service Professionals, in 2015 after recognizing the need for experienced and quality legal counsel for small professional service firms and practices. Since then, Laurie and her team at the Legal Department have served over 400 small businesses in Florida and that number is rapidly growing. Her goal is to share knowledge and provide advice so that educated, licensed, regulated professionals can gain confidence in starting and running their own businesses.

Laurie is AV Preeminent Peer Rated by Martindale-Hubbell ® (highest possible rating) and is rated on AVVO® as Superb: 10 out of 10. She was honored as the 2021 Women Business Owner of the Year from the JAX Chamber Professional Women's Council, the 2019 SBA North Florida Woman Owned Business of the Year, and the 2018 and 2022 Regional Volunteer of the Year Award from America's Small Business Development Center.

Laurie is involved in her professional community as a member of the Jacksonville Bar Association, past Chairman of the Fourth Judicial Circuit Attorney Grievance Review Committee, past Chairman of the Jacksonville Bar Corporate & Business Law Committee, and past vice-Chairman of the Jacksonville Bar Transactional Section and a member of the Florida Business Law Section.

In the business community, Laurie serves on the board of the North Florida Women Business Owners organization and the Jacksonville Women's Business Center. Previously, she served as the Chairman of the Advisory Council for the Small Business Development Center at UNF. Laurie gives back to the business community by offering legal workshops and webinars. She has conducted classes for Score, the SBDC, and most recently, she created a new course offering for the Jacksonville Women's Business Center called "Legal Matters".

James Sutton Jr

James Sutton is both a CPA and Attorney whose specialty is Florida sales and use taxes. As a shareholder in the firm Moffa, Sutton, & Donnini, PA, Mr. Sutton’s firm handles cases from audit through appellate litigation, collections, criminal defense, and consulting. Mr. Sutton is a long standing member of the FICPA and the former chairman of the state tax committee for the FICPA. You can reach him at JamesSutton@FloridaSalesTax.com or 813-775-2131.

Philip Burns

Justin is the Owner/Managing Partner of Space Coast Forensics. He has been a Certified Public Accountant since 2014 and a Certified Fraud Examiner since 2016. His experience in the accounting industry is diverse, spanning a wide range of roles. Justin was the controller of a private company and has worked in public accounting. He served as the director of operations for one of the nation’s top privately owned forensic accounting practices before opening Space Coast Forensics.

Ken Hargreaves

Ken is the founder of WealthGen Advisors, a fee-only fiduciary wealth management firm based in Sarasota, Florida. With over 17 years of experience in the financial industry, he brings institutional-level insight to individual clients. Before launching WealthGen, Ken served as a director at a Florida-based RIA and then later Vice President at The Capital Group, a $2 trillion global investment firm in New York City.
Ken is a frequent speaker on financial planning and retirement strategies and has served on the board of the New York City Financial Planning Association. He is a proud member of the Investments & Wealth Institute (IWI), the Financial Planning Association (FPA), and NAPFA.
Ken holds a Master of Science in Personal Financial Planning from the College for Financial Planning and a B.S. in Finance from Florida State University. He has completed the Certified Investment Management Analyst® program at Yale School of Management and holds the CFP®, AIF®, AWMA®, and CRPC® designations.
He’s passionate about demystifying wealth building and helping clients create a financial life they love—with less jargon and more clarity.

Thomas Ruggie

Tom Ruggie, ChFC®, CFP® is a visionary wealth manager, executive, entrepreneur, author, and speaker, who spent 34 years building one of the country’s pre-eminent wealth management organizations, including an independent RIA, multiple wealth management firms, alternative investment fund, and co-investment fund.  In 2017, he founded Destiny Family Office to help individuals - and their families - navigate the challenges and complexities of managing significant wealth.  He facilitates seamless collaboration and communication among trusted advisory teams for his client families, ensuring they work in concert to serve those clients’ best interests.
Ruggie focuses on providing privileged access to institutional-caliber alternative investments, including pre-IPO direct/private investments. As an avid collector of sports memorabilia and an advisor on collectibles as an asset class, he helps clients turn personal interests into powerful investments.
With entrepreneurial skills honed by Strategic Coach®, Vistage®, and most recently Tiger21, in 2024 Ruggie earned his ranking as the #1 Forbes Best-in-State Wealth Advisor (North Florida), as a Barron’s Top 1200 Wealth Advisors (for the 13th time), and among InvestmentNews’ Hot List of 100 financial professionals shaping the industry. His firm was also named InvestmentNews’ RIA Team of the Year and one of America’s Top Financial Advisory Firms by Newsweek.