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Leadership

Jun 01, 2023 · 1 min read

Click here for speeches delivered by AICPA executives and volunteer leaders.

Senior Member Leaders

Okorie L. Ramsey, CPA, CGMA, PMP, NACD.DC
Chair, Association of International Certified Professional Accountants
Chair, American Institute of CPAs

Okorie L. Ramsey

Vice President, Sarbanes/Oxley (SOX), Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals (Kaiser Permanente)

Okorie L. Ramsey, CPA, CGMA, PMP, NADC.CD, is the Chair of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and Chair of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (Association).

Throughout his career, Ramsey has served in several AICPA volunteer roles: the AICPA Board of Directors, the Association Board of Directors, the AICPA and Association Audit and Finance Committee Chair, the AICPA Investments Committee and AICPA Council.

In his current role at Kaiser Permanente, he oversees SOX and Model Audit Rule compliance, which includes strategy, testing and evaluating internal controls and assessing business risk to help ensure effective internal controls over financial reporting for the integrated health care enterprise.

Prior to this role, Ramsey served in various roles throughout his 14 years with Kaiser Permanente. Most recently, as Vice President, Finance Compliance Officer, he was responsible for establishing a finance compliance program to support compliance with regulatory and enforcement agencies as well as leading compliance investigations and co-developing remediation activities to address issues identified. He has also served as Interim Vice President of Tax and Interim Vice President of Operational Risk Management while also executing core Finance Compliance responsibilities.

Ramsey has also served as the Director and Managing Director of Sarbanes/Oxley and Financial Governance for the Northern California (NCAL) Region of Kaiser Permanente, where he was responsible for strengthening the internal control environment for the region and implemented a people development and management training program for the NCAL Region Controller’s Group.

Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente, Ramsey was an Advisory Senior Manager at Ernst & Young LLP. He also held management roles with Robert Half International, Andersen LLP and Coopers & Lybrand LLP.

He is a Lifetime member of the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA) and won NABA’s Inaugural Core Values award in 2022. He also previously held roles as Past President of the California Society of CPAs Education Foundation Board of Trustees and Past Chairman of the Accounting Career Awareness Program, San Francisco Bay Area and is also a former adjunct professor for San Francisco State University’s Master of Business Administration program.

Ramsey has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from San Francisco State University, and a Kaiser Permanente Executive Leadership Program Certificate from Harvard Business School.

Ramsey is married and has two children. His interests include family time, music, investing, and mentoring young people and professionals to support them in reaching their full potential.

Sarah Ghosh, FCMA, CGMA
Co-Chair, Association of International Certified Professional Accountants
President, Chartered Institute of Management Accountants

Sarah Ghosh FCMA, CGMA
Sarah Ghosh FCMA, CGMA

Sarah was elected 90th CIMA President and Co-Chair of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (the Association) on 13 June 2022 taking over from Melanie J. Kanaka, FCMA, CGMA. She is the second successive woman to be elected President of CIMA and Co-Chair of the Association. During her one-year term, Sarah will concentrate on driving innovation and transformation within the profession to ensure that it can keep up with the demands of a constantly changing business world. She will also put great emphasis on growing and promoting the role of finance professionals in creating value through ESG and sustainability and serving the public interest. Moreover, Sarah will dedicate herself to inspiring and empowering younger generations to become finance professionals.

Carla M. McCall, CPA, CGMA
Vice Chair, American Institute of CPAs

Carla M. McCall

Carla McCall, CPA, CGMA is the 2023-2024 Vice Chair of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA).

Throughout her career, McCall has served in several volunteer roles with the AICPA: AICPA Board of Directors, AICPA Investments Committee, AICPA Audit and Finance Committee, AICPA Political Action Committee, PCPS Executive Committee, and as a member and elected state representative of Council.

She is the Managing Partner at AAFCPAs, a 300-person CPA and consulting firm based in New England. In this role, she is responsible for firm vision and strategy and has been instrumental in driving the expansion of services for clients beyond the core audit and tax, such as client accounting service, wealth management, robotic process automation, IT & cyber security, system selection & implementation, and data analytics.

Throughout her almost three decades at AAFCPAs, McCall launched multiple professional growth and inclusion initiatives including: the Zip2CPA licensing accelerator program, E3 Intern Accelerator Program for underrepresented populations, the Women’s Opportunity Network (WON), Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, Innovation Lab, Changemaker Challenge and the firm’s Automation Initiative.

She was named one of the Most Powerful Women in the Accounting Profession (2020-2021 and 2022) by the AICPA and CPA Practice Advisor Magazine and appeared on the National Managing Partner Elite List by Accounting Today (2020).

Prior to joining AAFCPAs, she worked for West Hartford-based Filomeno & Co. PC, a CPA and business advisory firm.

McCall has a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Bentley University and received the inaugural Harry C. Bentley Alumni Achievement Award in 2017. She is former chair of the board at the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants and remains committed to serving as an ambassador of the CPA profession. McCall also commits a great deal of her personal time to mentoring young professionals and women. She has dedicated countless hours to community service serving on nonprofit boards, including SheGives | Boston, The Jordan Porco Foundation, and Strong Women, Strong Girls.

Simon Bittlestone, FCMA, CGMA
Deputy President, Chartered Institute of Management Accountants

Simon Bittlestone, FCMA, CGMA, MA Oxon
Simon was elected CIMA Deputy President on 13 June 2023. He first became a CIMA member in 2009 and was admitted to fellowship in 2016. Simon is an active ambassador and supporter of CIMA and the Association, currently serving on CIMA Council and the Association’s Board of Directors. Alongside these voluntary positions, Simon has supported CIMA’s brand and profile-raising activities amongst large businesses through the Tomorrow’s CFO Programme, an initiative which delivers CFO-focused seminars, roundtable meetings, and thought leadership on the future of finance.

Anoop Mehta, CPA, CGMA
Immediate Past Chair, Association of International Certified Professional Accountants
Immediate Past Chair, American Institute of CPAs

Anoop N. Mehta, CPA, CGMA

Mr. Anoop Natwar Mehta, CPA, CGMA, is the Immediate Past Chair of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA).

Over his career, Mehta has served in several volunteer roles: the AICPA Board of Directors, the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (Association) Board of Directors, the AICPA Business and Industry Executive Committee, the AICPA Political Action Committee and AICPA Council.

Currently, he is the Chief Strategist for Analytical Mechanical Associates, Inc. (AMA). AMA has worked with government and commercial organizations solving the toughest engineering, science and business problems. Mehta provides expertise in key areas of anoopmehta771@gmail.com business development, strategic planning, and operational improvements across AMA.

Mehta stepped down as the president of Science Systems and Applications, Inc. (SSAI) in June 2021. In his role, he led the executive management team and oversaw the overall performance of the company. He had the day-to-day responsibility for managing, planning, and implementing strategic goals of the company. With more than 40 years of experience in government contracting, he actively supported NASA and NOAA programs in an executive management capacity for SSAI. Mehta joined SSAI in 1980 and helped the company to grow from a two-person company to more than 1,000. The company achieved profitability above target levels each year during his tenure.

Mehta was the Chair (2012-2013) of the Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants (MACPA). He serves on the Government Contractors Committee for the MACPA and chaired the committee for two years (2001-2003).

Mehta is a former board member and past president of the Maryland Space Business Roundtable. He is also a seventh-degree Master Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do and has been teaching martial arts and operating a karate school for the past 35 years.

Mehta has a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of Maryland, College Park. He also serves on the Board of Advisors for the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and Accounting and Information Assurance Department

Melanie J Kanaka, FCMA, CGMA
Immediate Past Co-Chair, Association of International Certified Professional Accountants
Immediate Past President, Chartered Institute of Management Accountants

Melanie J Kanaka
Melanie was elected 89th CIMA President and Co-Chair of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants on 22 June 2022. She was the first-ever Asian woman to be appointed President of CIMA and Co-Chair of the Association. During her one-year term, Melanie focused on reinforcing the accounting and finance profession’s commitment to being a trusted adviser for their organisations and serving the public interest. In addition, she championed the profession’s need to continuously upskill and reskill to meet ever-evolving market demands. Melanie also put strong emphasis on inspiring younger generations to join the dynamic profession, advancing the profession’s digital skills and capabilities, and the importance of fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion. She was succeeded by Sarah Ghosh, FCMA, CGMA.

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