Pathway to Academia Webcast Panelists

Pathway to Academia for Accounting Professionals
Free Video Webcast, No CPE

Learn more about the webcast and watch the archived version!

Moderator

D. Scott Showalter, Professor of Practice, North Carolina State University

D. Scott Showalter is a Professor of Practice in the Department of Accounting at the Poole College of Management, North Carolina State University.  He joined the faculty in 2008 after retiring from KPMG; where his 33-year career as a partner spanned numerous local, national and global roles.  He teaches primarily at the graduate levels including auditing, accounting and tax research and sustainability.  He also teaches undergraduate auditing.  In addition to auditing, his research interests include sustainability reporting.  Scott is currently a commissioner of the Pathways Commission, member of the PCAOB Standing Advisory Group, board member of the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board and two AICPA taskforce on sustainability.  He is active in the American Accounting Association having served as the President of the Auditing Section and as an AAA executive committee member.

Speakers

Richard R. Clune, Jr., Associate Director, School of Accountancy, Kennesaw State University

Dr. Richard R. Clune, Jr., CPA, CIA, has been teaching full-time at Kennesaw State University (KSU) since 2002, upon his retirement as an audit partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). While teaching at KSU, he earned his doctorate from Case Western Reserve University. Along with his primary teaching responsibilities in auditing and internal auditing, he also serves as the Associate Director of the School and the Director of the Internal Audit Center. He presently serves on three Boards: the Atlanta Chapter IIA Board of Governors, Board member and Audit Committee member for a wholly owned US based life insurance subsidiary of a multi-national corporation, and Board member and Treasurer for Southeastern Guide Dogs, Inc., a non-profit based in Florida.

Marvin M. Phaup, Professorial Lecturer and Research Scholar, The George Washington University

Marvin teaches federal budget concepts, accounting, process, and policy; conducts research; and provides consulting services. Prior to joining the Trachtenberg School in 2007, he headed the Financial Studies/Budget Process group at the Congressional Budget Office and was adviser to a member of the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board. His research focuses on improving federal policy by increasing the relevance, timeliness, and value of federal budget and financial information. His early work contributed to the development of the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990, which changed the budgetary basis of accounting for direct loans and loan guarantees from cash-basis to accrual. He serves on the Board of Trustees, Ferrum College, Ferrum, VA where he organizes the Annual Public Policy Forum and on the Board of Directors of Public Financial Publications, inc. publishers of Public Budgeting & Finance. He has received the S. Kenneth Howard Award for Lifetime Achievement in public budgeting and finance from the Association for Budgeting and Financial Management, the National Distinguished Service Award from the American Association for Budget and Program Analysis, and an honorary Doctor of Laws from Roanoke College in 2014 for service to the College and the nation thorough his contributions to public policy.

Frank K. Ross, Visiting Professor of Accounting, Howard University

Frank K. Ross is Director of the Howard University School of Business Center for Accounting Education and a Visiting Professor of Accounting teaching Auditing and Ethics. In October 2014, Frank was the recipient of the AICPA’s prestigious Gold Medal Award for Distinguished Service. In 1968, Frank was one of the nine co-founders and the first President of the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA).

Frank has also written a book about his life as an immigrant and successful certified public accountant (CPA) entitled, “Quiet Guys Can Do Great Things, Too: A Black Accountant’s Success Story.”  He is currently a member on the Board of Directors of Cohen & Steers Mutual Funds Group (Chair of Audit Committee). In addition, he currently serves on the board of the Howard University Chartered Middle School for Mathematics and Science (Treasurer).

Cynthia E. Tessien, Reznick Group Faculty Fellow and Professor of Practice, Wake Forest University

Cynthia teaches undergraduate financial and managerial accounting, where she won the 2014 T. B. Rose Fellowship for teaching Innovation. She and her husband Bill own and are Executive Directors of A Step Ahead Academic Center, a learning community providing tutoring and multi-sensory instruction for pre-school through college students. Before joining Wake Forest, Cynthia worked at Inmar, Inc., an intelligent commerce solutions provider for retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers, serving as CFO, President and COO, and CEO, and also at Ernst & Young. A Certified Public Accountant and member of the AICPA and NCACPA, Cynthia earned her B.S. in Accountancy from Wake Forest University. Cynthia and Bill have three children, Genya, 25; Billy, 13; and Tommy, 11. The Tessien family is active in numerous charitable and service organizations, and won a New Horizons award from the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation in 2014 for their vision of extensions to the Foundation’s innovative Kids in Parks program. With their cousin, Cynthia and Bill also co-founded Enrich the World, Inc., an educational support organization for school children and their teachers in an environmentally protected region of Honduras.

Samuel C. Weaver, Professor of Practice, Lehigh University

Samuel Weaver, Ph.D., CMA, CFM, is a Finance Professor of Practice at Lehigh University after an extensive career with Hershey Foods as Director Financial Planning and Analysis. He is a dedicated finance professional with experience in finance, accounting, and corporate development. A distinguished professional whose background includes: merger, acquisition, and divestiture evaluations; strategic planning and financial forecasts; and various applications of financial analysis including value based management and performance measurement, cost of capital studies, capitalization structure, capital expenditure analysis, divisional analysis, and industry comparisons. In the past four years, he has won five various MBA teaching awards. He is a co-author of two Executive MBA books and an MBA-level textbook as well as the sole author of The Essentials of Financial Analysis (Mc-Graw Hill) and numerous articles.  He consults and provides professional education to a variety of organizations.  In summary, a professional and pragmatic individual who can synthesize theoretical concepts to the practical, organize and resolve complex situations, and effectively communicate them with financial and non-financial professionals.

*Participating organizations include the Institute of Internal Auditors, Institute of Management Accountants, Association of Government Accountants, accounting firms and businesses.