Brad Baptiste has served as the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) Manager for OSHA in Region VIII since June of 2004. Region VIII includes the States of North and South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah. Brad has been with OSHA since 1991, and he has served as an Industrial Hygienist, a Safety Compliance Officer, and as a Team Leader in area enforcement offices. Brad received a BS in Biology from Texas Christian University and a Masters in Public Administration from Louisiana State University. In addition to his passion for employee safety and health Brad enjoys spending time with his wife, two children, and two dogs. Spare time finds him fly-fishing or enjoying traditional archery.


Jeff Belden

Jeff is a Certified Public Accountant and audit director with Deloitte & Touche LLP.  He began his career in public accounting in 1987, and has over 20 years of experience providing accounting and auditing services to closely held businesses and public companies in the financial services and gaming industries, and to Federal, state, and local governments during his career with Deloitte & Touche LLP.  Jeff serves as a regional subject matter resource for Deloitte & Touche LLP in the areas of alternative investments and accounting and auditing of investments reported at fair value in within an entity’s financial statements. 

Rena Breeding

Rena K. Breeding is the President of Compensation & Benefits Strategies, Inc. d/b/a Benefits Integrity, a third party plan administration (TPA) and investment firm for qualified and non-qualified plans for businesses of all sizes, located in Denver, CO. Benefits Integrity is a national TPA for defined benefit and defined contribution plans for MassMutual Life Insurance Company, Transamerica Life Insurance Company, Hartford Life Insurance, American Funds, MFS, ING and Lincoln National Life Insurance Company.

Our mission is to establish the standard for integrity within the employee benefit plan industry by assisting in improving our clients' strategic business positioning through competitive plan designs, investment diversity, extensive reviews of plan regulatory compliance, and integration of people, technology, and business systems.

Rena has twenty-nine years of experience managing, designing and administering employee benefit programs including health and welfare groups, defined benefit plans (including 412(e)(3) plans), 401(k) and ESOP plans, top hat plans, executive compensation plans and other deferred compensation arrangements. She has strong technical knowledge complemented by a record of success in marketing and delivery of retirement plan services.

Rena received her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS. She has also received an Associate of Arts degree in Accounting from OWENS TECHNICAL COLLEGE, ROSSFORD, OHIO. She has earned her CEBS designation from the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She as also earned her Accredited Investment Fiduciary through the Center of Fiduciary Studies. She is a past President for the Colorado Chapter of the International Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialist.

Hank Brown

Hank Brown holds the Quigg and Virginia Newton Endowed Chair in Leadership at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is also President Emeritus of the university, having served as the institution’s 21^st president from 2005-08.

Brown previously was president and CEO of the Daniels Fund, a billion-dollar foundation established by the late cable entrepreneur, Bill Daniels.

Before the Daniels Fund, Brown served as the 11th President of the University of Northern Colorado. Before becoming UNC’s President, he served Colorado in the United States Senate (elected in 1990) and five consecutive terms in the U.S. House representing Colorado’s 4th Congressional District (1980-1988). He also served in the Colorado Senate from 1972-76.  

Brown was a vice president of Monfort of Colorado from 1969 to 1980. He is both an attorney and a certified public accountant.

He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from the University of Colorado in 1961 and served as CU’s Student Body President. He earned a Juris Doctorate Degree from the University of Colorado Law School in 1969. While in Washington, Brown earned a Master of Law Degree in 1986 from George Washington University. In 1988, he passed the exam to become a certified public accountant.

Brown served in the U.S. Navy from 1962-66. He volunteered for service in Viet Nam and was decorated for his combat service as a forward air controller. The Colorado native and his wife Nan live in Denver. They have three adult children, Harry, Christy, and Lori; and three grandchildren.

Patty Brown

Patty manages the project resources practice of Two Degrees in the Seattle market. Her team of highly skilled Principal Associates provides project-based services and executes client driven plans primarily for enterprise businesses. Her role is strategic management of the practice, management of engagements, business development and recruiting and managing principal associates.

Patty started the practice in September 2002. She manages a team of 100 professionals, most who have worked in public accounting and are Certified Public Accountants and/or have had successful careers as financial managers in private industry.

Patty has 17 years of audit, financial management and project management experience with Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Fisher Communications, Content Technologies (now Clearswift), Bidpath, Microsoft, Safeco and Washington Mutual. She has served in senior and executive management roles and has experience in managing accounting and finance teams, designing the accounting and finance infrastructure of start up technology companies, implementing Tier I financial systems, acquisitions integration, reporting to Board of Directors and winding down businesses.

Patty graduated with a BA degree in Business Administration with an Accounting emphasis from Washington State University.

Keith Davis

Mr. Davis is the founding member of Davis & Associates, P.C. in Golden, Colorado. He has been an attorney for more than 20 years and is licensed to practice law before the Colorado Supreme Court, United State Claims Court, and United States Tax Court. Prior to practicing law, Mr. Davis practiced as a Certified Public Accountant with Coopers & Lybrand (now PriceWaterhouse Coopers) and held an executive position with a Fortune 100 company. Mr. Davis has also served as an adjunct faculty member in the MBA programs at American University in Washington D.C. and the University of Colorado at Denver.

Mr. Davis concentrates his practice in the areas of wealth transfer and preservation. This includes general estate planning, sophisticated tax planning, charitable estate planning, private foundations, family limited partnerships, asset protection planning, exit planning, and business continuation planning.

Amy Duclos

Amy Duclos started Colorado Corporate Search, LLC in 1996 from the breakfast nook of her kitchen with her puppy, George, by her side. Since then, the company has placed several hundred professionals in financial and accounting positions around the greater Denver area. Per Amy, "Colorado Corporate Search, LLC would be listed as one of the top ten permanent placement firms in Colorado if we ever completed the forms necessary for inclusion in the Denver Business Journal rankings."

Amy is the Strategic Career Development Instructor at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado at Boulder and is a regular speaker at the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Financial Executives International. She received her Bachelors of Arts in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1993.

L. Frank Edelblut

Frank Edelblut, founder and CEO of Control Solutions International will be speaking on the changes to PCAOB Auditing Standard No.2 and its impact on your company.  Frank is an internationally recognized speaker on internal audit and corporate governance, and is frequently quoted by the business press on the topics of control, compliance and corporate governance.

James D. Evans

Jim Evans has been in private practice serving clients in Aurora, Denver, Greeley, and the Front Range communities since 1979. He has been helping clients in matters involving estate planning, wills, trusts, tax planning, retirement planning, incapacity issues, guardianships, conservatorships, trust settlement and administration, probate, business succession planning, and charitable giving.

South Texas College of Law: 1979, Juris Doctorate. Georgia State University: 1975, Master of Business Administration; 1976 Master of Governmental Administration. Master Advocate Program, National Institute of Trial Advocacy: 1991. University of Denver: 1974 BA.

Carla Elam-Floyd

Carla Elam-Floyd is the Manager of Human Resources for Denver Water. She has overall responsibility for activities related to recruitment, hiring, employee relations, affirmative action, benefits, training, human resources information systems, and health promotion. She is also an adjunct professor for Webster University where she teaches courses in Human Resources Management, Staffing and Organization Development.

Carla has spoken to a variety of audiences on human resource management, organization development, diversity and personal development issues.

Carla holds a MBA from the University of Phoenix, a BS in marketing and BA in French from the University of Colorado in Boulder, and a degree in French literature, government, and translations from the University of Bordeaux in Bordeaux, France. Carla is also a Certified Fraud Examiner and a Certified Internal Auditor. She is an active member of her church. Carla was raised in Colorado Springs, Colorado and has traveled extensively in the United States, Western Europe, Australia, China, Japan, Mexico and Eastern Africa.
 

Eugene F. Ferraro

Eugene Ferraro has been a corporate investigator for more than 27 years. A specialist in investigating employee dishonesty, theft, fraud, and criminal activity in the workplace, he has conducted thousands of investigations for employers throughout the United States. He also is a published author and speaks frequently on the topics of workplace investigations and crime in the workplace.

Ferraro is a former military pilot, intelligence officer and a graduate of the Naval Justice School. He is a frequent book critic for Security Management and authored Investigations in the Workplace, which is currently used as a textbook by universities and organizations across the country.

Ferraro is board certified in Security Management (CPP designation) by ASIS International and has served as the chairman of its Workplace Substance Abuse Council. He is a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners and is a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) and faculty member. He holds a Professional Certified Investigator (PCI) designation and is a member of the National Council of Investigation and Security Services (NCISS).

Ferraro holds a bachelor of science degree from the Florida Institute of Technology.

Gaylen R. Hansen

Gaylen Hansen has over 30 years of experience in SEC accounting, auditing and reporting and is an audit partner at Ehrhardt Keefe Steiner & Hottman. Gaylen is a member and immediate past president of the Colorado State Board of Accountancy and the Mountain Region Director of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy where he serves on numerous advisory committees, including Strategic Initiatives and International Professional Standards.

In addition, Gaylen is a member of the Professional Ethics Executive Committee, a senior AICPA technical body charged with promulgating and enforcing ethics and independence rulings. He is also a member of PEEC’s network firm and significant public interest entity task forces that are charged with converging U.S. ethics standards in those areas with IFAC’s. In addition, he is an appointee to the Standing Advisory Group which advises the PCAOB on auditing and related professional practice standards.

Gaylen is a graduate of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and holds an MBA in international business from California State University, Fullerton. He has lived in Colorado since 1979 and currently resides in Evergreen.

Don Heilman

Don has over 20 years of experience in employee benefits with over six years at Gallagher Benefit Services, Inc.  He previously managed health programs for a state government.  With a BS in Mathematics from UND, being a frequent public speaker and an author of numerous publications, Don's fields of expertise include self-funding, flexible benefits, paid time off designs, retiree health benefits, consumer drive health and health advocacy. 

Bill Hubbell

Bill Hubbell is an experienced senior executive with a background in Finance, Marketing and Operations for multinational companies in both manufacturing and service industries.  His career includes a wide range of assignments in industry and with management consulting firms.  Bill is currently a Business Strategy Consultant for Microsoft.  Bill helps clients understand how best to use the software solutions they have licensed from Microsoft to increase organizational productivity and efficiency.  He does this by helping clients to:
   Identify and document key corporate capabilities and business processes
   Identify, quantify and prioritize opportunities for significant process improvement in
   terms of:
     Quality
     Cycle-time
                               Productivity
                               Customer satisfaction

                            Lead developer teams that implement projects which achieve business process
                            improvement and measurable business value

Kelly Hughes

Kelly Hughes is a director with the Technology Risk Management Services group. Mr. Hughes specializes in providing payment card industry (PCI) security compliance services, network and information security reviews. Kelly also provides Statement of Auditing Standards #70 (SAS 70) audit services and Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) information technology (IT) compliance services private and public client throughout the United States.

Kelly has over 13 years of information systems consulting experience. Prior to joining RSM McGladrey in 2005, Kelly worked for one of the largest transaction payments processing companies in the world, where he managed the global PCI compliance project, coordinated multiple SAS 70 audits and was the project lead for the SOX compliance efforts at two business units. Additionally, Kelly worked for five years with a Big Four firm, where he was involved with information security penetration reviews, project management for security architecture implementations, IT internal audit engagements and SAS 70 audits. Kelly began his career as a federal bank regulatory working for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).

Professional Certifications • Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) • Qualified Data Security Professional (QDSP) certification • Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA)—Information Systems Audit and Control Association

Education University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Bachelor of Arts in Accounting

Kevin Jacobs

Kevin Jacobs, MPA, has a broad range of experience and expertise including:  Human Resources Management, Occupational and Compensation Specialist, and Education and Personnel Management.

Kevin’s career began in 1987 at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he had earned a BA in Sociology.  He received his MPA from the University of Colorado School of Public Affairs and enjoys writing and presenting on human resources and public policy topics.

Our speaker, Kevin Jacobs is a “dynamic and captivating speaker” on this topic.   A fifth generation Coloradan, he lives in Broomfield with his wife, Susie, and daughters, Sophie and Hannah. Kevin is also an active volunteer in school, church, non-profit and other community organizations and currently holds a position on the Broomfield City Council.

John L. Langhus

John Langhus is an adjunct professor at DU’s Sturm College of Law, in addition to his full-time job working as a corporate and securities lawyer for Forest Oil Corporation in Denver. As Senior Counsel for operations, he has broad responsibility for operational legal matters and transactions, primarily mergers, acquisitions and divestitures.

Langhus has spent most of his life in and around the energy industry. The son of a geologist, he grew up in Calgary, Oklahoma City and New Orleans following his father into the oil fields whenever he could. In college, he worked as a Special Assistant to the Oklahoma Secretary of Energy, where he performed the foundational research for nation-leading policies concerning the prorating of natural gas production.

Following law school, Langhus spent nearly five years working in Melbourne, Australia for the international law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell where representative clients included three of the four Australian national commercial banks, various international investment banks, and over a dozen of the world’s leading natural resource companies including Shell Australia, Apache Australia, BHP Billiton, Western Mining and Woodside Petroleum. Langhus also worked on behalf of and opposite several sovereign entities.

When he is not working, Langhus lectures on topics relating to resource scarcity and the related energy crisis, serves as Treasurer of the Evergreen Jazz Festival, and has been seen on the Center Stage in Evergreen, performing with his wife Jennifer in several musicals with the Evergreen Chorale.

Kim Machol

Kim has been in the Principal Associates program at Two Degrees since June 2007. She is currently on her second client assignment, which is scheduled into 2009. Both assignments have involved SOX project management and planning.

Kim has 19 years of financial accounting and auditing experience, is a CPA/CIA and has been involved in SOX implementations since 2004. Kim’s background includes Big 4 public accounting and international banking and finance. As a Vice President at JP Morgan, she managed foreign exchange translation, foreign exchange and derivatives, federal reporting, foreign branch GAAP implementations, and emerging markets. She also spent 4 years as the VP of Internal Audit in Zurich, Switzerland, with responsibilities over commercial and private banking. Kim is a member of the IIA, CSCPA and AICPA and is serving on the RMAC organization committee.
Kim graduated with a BS in Accounting from the University of Denver.

Victoria J. Marschner

Victoria is a Certified Public Accountant, with a Masters of Taxation from University of Denver. Her areas of experience include individual, small business, corporate and partnership tax planning and preparation, estate planning and inheritance tax return preparation, tax research and opinion, business consulting, tax accounting, corporate and partnership tax accounting and financial accounting instructor. She has over 25 years of accounting and tax experience and has working industry as well as public accounting. Her recent interest is public speaking with the Gear-Up Seminar circuit.

Perry Mattern

Perry is a Managing Director – Investments at Wachovia Securities, LLC and is based out of the firms Cherry Creek office.  He received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Dakota with a major in Financial Management and is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER(TM) Professional. He has earned the Certified Investment Management Analyst designation through The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania which is sponsored by the Investment Management Consultants Association. He was also awarded the title Executive Planning Consultant (EPC) after completing extensive training by the firm and the College for Financial Planning, focusing on corporate executives in the area of SEC rules and regulations that govern insiders, strategies concerning concentrated positions, stock options, restricted stock and taxation issues. Perry currently serves as an instructor of continuing education for Certified Public Accountants at the University of Denver Graduate Tax Program.  Additionally, he is an NFLPA Registered Player Financial Advisor.  He resides in Evergreen with his wife, Stacy, and children, Lauren and Nicholas.
 

Kevin O'Brien

Kevin O’Brien is a CPA and attorney teaching as an associate professor in the Business Ethics and Legal Studies department of the Daniels College of Business. He has an advanced degree in taxation at New York University and served as a revenue agent for the Internal Revenue Service. His research interests involved professional ethics, legal liability associated with employment decisions, whistle blowing, technology/electronic commerce, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, and the science of teaching. Professor O’Brien teaches principally the portal Values Based Leadership course that analyzes the key executive decisions from ethical and legal points of view.

Brent Peterson

Brent Peterson is a principal in the audit service area of EKS&H and has been involved with publicly traded and privately held businesses since 1989. He provides accounting and advisory services to clients in a variety of industries, including oil and gas, manufacturing, insurance, software and high-technology. Brent also specializes in Securities and Exchange Commission reporting and has assisted many companies in public and private security offerings, as well as merger and acquisition and due diligence.

Brent graduated cum laude and has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with emphases in accounting and marketing from the University of Colorado.  He is an active member of various professional and community organizations.

Larry A. Rosipajla

Larry Rosipajla, CPA, CFE, is a Senior Manager in Clifton Gunderson’s Denver office. Mr. Rosipajla’s experience has focused on providing consulting in civil matters with particular emphasis and specialized expertise in forensic accounting, fraud investigations and internal control evaluations. He has also directed many financial investigations, which have included FCPA violations, alter-ego analysis, lease/loan fraud, embezzlements, and financial reporting frauds; and he has represented clients in financial reporting matters under investigation by the SEC and the Department of Justice. He has performed and led many assignments in the accounting and auditing areas, conducting numerous audits, compilations, internal control reviews, acquisition reviews, and other related financial statement examinations. He performed these services with public as well as private companies and in a variety of industries, such as construction, professional service, automotive, manufacturing, travel, high technology, and computer software/hardware.

Mr. Rosipajla is a graduate of California State University—Fullerton with two Bachelor of Arts degrees in Accounting and Management Information Systems.

Mr. Rosipajla is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), licensed to practice in the states of Colorado and California. He is also a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Denver’s Daniels Business School.

Susan Spancers

Susan Spancers started her own financial services business in 1989.  She has earned six professional designations and has over 500 clients.  In addition to handling retirement and individual investments for clients, she also offers fee and no-fee financial planning services, life insurance, disability protection, nursing home coverage, annuities and medical insurance.  She is currently serving on the board for ASWA and has held numerous other committee chair and board positions for other State of Colorado, civic and professional organizations. 

Michael Spangle

Michael Spangle, Ph.D., University of Denver, provided training for a wide variety of organizations including J.D. Edwards, Time/Warner, I.B.M., the American Diabetes Association, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Coors Brewing, The National Association of Realtors, the Denver Convention and Tourist Bureau, and the American Water Association. He is a specialist in organizational communication and conflict management.

Professionally, he served 16 years as a Chaplain in the U.S. Navy Reserve, as well as Director of Graduate Studies in Communication and Conflict Management at the University of Denver, and Director of Undergraduate Faculty at Regis University. Currently, he serves as a Professor of Communication at Regis University where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in decision making, leadership, negotiation, and conflict management. He has co-authored three books and a dozen professional journal articles.

Marilyn Sudbeck

Marilyn Sudbeck, CPA is a Certified QuickBooks Trainer, one of about 12 in the US. She is certified in all versions of QuickBooks including QuickBooks Financial, QuickBooks Point-of-Sale and QuickBooks Enterprise. She is a member of Intuit’s Retail Solutions Provider Program (about 180 members), Intuit’s Enterprise Solutions Provider Program (about 80 members) and Intuit’s Accountants Speaker Program (about 90 members). In May 2004, QuickBooks prepared a case study of Marilyn’s work with the Point-of-Sale system and mailed the information to 70,000 accountants across the United States. She is also a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, Certified Advanced QuickBooks ProAdvisor and a member of the Sleeter Group Certified QuickBooks Consultants.

Marilyn is a CPA in private practice. The primary focus of her business is consulting and individualized training in QuickBooks. Since she does not do taxes, audit or write-up, she frequently works with CPA firms without being in competition with them.

She has been using and teaching QuickBooks since 1996 and teaches a monthly QuickBooks class at the New Horizons Computer Learning Centers in Broomfield and the Denver Tech Center.

Marilyn has a bachelor’s degree to teach math from the University of Nebraska, master’s degree in Advertising Management from the University of Denver. Her coursework for her CPA license was taken at Metropolitan State College.

Donna Sylvester

Donna brings extensive healthcare experience and 10 years as a core faculty member of Society of Certified Senior Advisors to her current role as an eldercare consultant, educator and owner of My Senior Shopper.  She helps families access information and resources needed to support aging parents in their homes or in transition to alternate living spaces.  Her special interests include hospice and end of life planning and she is a hospice volunteer for Front Range Hospice.  My Senior Shopper provides customized services for individual clients at home as well facility activities that allow residents to ‘shop where they are’ for clothes and personal items.

Rosemary Weiss

Rosemary Weiss began her career in public accounting in 1964 with the international CPA firm of Coopers & Lybrand, LLP (then Lybrand, Ross Bros. and Montgomery.)  After five years, Ms. Weiss started her own firm, Weiss & Company, where she practiced for 21 years before merging with Coopers & Lybrand, LLP in  1990.  In 1997, she retired from public practice.  Ms. Weiss is a past president of the State Board of Accountancy and was a member of the Board from 1986 to 1999.