People on the move: EY appoints two vice chairs

CALIFORNIA

Dave Roberson (pictured), CEO of Kukuza Associates, a subsidiary of RoseRyan, was selected as a member of the National Cannabis Industry Association’s Banking & Financial Services Committee, for a one-year volunteer term.

Pete Knight, founder of CheckFree, and Steve Cakebread, who has worked at Salesforce and Pandora, have joined the board of directors at Bill.com.

Tara Wilson, a tax senior manager at Gumbiner Savett, Santa Monica, serves as treasurer on the board of Fostering Media Connections, a nonprofit news organization with a goal to drive reform within the systems that serve vulnerable children, youth and their families.

ILLINOIS

Jim Peko (pictured) was named national managing principal in the advisory services practice at Grant Thornton, Chicago. He succeeds Srikant Sastry, who led advisory services for the past five years of his 15 years with the firm. Peko most recently served as national managing principal of Grant Thornton’s transaction services practice

Josh Andres was promoted to principal at Scheffel Boyle CPAs, Alton, where he has worked since 2006, and is a senior leader on the construction team and specializes in serving governmental agencies and privately held businesses.

MASSACHUSETTS

Lucy Van Laarhoven was hired as a consulting CFO in the managed accounting solutions practice at AAFCPAs, Westborough, while Eva Galves was hired as an executive assistant, and Kristen Saunders was promoted to consulting controller in the MAS practice.

Gray, Gray & Gray, Canton, promoted six employees: Martin Kirshner to director and Abby Rosen to senior staff accountant in the client services department; and Natacha Gomes, Dan O’Connell, Linh Truong and Angela Ly to senior staff accountants in the tax department.

MINNESOTA

Clare Chisholm was hired as the first chief financial officer at Boeckermann Grafstrom & Mayer, Bloomington, overseeing the function for BGM CPAs as well as other entities of the BGM Group, including BGM Wealth Partners, Bridge West, Cornerstone Private Asset Trust Co., Element Technologies and Hunter Advisors.

MISSOURI

Jerry Henderson was appointed regional managing partner for national advisory services at BKD, St. Louis, effective June 1, 2020. Henderson is currently transaction advisory services and performance advisory services managing partner and will succeed Mike Burlew, who will retire as of May 31, 2020. Prior to his current role, Henderson was the national industry partner for BKD’s national manufacturing and distribution group, and he also serves on the firm’s governing board. In other firm news, Abe Cole was appointed regional managing partner for the north region, effective June 1, 2020. Cole is managing partner of the Kansas City, Des Moines and Madison offices, and will succeed Barry Davis, who will retire as of May 31, 2020. Cole has been with BKD for more than 23 years.

Josh Brock (pictured), manager at KPM CPAs & Advisors, Springfield, was named Southwest Chapter chair for the Missouri Society of CPAs.

NEW YORK

Jay Persuad was appointed Americas and US vice chair for risk management, at Ernst & Young, New York, where he has worked for nearly 30 years. He succeeds Ted Acosta, who was named regional managing partner for the Latin America South region. Additionally, John King was appointed EY Americas vice chair of assurance, succeeding Frank Mahoney, who was named EY Americas vice chair for the West Region.