On the move: Brady Martz installs new CEO

October 4, 2024 2:40 PM

Regional Leader Brady Martz has installed its new CEO, Stacy DuToit; ConvergenceCoaching has opened its annual holiday exercise program; Citrin Cooperman names its new partner class; the Florida Institute of CPAs has named a new chief growth officer; PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts the holiday; and other firm and personnel news from across the accounting profession.

ALABAMA

Gerry Kassouf

Gerard Kassouf, a director at Kassouf & Co. and Kassouf Wealth Advisors, has been named one of Money Magazine's Best Financial Planners.

ARIZONA

Jay Lohman

K Ivan Martinez Photography

Jay Lohman, the founder and president of Lohman Co. PLLC, Mesa, is retiring. He founded the firm in 2000; it has been named one of the Phoenix Business Journal's Top 25 CPA firms every year since 2003. Lohman himself received the Centers of Influence Award from AZ Business Magazine in 2008. The firm will recognize both Lohman's retirement and its 25th anniversary in November.

CALIFORNIA

Michelle Muth Ausburn

Michelle Muth Ausburn and Porter Loud have joined Moss Adams, Santa Rosa, as assurance partners. Both are returning to the firm, Muth Ausburn with over two decades of experience serving food, wine, and agriculture companies, and Porter after working with the SEC as a professional accounting fellow in the Office of the Chief Accountant.

FLORIDA

Jim Gurowka

Jim Gurowka has joined the Florida Institute of CPAs, Orlando, as chief growth officer. He joins the institute after 19 years as a senior vice president at the Institute of Management Accountants, where he helped triple the association's membership and revenue.

Michael C. Hall has joined the Pensacola office of Saltmarsh Financial Advisors LLC as a director. A Certified Financial Planner, Hall brings more than 20 years of experience working in financial services, most recently as regional manager for Charles Schwab & Co.'s Mid-South Region.

INDIANA

Zack Raubuck

Zack Raubuck has joined Katz, Sapper & Miller, Indianapolis, as director of integration and special projects. Most recently, he served as the director of events at USA Track & Field, where he managed more than 50 national championship events annually, including the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Separately, the firm recently promoted 24 employees to manager: in tax, Sara Arizi, Juliana Caronia, Logan Cobb, Nick Feldman, Maddie Fleet, Debora Girardo, Kyle Krause, Emma LaVelle, Spencer Leazier, Dianna Nichols, Ellie Phillips, Mark Picard, Trevor Scharpenberg, Chase Thierne and Jacob Watrous; in audit, Matthew Daily, Logan Garza, David Layman and Natalie Makowski; in advisory, Jordan Kassing, Nicki Ramey, Dan Roach and Scam Schwenk; and in operations, Arlene Mahaney.

MARYLAND

Eric Wendler

Eric Wendler, director of business development at Brown Plus, received the Joyce K. Smith Leadership in Community Engagement Partnership Award from the Maryland Business Roundtable for Education. Since 2013, Wendler has donated over 80 volunteer hours to MBRT, engaging more than 1,080 students across seven school districts. Separately, Radostina (Tina) Ganeva has been named a tax associate in Brown Plus' Frederick office.

NEW YORK

Maura Hodge

Rob Fisher, who has been leading the sustainability practice at KPMG, is taking on a new role as the U,S, consulting sector leader for financial services and insurance. Maura Hodge will be taking over as the new KPMG US sustainability leader.

Citrin Cooperman, New York City, announced its 2024 partner class, effective Oct. 1: In business advisory solutions, Shekhar Basnet and Joseph Talluto; in forensic, litigation & valuation services, Jennifer Cohen and Ajay Mishra; in business process outsourcing, Melissa Davis; in private client services, Christopher DeFilippis; in audit and attest, Paige Jacobsen, Deepak Nair and Jason Park.

PwC released its 10th annual Holiday Outlook report, which projects that holiday shopping with swell by 7%, despite more than half of respondents reporting "strained" finances. Almost two-thirds reported preferring debit cards for payments, well ahead of cash and credit cards. Meanwhile, the South's surge in projected spending is ongoing, reaching 29% since 2022.

NEBRASKA

ConvergenceCoaching LLC has opened its annual Holiday Exercise Streak for registration. The streak aims to get participants to complete one mile of running (or the equivalent in other exercise) every day from Thanksgiving Day through New Year's Day. The first 300 participants to sign-up and complete the Streak will receive a complimentary shirt, and firms can sponsor shirts for team members.

NORTH DAKOTA

Stacy DuToit

Stacy DuToit has been installed as CEO of Brady Martz & Associates, Grand Forks, effective Oct. 1, succeeding longtime CEO Todd Van Dusen. A CPA, DuToit had previously served as chief operating officer. She joined the firm as an associate in 2001, and was promoted to shareholder in 2012. "Brady Martz has a long history of strong leadership and I'm honored to be stepping into the role of CEO to lead our incredibly talented and dedicated team," she said in a statement. "We have a solid foundation built by generations of shareholders that came before us. I'm excited for our team to continue to build on that foundation and elevate the impact we have on our clients and the communities we serve."

Eide Bailly, Fargo, has completed the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program to be an Authorized CMMC Third-Party Assessment Organization, which enables it to offer clients consulting and official CMMC certification services, ensuring their compliance with the Department of Defense's new cybersecurity standards.

PENNSYLVANIA

Martina Shea

Martina Shea and Isabel Bowen have joined Brown Plus as an outsourced accounting senior associate and an administrative assistant, respectively, with Shea in the Hanover office and Bowen in the Lancaster office.

Jeanettee M. Hassis and Corey S. Robinson have been admitted to the partnership at Herbein + Co. Inc., Reading. Hassis has over 25 years of experience serving closely held businesses, their owners, and high-net-worth families with extensive federal, state, and local tax experience, while Robinson is a key member of Herbein's management advisory services department.

VIRGINIA

Stephanie Peters

Stephanie Peters, president and CEO of the Virginia Society of CPAs, Richmond, received the 2024 Leadership Award from the Ruth Coles Harris Leadership Institute in the Sydney Lewis School of Business at Virginia Union University, in recognition of her commitment and dedication to the community, particularly in promoting diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. The RCHLI's namesake, Dr. Ruth Coles Harris, was the first Black woman to pass the CPA Exam in Virginia, and was the founding dean of the Sydney Lewis School of Business.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg

Gurbir Grewal, director of the Division of Enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission, will depart the agency, effective Oct. 11, 2024. Sanjay Wadhwa, the division's deputy director, will serve as acting director, and Sam Waldon, the division's chief counsel, will serve as acting deputy director.