Convention Speaker Biographies
Carla McCall, CPA, CGMA
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. 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).
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.
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.
Chris Kuehl
Dr. Chris Kuehl is a Managing Director of Armada Corporate Intelligence and top economist keynote speaker. He provides forecasts and strategic guidance for a wide variety of corporate clients around the world. He is the chief economist for several national and international organizations – Fabricators and Manufacturers Association, National Association of Credit Management, Finance, Credit and International Business and the Business Information Industry Association. He is also the economic analyst for several state accounting societies – Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Kansas.
Harriet Turk
For more than 20 years, Harriet has been inspiring teens and adults to discover their true identities and pursue a life of substance. She has worked as a probation officer, youth programs coordinator, flight attendant, pharmaceutical sales rep, college-level instructor, and nationally-known professional speaker, trainer, and consultant. Harriet is also a mom, friend, sister, and daughter. When she was a teen, Harriet struggled with her own identity crisis. She fell into the trap of feeling like she had to be perfect. This led to an eating disorder that took years to overcome.
Harriet’s life experiences have taught her that success and happiness come from celebrating who you are and pursuing a life that honors your strengths and abilities. Because her stories and experiences come from real life, Harriet’s message is authentic, relatable, and compelling.
Michele Kemp
Michele Kemp, CPA began her public accounting career at BKD, LLP, the 11thlargest CPA firm in the country. As a Manager, she met her spouse and in accordance with the nepotism policy, left to start her own firm. She began as a sole proprietor and established the The KEMPFirm, LLC. Michele has over 22 years’ experience in public accounting. She has spent a significant portion of her career specializing in governmental and not-for-profit organizations. She currently provides training to organizations related to audit requirements and procedures, leadership and ethics, federal regulation and compliance, internal controls and COSO certifications, operating processes and business practices, and fraud prevention and awareness. In addition, she works with a number of organizations assisting with systems analysis, internal control and operating reviews, implementation and conversion projects, general business consulting and liaison for management during the audit process.
Doug Van Der Aa
Doug is a lively and energetic speaker – especially on the subject of taxes and ethics. He has been a highly rated speaker and seminar leader for CPA Associations and other organizations throughout the country for more than 15 years. Doug has over 25 years of professional experience, including tax practice in CPA firms and the practice of transactional business and real estate law as an attorney. As a CPA, Doug’s practice concentrated on the tax needs of closely held businesses, with their related pass-through entities, complex individual returns, estates and trusts. Doug is an avid sailor and lives with his wife Mary and three children in Byron Center, Michigan.
Tommy Stephens
Tommy Stephens received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree (Major in Accounting) from Auburn University in 1985. In 1992, he earned a Master of Science degree (Major in Finance) from Georgia State University in Atlanta. Presently, Tommy is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Information Technology Professional, and a Chartered Global Management Accountant.
In 1995, Tommy began authoring and presenting continuing professional education courses to accounting and finance professionals. In 2003, he affiliated with K2 Enterprises, and in 2007, he joined the firm as a partner. Over the past twenty-seven years, Tommy has presented over 2,800 educational sessions to over 71,000 participants throughout the United States and Canada. Tommy maintains professional memberships with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Georgia Society of Certified Public Accountants. Additionally, he is a past member of the Institute of Internal Auditors.
Amanda "Jo" Erven
Jo is the President and Founder of Audit. Consulting. Education. LLC., a firm specializing in progressive internal audit, risk, and ethics consulting along with providing impactful CPE courses to organizations. Jo is also a full-time, accounting faculty member at Metropolitan State University of Denver as well as the Director of Internal Audit Education for the University. Jo pushes the envelope of traditional assurance and advising practices.
Personally, Jo is known for her proactive nature as well. After finding out she was positive for the breast and ovarian cancer gene mutation (BRCA1), Jo underwent multiple preventative surgeries. She believes knowledge is power and encourages others to take action in their personal lives. Jo’s second book, Your Road. Your Choices., begins with a look at her story and exploring how we can each choose to embrace adversity. Jo’s third book, Becoming The Everyday Ethicist: Doing Things the Right Way the First Time, is based on her personal and professional life experiences as well as her ethics research and studies. Jo is passionate about ethics and all her presentations provide individuals with the keys to living an ethical life, show leaders how to display integrity and earn trust, and demonstrate the importance of ethics) in all organizations. Jo's motto says the most about her personal and professional outlook: Good things come to those who wait but don’t. You deserve better than good. Every one of her books and presentations focuses on that proactive stance, and how we can immediately connect our actions to our values.
Ann Dolence
Ann promotes nationally and locally that creativity, playfulness, laughter, and celebrations of life are nature’s way of re-energizing and re-vitalizing ourselves. Once we remove the obstacles that conflict and negative attitudes produce, we are sure to obtain our goals. Simple techniques implemented daily can make these positive life qualities of success available to everyone.
Ann draws her training and presentation material from her professional knowledge but also from real-life experiences. Having always had a passion for running. Ann has participated in distance running races for the past 27 years. She believes in life, like in going the distance in running, training is the key to performance. You must focus on the finish line, stay on course and believe you will reach your goal one step at a time.
Judson Laipply
Judson Laipply M.Ed, CSP is an enigma wrapped in an anomaly contained inside a quandary. Combining comedy and content, laughter and learning, energy and engagement Judson gives his audiences both immediate joy and lasting impact. He helps audiences understand the difference between change and evolution while teaching them to embrace struggle, engage choice, and ultimately evolve. He’s been featured on the Today Show, Ellen, Oprah, GMA, and more. He is the world’s first YouTube Celebrity and his finale The Evolution of Dance has over a billion impressions and was the first video ever to hit 100 million views. He’s been speaking and performing for over 20 years and has been all around the globe. He is also an Ironman Triathlete, terrible singer, and reformed Kool-Aid eater.
