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BIOs OF SPEAKERS FOR VIRGINIA BEACH CONFERENCE Arthur (Art) Auerbach , CPA, CGMA is an independent tax consultant located in Atlanta, GA., specializing in tax consulting and estate and financial planning for individuals and closely held businesses. He is affiliated with the Asbury Law Firm as a consultant. He is a member of the Georgia, Virginia, New York and Greater Washington CPA societies. Art was appointed to the AICPA Tax Executive Committee for a term beginning February 1, 2018 ending May 31, 2019. As an active member of the Georgia Society he serves on the Georgia Department of Revenue Commissioners Advisory Group, the Financial Literacy Task Force and Chairs the GSCPA Federal State Tax Task Force. He has served as an advisor to the District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue and the Tax Commissioners Advisory group in Virginia. Art is currently on the editorial board of the Journal of Accountancy and serves as a member of the Ethics Committee of the Virginia Society of CPA’s. Art is a nationally recognized speaker on a variety of tax topics offered for continuing education for CPA’s and financial planners. He has authored several publications and articles. Art is licensed in Georgia, Virginia, District of Columbia and New York and is a life member of the American Institute of CPA’s. He can be reached at Arthur.Auerbach@cpa.com. Tracy M. Bedgood , CPA, as an audit manager, is responsible for all aspects of the audit process. She maintains an active presence throughout the planning, performing, supervising and reporting stages of the engagement, as well as provides direct communication and value-added services to clients. Tracy serves clients across a wide range of industry groups, specializing in attestation services for the government sector. Attestation services she provides include financial and performance audits, agreed-upon procedures, single audits and compliance audits. With over 13 years of audit experience, Tracy has also guided state and local government entities with financial statement and compliance audits in accordance with both GAAS and Government Auditing Standards, the Single Audit, and the Auditor of Public Accounts’ Specifications for Audits of Counties, Cities and Towns, and Specifications for Audits of Authorities, Boards and Commissions. Prior to joining Cherry Bekaert, Tracy practiced public accounting in Georgia for nearly 10 years. James (Jim) W. Brackens Jr. , CPA, CGMA, is vice president of ethics and practice quality at the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA). His responsibilities include providing strategic and tactical direction for peer review, professional ethics, the Employee Benefit Plan Audit Quality Center and the Governmental Audit Quality Center. Prior to joining the AICPA in 2006, Jim was associated with both international and local public accounting firms including managing his own practice for 17 years in which he served primarily closely held businesses and nonprofit organizations. He also served as a peer reviewer and performed more than 300 peer reviews of local accounting firms. Jim is a member of the AICPA, the North Carolina Association of CPAs (NCACPA) and the Virginia Society of CPAs (VSCPA) and has served in various volunteer leadership positions for both the AICPA and VSCPA including chairing the VSCPA’s Peer Review Committee, serving as vice chair and member of the VSCPA’s Board of Directors and as a member of the AICPA’s Professional Ethics Executive Committee. Through a joint effort of the VSCPA and Virginia Business magazine, Jim was voted by his peers as being one of the top CPAs in Virginia in small business consulting (2001 through 2004) and assurance services (2004 and 2005). In 2004, he was the initial author and primary presenter of the VSCPA’s CPE course "Ethics 2004 — Your License Depends on It!" and continued in this capacity until joining the AICPA. Jim received his bachelor's degree in accounting from Virginia Tech in 1977. Jared D. Brown , CPA, is a director at Brown, Edwards & Company, L.L.P. Prior to joining Brown Edwards, Jared was an owner in a local CPA firm in Bristol, VA. Jared’s client list ranged from the small mom and pop shop to a multinational manufacturing company. Jared has been referred to as a “generalist” at Brown Edwards but he has grown into a tax role. Jared has overseen numerous types of audits for his clients from state sales tax audits to IRS audits. Jared has worked with many clients assisting with state and local tax compliance and utilizes his unique background to focus on providing management and tax consultations, business and tax planning, and tax compliance services. Working with small business has given Jared the opportunity to work through compliance issues related to state and local tax compliance in Tennessee and Virginia but having larger clients has expanded his knowledge base to other states and localities as well. Jared is a graduate of East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, TN. He is currently a member of the Virginia Society of CPAs, the Tennessee Society of CPAs, and the American Institute of CPAs. John Colthart has made clients successful in every major market worldwide during his 17-year career in technology leading world-class sales and professional services organizations. This started after his departure as a corporate finance and accounting practitioner in 2000 so he could grow a startup to 425+ employees and exit to IBM with a role of vice president of sales operations in 2010. During his stay at IBM, John held global roles running sales enablement, offering management and design leadership within the IBM Analytics division. He strives to lead clients to effectively use analytics to change the course of their business. David L. Cotton , CPA, CFE, CGFM, is chairman of Cotton & Company LLP, Certified Public Accountants, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. Dave received a BS in mechanical engineering (1971) and an MBA in management science and labor relations (1972) from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA. Dave chaired the Fraud Risk Management Task Force, sponsored by COSO and ACFE and is a principal author of the COSO-ACFE Fraud Risk Management Guide . Dave has testified as an expert in governmental accounting, auditing, and fraud issues before the United States Court of Federal Claims and other administrative and judicial bodies. Dave was the recipient of the ACFE 2018 Certified Fraud Examiner of the Year Award (“presented to a CFE who has demonstrated outstanding achievement in the field of fraud examination … based on their contributions to the ACFE, to the profession, and to the community”). Krista Edoff, CPA, is a Partner in Cherry Bekaert’s Hampton Roads practice, Krista has over twelve years of experience providing attestation services to governmental, commercial and nonprofit clients. As a member of the Firm’s Government Services industry group, local governments depend on Krista’s expertise in performing financial and compliance audits (including single audits). She also delivers audit, review, agreed-upon procedure and consulting services to middle-market clients within the manufacturing, distribution and retail industries. Krista’s duties encompass all aspects of these services from planning, performing, supervising, reporting and wrapping-up the engagement, to direct communication and value-added services to her clients. Before joining Cherry Bekaert in 2002, Krista was employed in public accounting in Florida and South Carolina, where her primary focuses were governmental accounting and small business taxation. She has been both an internal and external instructor for government-related CPE.