Ken recently retired after a successful career with JCPenney. During his career, he heldvarious positions of increased responsibilities, most recently in charge of IT audit activities and staff responsible for auditing and monitoring IT infrastructure and the Company’s privacy programs. Professionally, Ken served on several committees for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). He currently serves as Vice Chair of the AICPA Privacy Task Force, a member of the AICPA’s Board of Examiners, and an editorial advisor for the Journal of Accountancy. Ken serves on the Advanced Technology Committee for the Institute of Internal Auditors. He was co-author of GTAG- Managing and Auditing Privacy Risks and the soon to be released GTAG – Fraud Prevention and Detection in an Automated World. Ken is a Certified Internal Auditor, Certified Information Technology Professional and Certified Public Accountant. He is a member of the AICPA, Arizona Society of CPAs, AND THE Institute of Internal Auditors.
Until his retirement in October 1996, Mr. Boyars had been the Department of Education’s Regional Inspector General for Audit in Regions IX and X for sixteen years. During his 35-year career, Mr. Boyars worked for a variety of federal government audit agencies and a California county.
Mr. Boyars is active in his profession. He is a member of the California CPA Society and was a long-time Chair of his chapter’s combined committee on Accounting Principles and Auditing Standards and Government Accounting and Auditing. He served on the Qualifications Committee of the California State Board of Accountancy for three years. Mr. Boyars is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Government Financial Manager, a Certified Fraud Specialist and a Certified Internal Auditor. He is a past Chair of the Western Intergovernmental Audit Forum and often served as chair or co-chair of its subcommittees and roundtables. Mr. Boyars is a past President of the San Francisco chapter of the Association of Government Accountants. He continues his active participation in his local Chapter. Mr. Boyars is an experience trainer and has taught for numerous organizations, (such as the Association of Government Accountants, the Institute of Internal Auditors and state CPA societies), the Republic of the Marshall Islands and Management Concepts, Incorporated. He received AGA’s National Education and training award for 1998.
Mr. Boyars is the primary author of the Association of Government Accountant’s study guide for Course 3 of the Certified Government Financial Manager: Governmental Financial Management and Control. The study guide was issued in the summer of 2004.
Mary Khoshmashrab, M.S.B.A, CPA
Mary is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and also a member of California Certificated Public Accountant (CalCPA). She obtained her Master’s of Science of Business Administration with a concentration in Taxation and has over 10 years of government auditing experience. Her experience as an auditor includes financial statement audits of troubled school districts, city and other local mandated compliance audits, and special project audits including audits done on state grant programs known as “pork project” grants, healthcare audits, and utility audits. Additionally, Mary has worked for the Attorney General’s Office in the False Claims Section where she performed reviews and investigations of corporations where potential fraud may have been committed. Mary is an instructor for the UC Davis Extension program and provides professional consulting services where she performs reviews of internal control and reviews to implement fraud prevention and detection tools within IT systems. In the past, Mary has also provided instruction for CASA.
Dr. Marilyn Prosch, CIPP Professor Arizona State University
Dr. Marilyn Prosch has been on the ASU faculty for nine years, teaching principally in Accounting Information Systems and Data Protection. Prior to joining ASU faculty, she was a faculty member at Lehigh University for 10 years. She received her BBA from University of Houston and Ph.D. from Temple University. She serves on the AICPA/CICA Privacy Task Force which developed GAPP (Generally Accepted Privacy Principles). Her areas of interest include internal controls, accounting information systems, and data protection. Dr. Prosch holds the CIPP (Certified Information Privacy Professional) certification. She has met with or spoken to the US Department of Commerce, US Federal Trade Commission, National Association of Secretaries of State, and the Arizona Auditor General’s Office on the subject of GAPP, as well as conducted various research studies on privacy breaches and GAPP. She has published in The Accounting Review, Journal of Forecasting, Journal of Information Systems, Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting, International Journal of AIS, International Journal of Digital Accounting Research, Research in Accounting Regulation, International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Journal of Accountancy, Artificial Intelligence in Accounting and Auditing, CPA Journal, Management Accounting Quarterly, Journal of Accounting Education, and Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management, among others.
Mr. Steinwert has over 28 years of audit experience focused on state and local governments. He has conducted and managed a wide array of engagements including financial statement audits, performance audits, and attestations. In addition, he has written audit guides for California CPA's, provides continuing education courses for several governmental organizations, and teaches auditing and accounting for American River College. Currently managing compliance audits throughout California, Mr. Steinwert brings a practical perspective to applying audit standards in the work most state auditors perform.
Mr. Luis F. Hernandez, Certified Information System Auditor (CISA), has more than 28 years experience in the field of audit and management and is a leading authority of modern information system auditing. He holds bachelors degrees in Accounting/Business Administration and in Computer Science. He is the founder of the Audit Re-Engineering and Training Institute (ARTI) and has authored and federally copyrighted dozens of targeted course programs. Highlights of his career in the Accounting, Auditing and Training fields include: Cost Accountant for a company in Chicago, Illinois, which specialized in miniature connectors for NASA”s Apollo Space Program, IT Audit Management positions with: various Multi-national and National Banking institutions, Manufacturing, Financial, Food and Restaurant organizations such as Pillsbury and Burger King, and Freddie Mac. Director of Latin and European Operations for a leading international training organization, his company’s customer list includes: ISACA, government agencies at Bogota Colombia SA, Chile SA, Costa Rica CA, England, Portugal, US Federal agencies, and Canadian Auditor General.
Charles (Chuck) Hester, Sr. served as the Western District Inspector General and Audit Manager for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) until his retirement in 1995. Chuck is currently an instructor for various organizations, including Graduate School’s Government Audit Training Institute in Washington, DC, and the Pacific Islands Training Institute in Honolulu, HI; the California and Oregon Societies of Certified Public Accountants’ Educational Foundation and for various chapters; the National Association of State Accountants, Controllers and Treasurers; various Chapters of the Institute of Internal Auditors; the California Association of State Auditors; and the Association of Government Accountants’ Education and Research Foundation. Chuck also serves as a Special Consultant for the Asian Development Bank, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Palau and for various CPA firms, including KPMG and Nuñez & Associates. In addition, Chuck has served as the Team Leader for External Peer (Quality Control) Reviews for numerous national, state and local audit agencies.
Chuck is a member of various professional auditing and accounting organizations and has written several articles that have been published in professional journals. Chuck is Certified in Financial Forensics by the AICPA. In California, Chuck currently serves as member of the Qualifications Committee for the California Board of Accountancy. Chuck was also appointed to the State Bar’s Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation, the Contra Costa County’s Emergency Medical Care Committee, and the County’s Transportation Authority Citizen’s Advisory Committee. In the past Chuck has served on the Disciplinary Board of the Oregon State Bar and to the Oregon Boards of Geologists, Engineers and Land Surveyors.
Chuck is the recipient of the Faculty Excellence Award from the USDA Graduate School. Chuck has also received numerous other awards including the Jack Birkholz Leadership Award presented by the Western Intergovernmental Audit Forum and the Education and Training Award presented by the National Association of Government Accountants.
Dave Irish is the Director of Finance for Sacramento County, which includes the statutory offices of County Auditor-Controller and Treasurer-Tax Collector. Dave has over twenty-five years of governmental accounting, auditing and financial management experience.
Dave graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and received his Master of Business Administration from California State University, Sacramento. He has served as an adjunct instructor at both national University and the University of California, Davis Dave has been an instructor for CASA for over 15 years.
Dave has served as former Chair of the State Association of County Auditors’ Audit Chief Committee, past-president of the Western Intergovernmental Audit Forum and their representative to the National Intergovernmental Audit forum in Washington, D.C. Dave currently is the Treasurer of the California Association of Treasurer and Tax Collectors and is a member of the State Association of County Auditors’ Legislative Committee.
Manuel Pereira
Manuel Pereira is a Certified Fraud Examiner and a Certified Reid Institute Interviewing and Interrogation expert. He has served for 8 years as a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigating high-level white-collar crime matters with an emphasis in employee theft and public corruption cases. Manuel speaks regularly to business and government investigators, auditors and employee relations professional on fraud prevention and issues relating to employee ethics violations and is a contributing author in the Fraud Casebook – Lessons from the Bad Side of Business published by Wiley and Sons.
Vicki Quarte
Vicki Quirarte has over 20 years experience as a teacher, writer, and speaker. Vicki’s own company is called Sierra Writing Seminars, and she partners with other training organizations to teach writing in the workplace. Vicki has a long list of California State Agency and other public and private sector clients who she not only satisfies but delights with her ability to entertainingly deliver writing courses that ensure results. She teaches an array of customized classes and has been teaching audit-writing classes for many years. Vicki is a requested keynote speaker and frequently speaks at events where she inspires her listeners to become workers of distinction. Vicki is a published writer and is passionate about writing and teaching others how to write with excellence.
Cheewa James
Cheewa James, the owner of Horizons Speaking Services, is a professional trainer and speaker with a B.A. in communications, She has served both the business sector and government for over twenty years. Her background is in television where she has won multiple awards and acknowledgements. She can be seen currently on KVIE, Channel 6, Sacramento, as a television on-air commentator. James is an author with several books in print. She is dynamic and innovative speaker who shares her unique perspectives in the fields of communication, management, team building, and customer/client service.