Live Stream: Not-For-Profit Conference

Lisa Bellar is a Senior Contract Audit Review Specialist in the Tennessee Comptroller's Division of Local Government Audit. She is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Government Financial Manager, and a member of the division's contract audit review team. In her role she performs technical reviews of audited financial statements for Tennessee's local governments and certain not-for-profit agencies and assists in the review of audit working papers.

Lisa first joined the Comptroller's Office with the Division of State Audit after graduating from Austin Peay State University where she majored in accounting and earned a Bachelor of Business Administration. After moving out-of-state, she held accounting positions at a university, equipment rental company, and tile manufacturing company. She returned to the Comptroller's Office in 2005 and has 22 years of service with the Comptroller's Office.

Since joining Baker Tilly in 2008, Kerri has focused on her main practice area of not-for-profit organizations. She has considerable experience in public charities, membership organizations, VEBAs and private foundations. Kerri's main client industries include senior living, higher education, healthcare and other not-for-profit sectors.

Kerri has a Master in Taxation from George Washington University.

Rebecca is a principal and leads the Grant Compliance Consulting Services team at CLA (CliftonLarsonAllen). She has more than 21 years of public accounting experience and working exclusively with organizations receiving federal grant funding. She specializes in grant compliance, including policy and procedure development, indirect cost rate proposal preparation, and single audits, and also has extensive knowledge in related regulations and requirements. Rebecca also serves as a firm wide assurance resource where she oversees compliance with professional standards, provides technical assistance, and assists with training curriculum.

Richard Gabriele is an assistant project manager with the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). In that capacity, he analyzes technical accounting issues and is responsible for developing potential solutions that contemplate both the needs of financial statement users and related implementation outcomes. Richard primarily focuses on Revenue Recognition (Topic 606) and Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230)

Richard began his career as an internal auditor at the Mohegan Tribe where he built strong foundation in financial reporting, risk management, and internal controls. Early in his career, he also taught a variety of accounting courses at Nichols College.

Prior to joining the FASB, he served as global technical accounting manager at Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment where he led major implementations of accounting standards, including revenue recognition (Topic 606) and lease accounting (Topic 842).

Richard holds several professional designations, including Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the state of Connecticut, Certified Management Accountant (CMA), Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), and many others. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Eastern Connecticut State University and his Master of Science in Accounting from the University of Connecticut.

Erin M. Sparks, CPA has over 20 years of experience in public accounting focusing her time on serving nonprofit clients. Erin's primary background is in audit and accounting, but she has also spent a significant amount of time on tax and consulting issues affecting nonprofits.

Christy N. Tennant is Deputy Director with the Tennessee Comptroller's Division of Investigations. Christy is responsible for overseeing and directing investigations involving fraud, waste and abuse in local governments, state agencies, and other publicly funded entities. Christy has worked with the Comptroller's Office for over 23 years. She has directed investigations, resulting in the discovery of fraud, waste and abuse and the prosecution of public officials and employees. Christy has also worked closely with the TBI, the FBI, local District Attorneys General and local law enforcement groups. A graduate of Tennessee Technological University , Christy is also a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Financial Government Manager and a Certified Fraud Examiner. She provides training to professional groups related to internal controls and fraud.

With expertise in organizational infrastructure, strategic development, and policy building in a unique blend of fields (including cybersecurity, government, and higher education), Jolie Grace understands the importance of cybersecurity to your organizational success. She has a passion for improving security postures in various sectors, and her cybersecurity experience includes founding and leading a statewide electoral cybersecurity initiative (the first of its kind in the nation).

Jolie Grace serves as CEO of protasec, a cybersecurity coaching and consulting firm that exists to serve the information security needs of small and mid-sized businesses and nonprofits. She loves her job, as no two days are the same. Her workdays might entail helping a mid-sized publicly traded company establish a formal incident response plan to remain SEC-compliant, facilitating a cybersecurity awareness training to a room full of attorneys from small law firms, or collaborating with thought partners from across the globe in an effort to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of security measures and reporting processes.

In addition to her professional cybersecurity certifications including the CompTIA Security+ certification, Jolie Grace has served on various community organization boards, is a member of WiCyS (Women in Cybersecurity), and holds a degree in Political Science from Rhodes College in Memphis, TN. In fact, her backgrounds in political science and community advocacy allow her to bring a very relevant geopolitical perspective to cybersecurity.