2024 Women’s Summit: Elevating Your Excellence

Amanda “Jo” Erven is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), and the President and Founder of Audit. Consulting. Education. LLC. Jo’s firm specializes in progressive internal audit, risk, fraud, and ethics consulting along with providing impactful training 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’s educational background includes both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in accounting from the University of Georgia. She started her career in public accounting at one of the Big Four firms, experienced a traditional accounting role at a multinational oilfield services corporation, and directed an internal audit function at an international financial services organization. Jo has written and published three books, is a member of many professional organizations, and personally advocates and fundraises for women and men surviving and thriving through breast cancer. After finding out she was positive for the breast and ovarian cancer gene mutation (BRCA1), Jo underwent multiple preventative surgeries (6 surgeries in 22 months!), including a full hysterectomy and a double mastectomy. She believes knowledge is power and encourages others to take action in their personal AND professional lives.

Keely Gohl CPA, CGMA

Keely Gohl obtained her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Accountancy from the University of Denver. The first 14 years of her career were with KPMG – 11 years in the Audit practice, 3 years in the National Industry Learning & Development office. Keely decided to use her experience to give back to organizations who had helped her along the way. She served the University of Denver (in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences divisions) as the Director of Budget and Planning from 2012 to 2016.

She then served the Denver Dumb Friends League as Controller from 2016 to 2018. She went on to serve as the Director of Finance & Administration for a local church that also ran a pre-K through 8 th school. Her service in not-for-profits helped her to realize that many organizations need the expertise of a CPA but do not always have the resources they need to employ one full-time. This led her to form her own consulting business, Favor Financial LLC, to help organizations with that expertise. She launched this is May 2019. This has also allowed her time to re-engage in executive education – which she loves!

She is currently developing and instructing executive education courses for the Colorado Society of CPAs, CPA Crossings LLC, the University of Denver Daniel’s College of Business, and other private clients.

Michelle Kooi is a CPA and professional coach, writer (her first book, "Burn" will be available in February 2025) and speaker, who left traditional public accounting and tax work after 19 years to focus on helping leaders, small business owners and individuals in a way that was more aligned with her values and vision for her life, and where she could have the impact she wanted. As an intuitive guide, she helps women like her to get the support, guidance, self-care, tools and confidence they need to reach their goals without burning out, so they can live and work feeling more aligned and empowered.  She supports them to look at time differently, know and honor their values, harness their superpowers, and learn to set boundaries.  Michelle works with many women who are neurodivergent.  She now balances her coaching and consulting business with a life full of adventure and work she is passionate about instead of tax returns and balance sheets.  She lives in Durango, Colorado and loves to play outside in the mountains, on the trails and on the river. She is a Mom of two grown kids, an avid reader, a personal development junkie, a devoted yogi, and loves to adventure with her life partner, Jimbo, and dog Hiker.

The mouse pad in Brian Friedman’s office bears the image of the figure who first interested Brian in investing when he was 12: Mickey Mouse. Brian had already been learning about business throughout his childhood from his commercial real estate developer father, who furthered his financial education by buying the boy his first share of stock, in Disney, and showing him the shareholder report that bore Mickey’s smiling face.

Brian, who grew up in Denver, earned a BA in Economics at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He also studied for a year in Israel at Tel-Aviv University, learning about the history, politics, and economics of the Middle East. He continued to learn about economics and politics as a research assistant at D.C.’s Brookings Institution and then as an Economic Analyst at the Law and Economics Consulting Group. It was in those years, which included his earning an MBA in Finance and Accounting at the University of Chicago, when he began to develop the economist mindset and theories about global finance that inform his investment philosophy to this day.

Brian brought these ideas to his work as an International Equity Analyst at mutual fund company Founders Funds back in his hometown of Denver, then as a Portfolio Manager at Owen-Joseph Asset Management in San Diego. Seeking a more client-focused approach, Brian returned to Denver and connected with Bob Hochstadt and Steve Levey of Gelfond Hochstadt Pangburn (GHP), which was then becoming one of the first accounting firms in America to expand into wealth management and financial planning. Finding in Brian’s asset management expertise a complement to their own proficiency at tax advising and estate planning, they brought Brian aboard as President and Chief Investment Officer of GHP Investment Advisors.

Since 1999, Brian has overseen GHPIA’s growth from $10 million in assets under management (AUM) to $2.3 billion today. The firm remains guided by investment benchmarks Brian developed in the 1990s, guidelines by which the firm has successfully navigated the extreme market volatility of the last two decades, including the 2000 and 2008 financial crises. Brian has lectured at various local educational institutions, including the University of Colorado at Denver. He has been a frequent radio guest on KOA, offering financial commentary. He’s a board member at the World Trade Center Denver and a former Co-Chair of the Financial Roundtable of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE), as well as a member of the planning committee of NABE’s annual International Symposium in Europe. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and NABE’s Certified Business Economist (CBE) designations.

Brian and his wife live in Denver and have three college- and high-school-aged children. He’s well-known in the community for his philanthropy, his support for education, and his advocacy for Israel. (Brian is also the founder of GHPIA adjunct Israel Investment Advisors, which caters to clients who want to support Israel by investing in Israeli companies.) He enjoys mountain sports and golf.

Brian Lewandowski is the Executive Director of the Business Research Division at the Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado Boulder. Brian provides regional business and economic information and education, including economic and revenue forecasts, policy studies, economic impact analyses, and data workshops. He currently serves on the board of the Denver Association of Business Economists, is the President of the Association for University Business and Economic Research, and contributes to the Governor’s Revenue Estimating Advisory Committee.

Caitlyn O’Neil is a senior tax associate ii at CBIZ. She has been with CBIZ for over six years and worked on a variety of tax returns and other tax issues. The COCPA awarded her with the Everyday Heroine award in 2021 and the Women to Watch Award in the Emerging Leaders category. She was even featured in the Journal of Accountancy about her professional journey as an autistic professional.

n a retiring mode after having sold my financial services firm at the beginning of the year. While in this transition, I reflect back often on the past 20 years since having first passed the Series 7 securities test for step one along the path of life and annuities sales and service, investment analysis and personal strategizing, eventually adding Series 66 and insurance licensing for full-on financial planning, later adding education planning, estate planning (I am NOT an attorney), retirement planning, ERISA plans planning, long term care insurance planning, Social Security and Medicare planning, running a small business within a broker-dealer platform, and generally becoming a financial counselor who asks a myriad of questions with few answers during the first meeting.

These past 20 years were preceded by several years at Prudential Financial in its insurance/investment/financial planning division and nearly 20 years in commercial real estate finance, negotiating mortgage loans secured by office buildings, retail centers, apartment projects, industrial properties and hotels for the likes of Northwestern Mutual Life, Mutual of New York (now AXA), a commercial mortgage banker and an affiliate of Bank One (now Chase).

Earlier I held accounting positions as accounting manager at a small industrial manufacturer and a hospital cost accountant, among others.

I graduated magna cum laude from a small liberal arts college in Wisconsin with a degree in French and a minor in accounting. Needed more classes before I was eligible to sit for the 2-1/2 day CPA exam which night classes provided along with the Becker CPA Review class. Passed on the first sitting. Barely. Still forever grateful.

My mother turned 101 last month. We planned for her to make it to 100. Now I also am somewhat knowledgeable with Medicaid requirements in the state of Wisconsin, that is. You just never know what number crunching you might take on!

Having been through a difficult divorce herself and understanding the emotional trauma, Andrea is devoted to helping men and women with the financial aspects of the process. As she has been a CPA since 1986 as well as a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst, she knows how to help you find and assemble all of the financial information required. She will explain the various angles and possibilities that exist. She will explain the tax impact of decisions to you and ensure that the settlement is equitable.

Andrea will walk with you from sorting through the paperwork, analyzing income and expenses, reading tax returns, financial statements and bank statements, to finding potential hidden assets. She understands complex executive compensation packages and pension valuations. She will assist in completing and understanding the financial affidavit and budgeting for your future. She can mediate as a financial neutral or be support as an advocate during a mediation.

Natalie McVeigh is a Managing Director in the Center for Individual and Organizational Performance and the Center for Family Business Excellence Group within the Private Client Services Group, with more than 10 years of experience as a consultant and coach. She has expertise in domestic and international multinational corporations both public and private, and family owned businesses. Natalie’s role at the firm is working with high-net-worth families to help them reach their personal and professional goals and to assist with the transition issues.

Natalie’s expertise is in complex conflict resolution, with a certificate in mediation, specializing in interest-based negotiation trained at Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation. She has specialized experience in building and developing cohesive teams through utilizing assessments and creating training curricula. Natalie also has expertise in team building, administering and analyzing assessment data, management consulting, developing teams and leaders, board and governance, project management, facilitation, training, systems theory and coaching.

Prior to joining the firm, Natalie was a Family Dynamics Consultant for a private bank and supported ultra-high net worth clients navigating family enterprise transitions and governance structures. She also owned her own consulting and coaching firm that served enterprising families.

Natalie is a frequent speaker on topics of family dynamics, the neuroscience of trust, emotional intelligence, and she is recognized both nationally and internationally. Natalie is involved with various organizations and is the Chairperson for the Family Firm Institute’s Next GEN Virtual Study Group. She is on the faculty at the New York Banker’s Association Trust School, an Adjunct Professor and course developer. Additionally, Natalie is an Americorps alumni.