2024 COCPA Accounting Educators Conference

Larry graduated in 1997 from Fordham University with a History major/Economics minor. He worked on Foreign Exchange and

Fixed Income Sales & Trading desks of various Global Banks including Barclays, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank. Larry also

spent time in the Transaction Banking Divisions, where he worked closely with teams in Treasury, Cash Management, Project &

Trade Finance and Custody.

It was during this time of working in traditional finance where he first learned about blockchain and cryptocurrencies and saw the

potential for this technology. Larry’s passion is to bring awareness and education about how these emerging technologies are

revolutionizing the fields of Accounting and Finance.

Larry Liermann is currently Co-Founder and Head of Sales & Partnerships at MMBA, where he leads the company’s business

development efforts and discussions with strategic partners, including Higher Education Institutions, Enterprise clients, and various

industry organizations.

John W. Masotti, CPA, CMA is the managing partner of Masotti & Masotti, LLC., a CPA Firm founded in 1960. John graduated in 1997 from the University of Connecticut with a Bachelor of Science Degree from the School of Business with a major in accounting. He is a licensed Certified Public Accountant, Certified Managerial Accountant, Certified Bitcoin Professional, and
ertified Ethereum Professional.

John founded the Digital Asset Group within the Firm and he also co-founded MMBA, an education technology startup that creates blockchain accounting courses. John has been involved extensively in the blockchain space since 2016 and was recently granted a patent for a blockchain based payment solution (Patent # US 11,580,520 B2).

Dr. Johnnie Bejarano is a Program Directorate Analyst for the Strategic Energy Analysis Center, with the Alliance for Sustainable Energy. Alliance is the management and operating contractor for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), in Golden, Colorado. NREL is owned by the U.S. Department of Energy and is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center. It is the nation’s primary research and development laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency. At Regis University, he teaches forensic and fraud audit, accounting ethics, governmental and non-profit accounting, financial communication, and other accounting courses. In the local community, he conducts public presentations on anti-fraud and ethics-related topics. In 2022, he earned the Professional Practice Achievement Award, Anderson College of Business and Computing, Regis University, and other numerous teaching excellence awards from other universities. His area of interest is in ethics and anti-fraud mitigation techniques. He holds DBA, MBA, and MA degrees.

He’s a combat veteran with 26 1/2 years of service in the U.S. Air Force, Arizona, and Colorado Air National Guard units. He spent three years as base comptroller at Buckley Air Force Base and was involved in inspector general investigations and reports of surveys as an assistant U.S. property fiscal officer. Over his part-time career, he spent multiple tours in Arizona, Alaska, Florida, New York, Georgia, New Mexico, Wisconsin, HQ/Washington DC, HQ/PACAF Hawaii, and HQ/USAFE Germany. He served a final tour of duty as deputy base commander for support in the Sultanate of Oman during Operation Enduring Freedom in 2002 under combat field conditions. He retired as a lieutenant colonel in 2003.

In 2011, Dr. Bejarano was elected to the Board of Regents of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), which is the largest anti-fraud-fighting organization in the world with over 90,000 members worldwide. At ACFE, he worked with Cynthia Cooper, author, and WorldCom whistleblower. He recently completed a four-year gubernatorial appointment with the State Board of Accountancy. He is also a member of the editorial advisory committee for Fraud Magazine, a board member for the ACFE’s Colorado Chapter, and involved with the American Institute of CPAs, the Colorado Society of CPAs, Association of Military Comptrollers, Government Finance Officers’ Association, and member of the U.S. Golf Association. For fun, he enjoys spending time with his family and two granddaughters, plays golf, loves sports, and is an avid semi-pro photographer. He studied professional photography at the New York Institute of Photography and Digital Photography at Cornell University (eCornell). He is a firm believer in continuous improvement and is an advocate for lifelong learning. “Never stop learning.”

Jennifer is an accomplished sustainability executive and recognized thought leader with more than 15 years of experience leading environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy; programs; and reporting, including 12 years at global real estate companies.

She leads engagements advancing ESG strategy, ESG disclosures, and climate risk and decarbonization initiatives with clients across the country, with a focus on the real estate, hospitality and construction sector.

Jennifer has been named as one of the Top 100 Corporate Social Responsibility Influence Leaders, as well as the Environment + Energy Leader 100.

She has an MBA and an MS in Marketing from the University of Colorado Denver, and a BSE in Chemical Engineering from the University of Iowa. Jennifer is a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) accredited professional and a Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting credential holder.

How Jennifer building a better working world

Jennifer is committed to educating and supporting the next generation of sustainable business leaders. She served as Chair of the Managing for Sustainability Advisory Council at the University of Colorado Denver Business School for seven years and continues to be involved as a member. She established the Jennifer Leitsch Endowed Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarship awards to students in the Managing for Sustainability program at the University of Colorado Denver Business School. Additionally, Jennifer developed and annually teaches Advanced Sustainability, a course that provides an overview of corporate sustainability issues, strategy, measurement and reporting for graduate students at the University of Denver Daniels College of Business.

Jennifer has been actively involved in the evolution of ESG and sustainability reporting standards, having served on both the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) stakeholder council and the SASB sector advisory group.

Falene Young is an instructor of accounting at the University of Colorado Denver. She teaches anything that is set in front of her, which to this point includes business majors and minors, introductory, intermediate, undergraduate and graduate courses, most of financial and managerial accounting, and even a few gritty tax classes. She loves engaging with students in the language of business! Falene works with class sizes ranging from 2 students to 142, and recognizes that there is no “one size fits all” model for engagement and comprehension. Prior to teaching, Falene dabbled in assurance, tax prep and bookkeeping. She received her B.A. in business administration from University of Colorado Denver, her MAcc from Colorado State University, and is proud to maintain her CPA license through the state of Colorado.

Bob is a Regis Alumni who began his academic journey with Regis back in 1983.  He received his Bachelor of Science in Technical Management in 1985, his Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems in 1986, and his MBA in Information Systems in May 1997.  In August 1997, Bob began teaching at Regis as an affiliated faculty and started developing networking, information assurance, and business courses.  He was instrumental in starting Regis’ Information Assurance curriculum into what has now evolved into the Master of Science in Information and Cyber Security.  Bob served as affiliate faculty until August 2019, when he joined Regis as rank faculty as an instructor and the Director of the Center for Information Assurance Studies.

Bob is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) with over 34 years of information assurance and cybersecurity experience.  Before retiring from the federal government in 2016, he served as the Department of the Interior, Interior Business Center’s Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), served for 18 years at the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command where Bob served in various capacities to include the Deputy Chief of Staff for Information Management, the CIO, and as the Command’s Senior Information Assurance Manager.  One of Bob’s greatest contributions was being part of the team that establish the United States Ballistic Missile Defense Network.

I look forward to speaking virtually at the conference.  Please let me know if you need anything else.

Sheila Balzer is an assurance partner with SingerLewak in Denver, Colorado. She works with credit unions, non-profit organizations, employee benefit plans, HUD projects, real estate companies, franchisors, and professional and closely held corporations in a variety of industries. Sheila is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of the University of Denver and holds Bachelor of science and Masters’ degrees in Accountancy. Her professional and civic activities include serving as a member of the Board of Directors of the AICPA, past member of the Accounting and Review Services Committee (standard setting body), past Chair of the Colorado Society of Certified Public Accountants, Board Member of the Colorado Society of Certified Public Accountants, Past Chair of the Colorado Society of Certified Public Accountants Educational Foundation, AICPA Council member, and chairing the Chatfield Senior High and Columbine High School Business Advisory Committee. Sheila was selected as one of six Women to Watch in the accounting profession in Colorado in 2012. Sheila's interests include spending time with her two daughters, coaching two softball teams and reading, as well as, being a diehard Bronco and Avalanche fan.

Oct 2019:

Dr. Sharon Lassar is chair-elect of the Colorado Society of CPAs (COCPA) and the Director of the School of Accountancy at the University of Denver. Lassar chaired the AICPA’s Pre-Certification Education Executive Committee from November 2015 to March 2018 where she steered policy regarding the education requirements to become a licensed CPA. Lassar also served on the Accounting Accreditation Task Force of AACSB International whose work resulted in new standards for accreditation, the hallmark of them being fully engaging practitioners in the accreditation process. She was the 2017-18 President of the Accounting Programs Leadership Group, a 300 member organization of those who manage accounting programs in higher education. Earlier in her career, Lassar was Vice President of the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants, where she directed several key initiatives, including transforming financial literacy and women’s leadership development initiatives into standing programs. She has also served as Minority Issues Chair of the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel, to which she was appointed by Treasury Secretary O’Neil.

Dr. Lassar has taught traditional student and executive audiences in the US, Panama, Mexico, and Macau. Her research has been published in journals such as Journal of Accountancy, Journal of Taxation, Taxes – The Tax Magazine, The CPA Journal, The Journal of Legal Tax Research, and Tax Adviser. 

Lassar earned a Ph.D. at the University of Southern California, a Master of Taxation at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts and a Bachelor in Accounting from West Virginia University.

Pat was appointed Vice President—Chief Accounting Officer and Controller at SM Energy Company in April 2021. Prior to that, Pat held various accounting and finance roles of increasing responsibility since first joining the Company in 2007, including Senior Director, Financial Planning and Analysis and Assistant Secretary of the Company. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Lytle was an Audit Manager with Hiratsuka & Schmitt, LLP. Pat holds a Bachelor of Science in Business – Accounting degree from the University of Kansas and a Master of Science – Accounting Degree from the University of Colorado. Mr. Lytle is a certified public accountant in the State of Colorado.

Luis Paredes is a seasoned accounting professional with a robust background in public

accounting and specialized expertise in the construction industry. He earned both his

undergraduate degree in Accounting and his Masters in Professional Accountancy from MSU

Denver, graduating in December 2018. Luis began his career with CliftonLarsonAllen, one of the

nation's leading professional services firms, where he honed his skills and earned his CPA

License in May 2020.

After several successful years in public accounting, Luis transitioned to a key role as a controller

for a prominent construction company. This experience deepened his understanding of the

unique financial challenges and opportunities within the construction sector. In 2023, Luis

leveraged this expertise to launch his own accounting firm, dedicated to serving the construction

industry.

Luis’s firm offers comprehensive bookkeeping, payroll, and tax services, tailored to meet the

specific needs of construction businesses. His commitment to providing personalized and

professional service has quickly established his firm as a trusted partner for construction

companies seeking reliable financial guidance. With a passion for helping businesses thrive,

Luis continues to drive excellence in accounting practices within the construction industry.

Jamie recently joined the Plante Moran full-time in August of 2023 after graduating with her Master’s in Accountancy from the University of Denver. Jamie is currently in the process of obtaining her CMA and CPA licenses. Jamie has been with the firm since the summer of 2021. She served as an audit intern with Plante Moran in 2021 where she gained valuable experience by preparing audit work papers for retail, health, and sports industries. Additionally, she served as a Risk and Accounting Advisory Services intern and contract staff where she gained valuable

experience addressing clients’ risk needs in the oil & gas, cable, and manufacturing industries. Jamie continues to serve clients in this capacity, focusing on financial risk control assessment, SOX 404 audit-readiness support, and business process remediation. Jamie has also served to document internal control practice processes.

Briana Davine is a CPA and is a Senior Project Accountant at Hines. Briana in an alum from Colorado State University College of Business where she received her Bachelor of Science and Masters in Accounting. After graduating CSU, Briana started her career at Deloitte in the audit practice and transitioned into her new role at Hines as a Senior Project Accountant.