See Me Series: Empowering Excellence: Women in Accounting

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.

Mary-Margaret Henke brings 30 years business experience in financial services and energy and leverages a 3 in 1 combination of finance, technology and regulatory governance expertise. She currently serves as Independent Director and Audit Committee Chair for InBank and private equity backed Paragon Integrated Services (drilling fluids, solids control and environmental services) as well as outside audit committee member for Colorado Public Employees Retirement Association. Previously she served on the Farm Credit of Southern Colorado board as audit committee and risk committee vice-chair.

Mary-Margaret began her career with nearly 10 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Most recently she spent over 12 years at Western Union, a leader in global payment services. During her tenure at Western Union, she held a wide variety of leadership roles with increasing responsibility. She served as Chief Audit Executive navigating the continually evolving regulatory environment and increasingly complex technology landscape. With her passion for learning and development, she led significant advancement in talent development and audit data analytic capabilities. She was also hand selected to take over the critical Settlement Transformation technology program, a multi-year, multi-phased program replacing end-of-life, antiquated systems. She led various other CFO strategic initiatives including the global Oracle and Wallstreet System technology upgrades, enterprise risk management as well as acquisition and integration activities. Mary-Margaret’s other past roles include General Auditor for Janus Capital as well as Assistant Controller at CoBank. At CoBank, she managed the corporate accounting, investment and derivative accounting, financial reporting, and tax units of the controller division. Mary-Margaret received her BS in Accounting, summa cum laude, from the University of Denver and is a Certified Public Accountant. She is married and has three adult children.

Professional Experience

Bridget Kalicki is a Senior Associate of Audit/Attest Services at CBIZ MHM, LLC. Bridget serves various types of entities, specializing in local governments and nonprofits, in both the audit and tax fields. Prior to joining the CPA profession, Bridget worked as a tutor and teaching assistant for accounting courses.

Professional Affiliations

Association of International Certified Professional Accountants – Member

Colorado Society of CPAs – Member

Emerging Professionals Initiative Committee of the Colorado Society of CPAs – Member

Beta Gamma Sigma – Member

Education

Bachelor of Science, Business (summa cum laude) – University of Colorado, Colorado Springs

Masters of Science, Accounting (summa cum laude) – University of Colorado, Colorado Springs

Laura Theiss is a tax partner with Moss Adams LLP. Laura has practiced public accounting since 2003. She partners with clients to provide compliance and tax planning services in real estate, transportation and logistics, manufacturing companies, and professional and closely held corporations.

Laura has worked closely with clients to provide support for transaction structuring, entity planning, recapitalizations, succession planning, and estate and wealth transfer strategies. She began her career at a Big Four firm. She is also Past President of the COCPA Educational Foundation.