2023 COCPA Accounting Educators Conference

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.

Associate Provost, Heidi Blair, joined Regis University as the Director of Instructional Design and Technology in June 2019 from Griffith University in Australia. In the last ten year she has led the collaborative development of innovative solutions to that meet challenges related to student learning and academic development with an eye to instructional design, technology and iterative development

An educator with 30 years teaching experience between higher education and K-12, Heidi has taught kindergarteners to doctoral students. Designing engaging learning experiences which leverage the possibilities of current and emerging technologies to meet the diverse needs of learners is near and dear to her heart. Heidi has a BA in Early Childhood Education from UNC-CH and a MA in Learning and Instructional Design and a PhD in Educational Technology both from Arizona State University.

During her career, Heidi has led a multitude of cross-disciplinary initiatives at multiple universities in the United States and in Australia. Her current inquiry foci are the impact of personal learning environments on students, learner self-regulation of learning and the impact of an iterative development methodologies on staff leadership skills, developer self-efficacy, relationship development and deliverable acceptance.

Heidi C Blair, PhD
Associate Professor, Associate Provost of Academic Affairs,

and Director, Instructional Design and Technology

3333 Regis Blvd., Denver, CO 80221 G-7
P 303.964.6354 | E hblair002@Regis.edu | REGIS.EDU

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.

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.”

G. Suzanne Owens-Ott, CPA, DBA, is a Professor of Accounting at Colorado Mesa University and the Interim Academic Head for the Davis School of Business. She draws upon her years of experience as an auditor in public accounting at Deloitte and private industry accounting at Sprint Corporation as well as her formal education and continuing professional education to bring the best instruction to her students in the classroom and fellow CPAs for CPE. She is a licensed certified public accountant in Colorado and serves as a member and current chair of the Colorado Board of Accountancy appointed by Governor Polis. She has formerly served as CMU Faculty Trustee, COCPA Educational Foundation Board member and Grand Junction Airport Audit and Finance Committee member to name a few.