42nd Annual Accounting & Auditing Conference

A native of Brookland (Craighead County), Baker holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Arkansas, where he also earned a master's degree in agricultural economics. He joined Arkansas Farm Bureau in 1977, working in the commodity division. He later worked as director of governmental affairs, where he provided oversight and strategy for all lobbying, policy development, agency monitoring and political education efforts.

In 2013, he was named executive vice president of Arkansas Farm Bureau. He retired from the organization in 2015. He is a member of the Arkansas Society of Association Executives, the Arkansas Society of Professional Lobbyists, a member of Blue Rock Sportsman’s Club and the Arkansas Alumni Chapter of Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity.

Baker founded Capitol Concepts, LLC, in 2016 to provide executive leadership, lobbying and management services to achieve clients' public policy and organizational goals. Since August of 2016, His clients include the Arkansas Society of CPAs, the Arkansas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners, Arkansas Society of Association Executives, and Arkansas Veterinary Medical Association.

• Education o Bachelors of Science in Business Administration (Major in Accounting) from Arkansas Tech University o Masters in Business Administration from University of Arkansas at Little Rock
• Worked at Legislative Audit for over 10 years o Performs audits on Universities, School Districts, Counties, Municipalities, and Information Systems o Selected as a lead auditor in Legislative Audit’s initial implementation of Auto Audit and PPC and again utilized in this role during the migration to ProSystem Fx and Knowledge Coach
• Certifications o Certified Public Accountant o Chartered Global Management Accountant o Certified Fraud Examiner o Certified Internal Auditor
• Memberships and Positions Held o Arkansas Society of CPAs ? Secretary of Western Arkansas Chapter ? Governmental Accounting Conference Task Force o American Institute of CPAs ? Graduate of 2017 Leadership Academy o Association of Certified Fraud Examiners o Institute of Internal Auditors o Butterfield Church ? Board Treasurer
• Hobbies o Spending time with my wife Emily, son Brody, and daughter Channing o Hiking and running

Janine is a Senior Manager in PwC’s Forensic Services practice based in Dallas, TX. She has 12 years of experience in providing forensic accounting, corporate investigation, and risk management consulting services.

Janine serves clients in a variety of industries to prevent, respond to, and emerge from fraud and crisis events. She specializes in the design and execution of response and prevention strategies related to crises stemming from regulatory investigations, SEC and DOJ litigation, FCPA/UKBA violations, corruption, earnings manipulation, and other internal/external frauds or allegations of frauds/unethical behaviors.

Janine also has significant experience in helping clients develop their compliance and risk management programs in response to merging fraud and regulatory risks and threats facing domestic and multinational organizations.

Janine graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas with a master’s degree in Accounting. She is a Certified Public Accountant in Texas, United States. Janine is fluent in English and Chinese Mandarin

No Biography Available

With more than 20 years at BKD, Cindy leads BKD’s IT Risk Services national practice group, which comprises IT security and internal controls auditors in offices across the firm. IT Risk Services provides corporate governance services of risk assessments, SOC readiness, SSAE 18/SOC exams, internal audit and Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) consulting as well as a suite of cybersecurity solutions: cybersecurity risk assessments, advanced threat and vulnerability testing and social engineering, incident response and investigation, business continuity resilience, policy and procedure creation and awareness training for employees and boards of directors.

She is a CPA, Certified Internal Auditor® (CIA®), Certified Information Technology Professional (CITP), Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and a National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) Governance Fellow.

Cindy currently serves on the Board of Directors and Finance Committee for the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, the University of Arkansas Little Rock College of Business Advisory Board and the Delta Dental of Arkansas Board of Directors a member of the Finance Committee and chairs the Audit and Risk Committee. She is a member of the Founder’s Circle of the Arkansas State University Women’s Business Leadership Center providing scholarships and mentoring for women.

Cindy is a graduate of Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, with a B.S. degree in accounting.

Brian Ettehad has been a CPA with Frost PLLC for over 15 years. His experience includes audits of various governmental and non-profit organizations some of which are subject to single audit requirements under OMB A-133. Other areas of experience include food processing, agriculture, manufacturing, construction contractors and other commercial entities. These entities consist of privately held corporations, cooperatives, and entities that file with the Securities and Exchange Commissions.

Sarahbeth Vasgaard has been a CPA with Frost PLLC for 13 years and has been a senior manager at Frost PLLC since 2019. Her primary focus and expertise is providing assurance services for various governmental and non-profit organizations some of which are subject to single audit requirements. Sarahbeth is involved with a variety of engagement duties: planning, supervision, managing staff reviews, research, and financial statement reviews. Other industries in which she works with is food processing, manufacturing, and financial institutions.

Dr. David Ashby, CFP®, CPA, is the former Peoples Bank Professor of Finance at Southern Arkansas University. He is the founder and a managing member of Mustard Seed Wealth Management, a financial planning and fee-only investment advisory firm. He is a previous recipient of the SAU Faculty Excellence Award for Teaching, the SAU Faculty Excellence Award for Research, and was the 2012 University Honor Professor. He has previously served on numerous committees of the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards in Washington, D.C., and published papers in several professional journals. He was awarded the 2015 Distinguished Achievement in Accounting Education award by the Arkansas Society of CPAs.

Experience Financial Planner & Managing Member Mustard Seed Wealth Management Magnolia, AR May 2002 – Present
Professor Emeritus Southern Arkansas University Magnolia, AR August 1992 – May 2015

Education Louisiana Tech University
University of Mississippi DBA Doctorate Business Administration, Finance
Master of Business Administration (MBA), Finance 1992 – 1996
1977 - 1978 Southern Arkansas University Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), Accounting 1974 – 1977

Organizations National Association of Personal Financial Advisors, Member Arkansas State Board of Public Accountancy, Member

Sherry Chesser, CPA, is a partner at Thomas & Thomas LLP and serves as the designated quality control partner of employee benefit plans and partner in charge of the bond compliance department. Sherry’s current client base represents various industries, including governmental and nonprofit entities, and employee benefit plans. With over 25 years of experience in public accounting Sherry has not only developed significant audit expertise, but she also works closely with clients throughout the year to consult with them on best practices related to issues that are unique to their situation or industry. Sherry graduated from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Arkansas, with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting. She is licensed to practice as a Certified Public Accountant in Arkansas and is a member of the AICPA and the ASCPA. Sherry is currently serving on the Arkansas State Board of Public Accountancy and has served as a member of the ASCPA Peer Review Committee. Sherry currently serves as treasurer for a nonprofit organization and a finance committee member for another nonprofit organization.

Tim Montgomery, CPA, CISA, is an investigator with the Arkansas State Board of Public Accountancy. He graduated from the University of Houston – Downtown with a BBA in Accounting in 1992 and passed the CPA exam in 1993. Throughout his career, Tim has been the Internal Auditor for USAble Life in Little Rock, Accounting Manager for Airborne Nacelle Services in Hot Springs and Comptroller for a supply company in Pencil Bluff. He has also spent time as an Internal Audit and SOX Compliance Consultant. Before moving back to Arkansas in 2013, Tim was the Internal Audit Director for Dyersburg State Community College in Dyersburg, Tennessee. He lives in Cabot, AR with his wife Charlotte and they have four children, ages 24, 22, 18, and 8.

No Biography Available

No Biography Available

Randy is one of the original founding partners of DD&F. He has been involved in all phases of bank consulting since 1978 and under his guidance, DD&F has been annually ranked among the top financial advisors for M&A in the United States. In his career, Randy has functioned as Principal or Senior Consultant for hundreds of bank and thrift mergers, including traditional holding company and subsidiary acquisitions, branch and whole bank transactions. He is actively engaged in FDIC-assisted acquisitions for clients around the country, providing strategic services for boards and shareholders, assisting clients with early loss-share buyouts with the FDIC and providing insight to bankers around the country. He has also served on the faculty of Barret School of Banking in Memphis, TN since 1998. In his spare time, Randy loves nothing more than to drive his John Deere tractor around his farm in Monticello, Arkansas, frequently giving rides to his 20+ grandchildren. He can also be spotted at Razorback football games around the South with his wife, Donna.