More information coming soon!

With more than 20 years of for-profit and nonprofit fundraising experience, Andy Coe is an equity principal of Convergent Nonprofit Solutions, a national consultancy focused on developing sustainable funding strategies and raising capital for organizations looking to improve involvement and investment from their constituencies. Andy has been personally responsible for thousands of investment requests and raised more than $60 million in 18 states for organizations that are positively impacting local, regional, national, and international communities.

Darren Hulem has more than six years of experience in technology infrastructure, providing supervision, architecture, deployment and upgrading of company computer network systems including hardware, software, servers and mobile devices. As a certified IT professional, he performs both on and off-site testing and set-up as well as monitoring existing technology to determine future network needs. He interacts with staff and management to ensure the efficient application of upgrades and implementation of overall system improvements.

Before coming to GRF, Mr. Hulem worked as a System Engineer at Network Depot and an Applications Analyst for Ricoh USA. He is proficient at assessing and resolving technical and staff needs and provides the comprehensive IT support services necessary to maintain a functional and professional work environment.

David Heinen has been with the North Carolina Center for Nonprofits since 2007, leading the Center’s public policy and advocacy work and providing non-answers (and occasional useful information) about legal compliance, trends in the nonprofit sector, and advocacy to hundreds of nonprofits! Before returning to North Carolina to work for the Center, David spent seven years as an attorney with a Washington, D.C. law firm serving the nonprofit community. He lives in Raleigh with his wife and two young(ish) children.

Eve currently (since 5/1/2019) practices law as Of Counsel at Harmon, Curran, Spielberg & Eisenberg, LLP, a Washington, DC firm specializing in nonprofit organizations. In the preceding 30 years, she operated her own law firm, a national tax and compliance practice dedicated to the nonprofit sector (BAM Law Office LLC). Residing in Minneapolis, Eve from both firms has always worked with nonprofit organizations (NPOs) throughout the country, primarily assisting clients with: tax-exemption qualification, overall exempt organizations (EO) tax planning, non-federal tax compliance (chiefly concerning state law mandates and federal grant reporting obligations), and best management practices. Through 2019, she had represented more than 1,100 EOs before the IRS on audit examinations, status issues, ruling requests, and exemption qualification. Eve equally enjoys IRS controversy work and assisting clients with finding and implementing practical approaches to their tax planning needs or structural and collaborative issues, as well as governance challenges.

Eve also teaches NPOs and their advisors about the world of EO compliance, doing so from her teaching consultancy, Eve Rose Borenstein, LLC. Her love of designing and presenting seminars on “tax rules” is evident, and she is well-known for her Form 990 preparation courses (Eve’s two full-day Form 990 courses were licensed to the AICPA for use in the 2013-2019 CPE-years). This year, Eve developed and introduced 14 webinars on the 990 – 10 of those encompassing a comprehensive “foundational series” (and three for those who have already attained “990-Ninja” status!)

Eve’s teaching has been informed not only by her familiarity with federal tax precepts and other arenas of NPOs’ compliance needs, but by her extensive professional committee involvement. She was a key private-sector participant with the IRS in the preceding decade’s redesign of the Form 990; is an active participant in the American Bar Association’s Tax Section EO Committee; liaisons to the AICPA’s EO Tax Resource Panel; and is Co-Chair of the TEGE Exempt Organizations Council’s TIC-TAQ Committee (the latter brings EO tax advisors into colloquy with the IRS EO Division Director and Chief Counsel (EEE)’s Officials three times a year). In championing the sector’s goal of compliance without complexity, Eve works tirelessly to bring feedback to the IRS on exempt organization forms, procedural issues, and need for improved guidance and regulations. Her goal has always been to ensure that “NPOs (have the tools to) do it right the first time!”

Among the many honors Eve has received in the last decade are her presentation of invited testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight in their July 2012 hearing on the IRS’ oversight and use of the Form 990 (she was introduced as “Queen of the 990”!), and being honored with the 2018 Outstanding Nonprofit Lawyer Award by the American Bar Association’s Business Law Section.

Jada is a highly acclaimed engaging facilitator and speaker who has trained thousands globally in how to communicate clearly, how to become more efficient members of a team and how to be more culturally competent. Serving as the lead consultant of Social Designs Consulting, Jada is the go-to person that organizations seek after to enhance the workplace environment by helping co-workers become unified with a sense of purpose and vision, which in turn boosts productivity, decreases workplace stress, and makes work an all around enjoyable environment to be in.

Jim is a CPA with 30+ years of accounting and tax experience. He started out working for local accounting firms in Dallas, TX, and through the years focused on small business and individual tax. He transitioned to not-for profit accounting about ten years ago. Jim currently serves as the CFO of the not-for-profit Children & Family Services Center in Charlotte. Jim has been in Charlotte for over 20 years, but still claims Texans as his people. He is a marathon runner, loves to travel with his wife Tara, and hates working from home almost as much as he hates liver and onions.

Jordan is a principal with CLA and specializes in assurance services for nonprofit and health care clients. She has served a diversity of nonprofit clients in her ten years with CLA, including: associations, foundations, museums, and social service organizations. In addition, she has managed nonprofit health care clients. She also has experience with single audits and regulatory compliance testing.

Her experience with assurance services includes all phases of audits, from engagement planning to report drafting and engagement wrap-up. She places special emphasis on creating efficiencies in the process in order to determine the best way to perform the audit. She also believes the audit is a window into the organization’s operations and loves discovering additional ways CLA can assist the organization.

Jordan received her Master of Accounting degree from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, as well as her Bachelor of Science in Accounting. She is a Certified Public Accountant in North Carolina.

Jordan serves on the program council and technology committee for the North Carolina chapter of the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA). Jordan also served on the Student Outreach, Advancement, and Recruitment Committee of the North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants (NCACPA), a committee that she was previously chair of for two years. In addition, she has presented continuing education sessions at conferences across North Carolina, including Nonprofit Roundtables for local Charlotte nonprofits. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). During 2016 and 2017, she was awarded the CPA Practice Advisor’s 40 Under 40 award.

Within CLA, she serves on several committees including the Healthcare Quality and Learning Committee and the Healthcare Data Analytics Task Force. She is also responsible for the office’s recruiting initiatives. She has taught audit training sessions at CLA’s new hire conferences in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Judy is a manager of the outsourcing services group at CLA. She is responsible for assisting clients with enterprise system assessment and selection, including ERP, Customer Relationship Management, Human Capital Management, and many industry specific solutions. Additionally, Judy is responsible for providing process improvement, change management and implementation project management consulting services.

Judy has more than 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur and executive level manager in leading ERP and accounting software implementation and consulting firms. She is technically savvy and a quick study in new technologies that improve business productivity and performance, with well-developed leadership skills in the area of system assessment and selection, deployment and migration, with a focus on improving the quality and delivery of business solutions strategically aligned to customer needs.

Rogers joined the Endowment in 1996 after four years with KPMG as a Senior Auditor. Rogers worked for ten years as the Endowment’s Controller and in 2006 was promoted to Treasurer. Rogers is a Certified Public Accountant, and is a member of the North Carolina Association of CPAs and the American Institute of CPAs.

Mac Lillard, CPA, CFE, CISA, CRISC, CITP, PCIP is an Audit & Risk Advisory Services Manager with GRF CPAs & Advisors. He performs a variety of client services, helping organizations to streamline processes and increase efficiency, improve internal controls, implement enterprise risk management to assist in the risk assessment and strategic planning processes, and enhance their cybersecurity posture. Additionally, he sits on committees for multiple nonprofit organizations in order to volunteer his time and expertise to help local charities improve their operations. He has been with the firm since graduating from Clemson University in 2014.

Mr. Lillard ensures that his engagements are completed in a timely and efficient manner. He holds various designations through professional organizations that allow him to provide his clients with added value and a holistic experience on all of his engagements.

Mac Lillard continues his education by speaking at and attending professional seminars related to auditing (internal and external), enterprise risk management, fraud examinations, and information systems control and security.

Marci Thomas, CPA, MHA, CGMA is Director of Accounting Content with Surgent. She is also an author and presenter on various nonprofit, healthcare, and governmental topics to nonprofits, CPA firms, and state societies of CPAs around the country. Marci is a clinical assistant professor in the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She teaches courses in governance, financial management, grants accounting, strategy, and various operational topics. Marci works with numerous accounting firms performing quality control and efficiency reviews, and with nonprofit boards on strategic planning, internal control, and governance issues.

Melisa Galasso is the founder of Galasso Learning Solutions LLC. With over 15 years of experience in the accounting profession, Melisa designs and facilitates courses in advanced technical accounting and auditing topics, including not-for-profit and governmental accounting. She also supports essential professional development, public speaking, and business skills. Melisa closely monitors regulatory bodies for changes in auditing and accounting guidance and serves as a subject matter expert in implementing the updated guidance. Melisa earned the Association for Talent Development (ATD) Master Trainer™ designation. Melisa was appointed in 2016 to the AICPA’s Technical Issues Committee (TIC), which is responsible for monitoring the activities of the various accounting and attestation standard-setting boards and submitting comments and recommendations during the due process phase. Melisa is also currently serving on the Board of Directors for the VSCPA. Previously, she served as President of the Board of NCACPA’s Charlotte Chapter, Chair of the A&A Committee for the NCACPA and held several leadership positions with the VSCPA.

Ms. Musser is a principal at GRF with over 15 years of professional experience. She and her team deliver comprehensive risk-based assessments to help organizations respond to strategic, financial, compliance, operational and IT risks. Her expertise includes establishing, maintaining and optimizing internal controls, compliance, Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), and cybersecurity programs. Ms. Musser is the proud recipient of the 2018 AICPA Information Management and Technology Assurance (IMTA) Standing Ovation award.

Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Musser spent 10 years in public accounting focusing largely on nonprofit organizations. Her career also includes four years in risk management roles for global SEC companies where she led major transformation initiatives such as transitions to shared service centers, cybersecurity, SOX optimization, and the development of an ERM council. Additionally, Ms. Musser spent two years at the University Of Akron where she was responsible for ERP system upgrades and system integrations while also working as an adjunct faculty member teaching micro computer business applications.
Ms. Musser is a proud CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) and has a passion for being of service to the Deaf and Nonprofit community at large. Ms. Musser has sat on numerous nonprofit boards throughout her career and actively volunteers.

Michele Melchior, CPA, is a director in Grant Thornton’s not-for-profit tax practice with nearly 20 years of experience. She assists clients with a variety of compliance and consulting matters, including Forms 990 and 990-PF reporting requirements; governance issues; exemption application; intermediate sanctions compliance; unrelated business income analysis; FIN 48 analysis; joint venture analysis; compensation issues; regulatory issues and IRS matters; and corporate and partnership liquidation and structuring. She works in a variety of areas and industries, including higher education, healthcare, and the general non-profit arena.

Bio coming soon! 

Scott is a Shareholder at Johnson Price Sprinkle PA. and has almost 40 years of experience providing assurance and tax services to a broad range of industries. His work includes agreed upon procedure engagements, peer reviews, audits, reviews, compilations and a wide range of targeted attest services.

His diverse portfolio includes assurance services to various governmental entities, manufacturers, retailers, restaurants and non-profits, just to name a few. Scott also provides tax management services to a variety of industries and enjoys understanding his clients’ businesses to help them achieve their financial goals.

Scott is active in peer review and is a committee member of the newly formed Coastal Peer Review, Inc. administering entity that now includes both North Carolina and Maryland and now administers the peer review program of the AICPA. He also served for many years on the previous NCACPA Peer Review Committee which fulfilled that role previously and is a previous Chairman. Scott performs a number of peer reviews as well each year and serves firms over the southeast in that capacity.