2019 RGV Student Business Leadership and Networking Conference
March 1, 2019, Hosted by the IMA Texas Regional Council and South Texas College
Location: South Texas College – Technology Campus, 3700 W Military Hwy, McAllen, Texas - B Building Auditorium and Atrium
Parking: Free, parking is open, except for reserved spaces.
Program:
This one-day event provides you a unique opportunity to participate in a wide range of exceptional sessions packed with the information you need to jump start your career and grow professionally. Expect to be challenged. Expect to be motivated. Expect to leave the event with new knowledge and new ideas. You will also get to spend invaluable time with peers, educators, employers, and accounting/finance professionals. It’s a great way to “Power Your Future!".
Agenda – at – a- Glance
08:45 - 09:15 AM Onsite Registration and Sign-in (including Continental Breakfast)
09:15 - 09:30 AM Welcome
09:30 - 10:20 AM Session I – Digital Controllership Trends by Ashley Gibson, CMA, CPA (Manager, Deloitte Advisory, IMA Global Board Member)
10:30 - 11:45 AM Session II – Career and Professional Perspectives by Panel of Accounting and Finance Professionals - Ashley Gibson, CMA, CPA (Manager, Deloitte Advisory, IMA Global Director), Tanya Thirlwall (member IMA Global Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Committee), and Daniel D. Vlaisavljevic, CMA, CPA (Supervisory Special Agent, FBI); Moderated by Tanya Thirlwall
11:45 - 12:00 PM IMA Student and Academic Resources by Jimmie Smith, CPA (IMA D&I Advisory Committee, former IMA Global Board Member)
12:00 - 02:00 PM Session III (lunch will be available during this time) - Networking, Employer/Sponsor/IMA Booths, Resume Reviews
02:00 - 02:50 PM Session IV – Mentoring - The IMA Way by Lynette Pebernat, CMA, CFM, CPA, CITP, CRISC (Senior Application Architect, Vistra Energy, former member ICMA Board of Regents)
03:00 - 03:50 PM Session V - Profession of Many Hats by Bud Kulesza, CMA (CFO, ITT Automotive, former IMA Global Chair)
04:00 - 04:15 PM Drawings and Closing Remarks
Special thanks to South Texas College for hosting this event, and H-E-B for providing the continental breakfast.
Price to attend:
Students/Academics/Others – Early Bird $15 if register and pay by 2/11, Normal $20 2/12 – 2/26 Last Minute $25 after 2/26 deadline or at door
Sponsors (includes up to 3 people) - Early Bird $125 if register and pay by 1/31, Normal $150 after 1/31 deadline or at door, to register go to Sponsor Registration
Cancellations - please e-mail reservations@dallasima.com as soon possible. Refunds will not be made for cancellations made after midnight on Sunday, February 24th. If you do not cancel prior to the deadline, you will not receive a refund for the event. You may alternatively send someone in your place by notifying reservations@dallasima.com.
Sponsors:
Becker Professional Education
Burton McCumber & Longoria LLP
Carr, Riggs & Ingram, LLC
FBI
Gleim Publications
H-E-B
International Bancshares Corporation (IBC)
Wiley CMAexcel
Speaker Bios:
Ashley Gibson is a Manager from the Houston, Texas office in Deloitte Advisory, specifically in Financial Transactions. Ashley is from the Accounting & Reporting Transformation group and focuses on a variety of key issues faced by the Controllership function. Ashley has experience with assisting companies to transform their organization into being more proficient, effective, and insightful. This has been achieved through strategic projects devoted to finance transformation assessments, financial close acceleration, IPO readiness, activity analysis, and controls & process improvement.
Previously, Ashley served many clients throughout both internal and external audits. Ashley has served over 60 clients across a variety of industries, including consumer products; process and industrial products; and oil and gas. Ashley focuses on developing optimal and strategic business solutions that align with each client's specific needs.
Ashley graduated from Southern Illinois University with a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy and a Master of Accountancy with a concentration in Auditing & Accounting Information Systems. Ashley received her MBA from Texas A&M University. She is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) as well as a Certified Management Accountant (CMA).
Ashley is a member of IMA and serves on the Global Board of Directors and the Technology Solution & Practices Committee. Ashley is also a member of the Stuart Cameron McLeod Society within IMA and serves on its Board of Governors.
Bud Kulesza is truly "The Man of Many Hats" Bud is a highly accomplished business professional with outstanding multinational, multi industry experience whose financial expertise, combined with business acumen and leadership skills have led to his success as a CFO of ITT Automotive, a multibillion dollar global company and Chairman of ITT Industries Canada. Bud is a respected leader of the accounting profession as a former Chair of the Institute of Management Accountants, a global accounting association of more than 110,000 members. Bud brings a wealth of knowledge and an entertaining high energy style to all his endeavors. From the boardroom to the podium from the shop floor to the classroom, his direct approach to addressing issues combining knowledge, experience and humor make an impact that is not soon forgotten.
Bud is featured in the book “Leadership, Helping Others to Succeed”, interviews with America’s top leadership experts. He was named by Accounting Today as one of the top 100 most influential persons in Accounting. Bud is the recipient of the 2018 IMA Lifetime Achievement Award. He has numerous publications in accounting journals including Strategic
Finance, CFO.com, Management Accounting, Cost Management and the Journal of Accountancy and has been interviewed on Money Radio and CNBC's Money Wheel. He is a frequent presenter on webinars and conferences and conventions around the world on a variety of topics.
Bud is a life member of the Global Board of Directors of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) and a member of the Financial Executives Institute (FEI). Bud is a CMA and a CFM and earned an associate degree in Accounting from Middlesex County Community College and his bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Rider University. He currently resides in Austin, Texas.
For more information, please visit
www.BudKulesza.com.
Lynette Pebernat is a well-seasoned financial professional with over 30 years of experience primarily in the energy industry. She has held various positions in the finance organization, from Staff Accountant to Assistant Controller and has heavy experience in system implementations and upgrades. Currently, she is a Senior Application Architect in the IT Corporate Solutions Department at Vistra Energy (formerly Dynegy, Inc.) in Houston, Texas, where she and her team provide technical support for the company’s Accounting, Tax, Treasury and Legal applications.
Lynette is a CMA, CFM, CPA, CITP and CRISC. As a member of the Institute of Management Accountants, she has held various volunteer leadership positions in the Houston Chapter and Texas Council as well as serving on the ICMA’s Board of Regents. Currently, she is a faculty member of the IMA’s Leadership Academy. She holds a BBA in Accounting from Evangel University and an MBA from Oklahoma State University.
Jimmie Smith retired from Occidental Petroleum in June 2013 after serving the company for more than 39 years. At the time of his retirement, he was Senior Manager of Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance. Smith also has extensive experience in financial planning and analysis, cost accounting, controllership, and financial management. He is a long-time IMA member and has held numerous chapter, council and global leadership roles. He is an active member of IMA’s Campus Influencer program, Global Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Committee, and was formerly a member of the Global Board of Directors. He received the 2017 IMA Distinguished Member Award and 2013 IMA Exemplary Volunteer Award. Smith holds a BBA in Accounting from Texas Tech University and a M. S. in Accountancy from the University of Houston – Clear Lake.
Tanya Thirlwall is a native from the Rio Grande Valley – she lived in Houston from 2004 – 2017 earning a BA in International Studies and International Development with her minors in finance and economics from the University of St. Thomas and in 2015 received her BBA from UTRGV in Accounting. Her background includes an upward trajectory encompassing diverse leadership management roles in finance and accounting. She has a strong ability to collaborate with C-level executives and internal department heads to achieve the on-going financial goals and objectives of the organization. By helping organization develop their structures she has helped align the strategic direction of the companies she has worked for which include managing the operations for one of the largest Victoria’s Secret store, acting as a controller for her father’s commercial construction company, family office accounting for 2 high net worth individuals whose combined net worth was $350 million and is currently working for McAllen Valley Roofing as the Organization Developmental Specialist.
She is a Director for Texas Council and a committee member of IMA’s Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Committee. She also was the founding President for the IMA Student Chapter in Brownsville when she was a student.
A mom of two boys, her hobbies include traveling, motorcycles, and fashion but her biggest passion is the development of people and businesses.
Supervisory Special Agent
Daniel D. Vlaisavljevic entered on duty as a Special Agent (SA) of the FBI in 1999. From 1999 through 2007, SA Vlaisavljevic was assigned to the Baltimore Field Office, where he worked White Collar Crime Investigations, in addition to serving as the Auditor, Defensive Tactics Instructor, Terrorist Financing Coordinator, and a member of the Evidence Response Team. Of note in his investigative career, SA Vlaisavljevic served as the sole Case Agent of a $30 million investigation of an illegal money transmitting business which funneled money to Iran. SA Vlaisavljevic worked this case through its successful prosecution and appeals through the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and United States Supreme Court.
In July 2007, SA Vlaisavljevic was promoted to Supervisory Special Agent, Project Director, of the Forfeiture Support Project. In this position, SSA Vlaisavljevic had responsibility for supporting major forfeiture investigations throughout the FBI by supervising over 60 contract investigators located throughout all offices in the FBI. Of note, he supervised the forfeiture investigation of a multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme.
In August of 2009, SSA Vlaisavljevic was assigned as an Assistant Legal Attaché in the FBI’s Moscow, Russia office where he ran the Counterterrorism and Criminal programs.
In 2001, SSA Vlaisavljevic was promoted to Unit Chief of the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Directorate’s Training Unit where he oversaw the domestic and international WMD training for the FBI and other federal, state, and local partners.
In July 2014, SSA Vlaisavljevic reported to McAllen, Texas, where he oversees the Joint Terrorism Task Force with programmatic oversight over Counter Terrorism, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Domestic Terrorism, and Foreign Counter Intelligence investigations. SSA is also a Certified Adjunct Faculty Member and Instructor for the FBI in WMD matters and is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Management Accountant, and has an MBA with a concentration in Corporate Finance.