Employee Benefits Conference (C62205)

Marilee P. Lau, CPA Consultant and Retired Partner KPMG LLP Before retiring in 2009, Marilee was KPMG’s National Partner-in-Charge of the Employee Benefit Audit Practice. Marilee is currently teaching EBP courses and providing consulting services on EBP accounting and auditing issues to CPA firms specializing in EBP audits. She is a founding member and a past Chair of the Executive Committee for the AICPA’s Audit Quality Center for Employee Benefit Plans, EBP Experts Panel and is currently a subject matter expert for EBP Peer Review Oversights.

Marilee has also served on various task forces of the AICPA which include the audit guide revisions task force, the ESOP task force and the Multiemployer task force. She is a past member of the Accounting Committee for the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans and the ERISA Advisory Council of the Department of Labor representing the accounting profession. As of April 2020 she is the consulting CPA on staff for the Colorado Society of CPAs overseeing their peer review program for Washington, Colorado and New Mexico.

Marilee earned her B.S. in economics and her M.B.A. in accounting from Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA. Contact information is [email protected] or 415-706-6331.

Debbie is a client serving partner and a member of Grant Thornton LLP’s national professional standards group, specializing in EBP audits. She has over 35 years of experience in auditing benefit plans and has practiced exclusively in this area for the past 29 years. She is the partner or concurring partner on some of the firm’s most complex employee benefit plan engagements, and is the Firm’s most knowledgeable specialist in employee benefit plans. She is actively involved with national office initiatives in the area of employee benefit plans, including development and teaching of in-house training programs. She serves as a technical resource for her firm on employee-benefit-plan auditing, accounting and reporting issues, and is the Firm’s designated audit partner who has firm-wide responsibility for the quality of the Firm’s employee benefit plan audit practice.

Debbie is the current chairperson of the executive committee of the AICPA’s Employee Benefit Plan Audit Quality Center (EBPAQC). She is actively involved in various industry committees and task forces, including being a frequent speaker at industry conferences on EBPs. She prevously chaired the AICPA Employee Benefit Plans Expert Panel (Expert Panel), she served multiple years on the AICPA’s Technical Standards Subcommittee of the Professional Ethics Committee (the subcommittee tasked with reviewing deficient audit work performed in the industry), and she was the accounting profession’s appointee to the U.S. Department of Labor’s ERISA Advisory Council in 2014 where she completed her three-year term.

Austin Zarbuck, CPA is the director of innovation in the employee benefit plan audit practice at Grant Thornton LLP. He assists teams by identifying ways to work more efficiently, increase quality, and deliver insights through developing innovation solutions. He recently completed a two year rotation with Grant Thornton's national audit innovation department. He has eight years of experience auditing benefit plans and plan sponsors in a variety of industries, under both AICPA and PCAOB audit standards. Austin received his bachelor's and master's degrees in accounting from Augustana College and The Ohio State University, respectively.

Frank Del Barto is a Partner at Masuda Funai. Frank is the former Chair of the Firm’s Employment, Labor & Benefits Group and a former Chair of the Chicago Bar Association’s Employee Benefits Committee. Frank was recently quoted in an article published in The Wall Street Journal. The article, titled "Your Will Alone Won’t Guarantee Your Money Goes to Your Heirs," highlighted the importance of beneficiary forms for retirement accounts, life insurance, and various financial assets. Frank counsels on ERISA compliance, the Affordable Care Act, COBRA, and a myriad plan reporting, disclosure and compliance issues. He has represented clients before the U.S. Department of Labor on compliance audits and Form 5500 penalty assessments.

Additionally, as retirement plan compliance has become increasingly more difficult to maintain, he has guided company management through complex 401(k) plan corrections with the Internal Revenue Service and is a frequent speaker on the formation and operation of plan committees to improve plan governance and reduce the risks and potential liabilities of plan sponsorship. Frank’s pro-bono practice concentrates on assisting military veterans and their dependents appeal their disability compensation claim denials with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.

In 2020, Crain’s Chicago Business selected Frank as a Notable Veteran Executive for his dedication to veterans. Frank is a graduate of The Virginia Military Institute and is a former Army officer and a graduate of the Army’s elite Airborne and Ranger Schools. He obtained his J.D. and an LL.M., with honors, in Employee Benefits Law from The University of Illinois Chicago School of Law.

JoAnn E. Cassell, CPA, QKA

Aimee Urnikis, CPA is an audit partner at Sassetti LLC and co-leads the firms employee benefit plan practice. She has been working on employee benefit plan audits for the last 15 years and is a member of the ICPAS Employee Benefit Plan Committee and the conference planning committee. She is also leads the firm's quality assurance and technical review process.

AMBER WILLIAMS CPA Senior Manager Amber Williams, CPA, is an audit director with nearly 15 years of experience in public accounting. Throughout her career Amber has brought value to her clients by performing employee benefit plan audits as well as financial statement audits, reviews and compilations for a variety of industries. She now works exclusively in the employee benefit plan audit practice at Sikich, working closely with clients to provide ongoing technical accounting research and consulting. Amber also regularly leads internal training and assists with practice operations. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and daughter and getting out on the golf course.

SERVICE AREAS • Employee Benefit Plans

AFFILIATIONS • American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) • Illinois CPA Society

EDUCATION • BS of Accountancy and Finance Degree, Illinois State University

Experienced

Ken started his career with ORBA in 2005.  He manages audits, reviews and monthly accounting engagements for privately-held companies, including restaurants, manufacturers, maintenance contractors, professional service providers and clients in a variety of industries.  He also manages audits for not-for-profit organizations and prepares all of the required tax filings for these clients.  Additionally, Ken specializes in employee benefit plans, assists clients with various compliance issues as well as manages audits of 401(k) and profit-sharing retirement plans.

Ken also prepares all of the necessary income, sales and benefit plan tax returns for his clients.  He assists clients by providing tax planning for corporations and individuals, analysis of financial statements, as well as accounting training and support to both small business owners and not-for-profit clients

Proactive

Ken strives to develop and maintain relationships throughout all of his engagements.  He speaks with clients on a continuous basis, and is always available to answer questions and provide consultation.  He participates in educational seminars every year in order to stay current with new industry issues, and in turn, educates and trains his clients to help them find the solutions to the challenges they face on a daily basis

Enthusiast

Ken enjoys spending his free time with friends and family.  An avid sports fan, Ken enjoys seeing his favorite teams play locally as well as traveling to games in different cities across the country.  He also enjoys exploring the numerous attractions and restaurants that Chicago has to offer.

Josie Hammond is the National Director of Employee Benefit Plans for RSM US LLP and has more than 30 years of experience providing services to employee benefit plans. She is responsible for tracking audit and accounting issues that impact the Firm’s employee benefit plan audit practice, and she participates in the development of the Firm’s positions on such proposed audit and accounting pronouncements. She is experienced in single-employer and multi-employer plans as well as plans with a variety of funding arrangements, including defined benefit and defined contribution pension plans, 401(k) plans, ESOPs, health and welfare plans, master trusts, and 103-12 investment entities.

Josie has served as the chair of the AICPA Employee Benefit Plans Expert Panel and has been an active member of the panel for more than 20 years. She has served as chair of the taskforce that updates the AICPA Employee Benefit Plans Audit and Accounting Guide. In addition, Josie actively participated on the Employee Benefit Plan Auditor Reporting Taskforce that addressed the new employee benefit plan reporting standard, SAS 136, which was issued by the Auditing Standards Board. She is sought out as a thought leader, speaking at various employee benefit plan conferences.

Josie is an active member of the: AICPA Employee Benefit Plan Expert Panel (Chair 2020-2023) AICPA EBP audit guide revisions taskforce (Chair 2016-2020) ASB Employee Benefit Plan Auditor Reporting Taskforce (SAS 136)

Carolyn is a Senior Associate Attorney with Ferenczy Benefits Law Center in Atlanta, Georgia. With over 18 years experience working with qualified plans, Carolyn assists clients with design, implementation, and administration of tax-qualified retirement plans (including 401(k), defined benefit, cash balance, and 403(b) plans). She frequently advises clients about compliance with ERISA rules, Internal Revenue Code rules, and the Internal Revenue Service’s and Department of Labor’s formal and informal correction programs. She has assisted in employee benefits due diligence with respect to mergers and acquisitions, Department of Labor and Internal Revenue Service audits, and advised clients on best practices and methods for correcting a wide range of plan document and administrative failures. She also has significant experience in analyzing controlled group and affiliated service group matters.

Prior to joining Ferenczy Benefits Law Center, Carolyn worked as an ERISA attorney for a third-party administrator for over 13 years. She also worked as a law clerk for a Chicago-based law firm on a variety of areas of law. She also independently managed over 150 cases from complaint to hearing as a law clerk for the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Carolyn earned a B.B.A. in Finance, Investment, & Banking and a B.A. in Legal Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She earned her Juris Doctorate from the Chicago-Kent College of Law. In 2012, she earned her LL.M. in Employee Benefits, with Honors from the University of Illinois-Chicago (formerly known as John Marshall Law School). She is admitted to practice law in Illinois.

I’m passionate about helping a wide range of not-for-profit organizations carry out their mission and give back to the community.I work primarily with arts and cultural organizations, social services agencies, foundations, affordable housing entities, and trade and professional associations. I specialize in single audits and improving clients’ fiscal oversight procedures, governance policies, and internal controls. I enjoy putting my project management skills to good use, and I value the diversity that comes from working with a large variety of not-for-profits. My clients appreciate the fact that I communicate promptly with them about audit findings, accounting updates, and industry best practices. They also appreciate that I’m available to answer questions throughout the year, not just during the audit.

Among my accomplishments since I joined the firm in 1999 has been the creation of a women’s coaching group in the Chicago office. This group helps colleagues connect with peers, partners, and women leaders throughout the firm. I serve in leadership roles in both the AICPA and the Illinois CPA Society. As an AICPA discussion leader, I’ve taught CPE courses used by state CPA societies to cover topics of interest to nonprofit organizations, and I’m the Chair of the not-for-profit organizations committee for the Illinois CPA Society. Within the wider community, I facilitate the Chicagoland Social Service Finance and Accounting Roundtable, and I’m the board treasurer of the Batavia Public Library. I hold a B.S. in accountancy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.