North American Annual Conference 2024

Tim Allen

Managing Partner, Allen Wine Group

Timothy Allen CPA & MST, managing partner of Allen Wine Group, has more than thirty years of winery finance experience, including five years with a Big 4 CPA firm, fourteen years working in operations and finance at wineries, and fifteen years leading Allen Wine Group. Timothy began his career at Deloitte in San Francisco in both audit and tax serving wine clients.  From there he went on to become controller, CFO and president at wineries including Kendall-Jackson, Sonoma-Cutrer, Robert Mondavi, Rosenblum Cellars, and Kuleto Estate.  In 2010 Timothy founded Allen Wine Group, a wine industry CPA firm.  For fourteen years AWG was 100% CAS and 100% wine industry.  in January 2024, AWG opened a new audit & tax practice. Today the firm has 28 employees and serves 55 wine clients.

Steve Amigone

Principal, Consulting Practice Leader , BRC

I am a global connector of talent and resources. I thrive in entrepreneurial environments where I can leverage a dynamic cross functional team to drive growth across consulting service lines. I’m passionate about working with teams to deliver an amazing Client Experience beyond the ordinary.

I love a challenge. My results oriented, pioneering style enables high performing, cross functional teaming on a national and global scale. My distributive leadership style allows me to cultivate relationships, genuinely listen, and tap into a diverse team of multicultural professionals.

In my new role as BRC’s Consulting Practice Leader, I’m honored to lead such a talented team in driving growth, client service, and investments in six key service lines: Outsourced Accounting & Advisory Services, R&D, International Tax, Transfer Pricing, Valuation, Data Analytics & Data Automation. I also serve on the Firm’s Executive Committee as we continue to develop strategies to capture the numerous opportunities we see in the marketplace.

Throughout my career, I have sought to be a servant leader to my teams, colleagues, and clients. Over the past few years, I was humbled to have been recognized by my peers as ONEDHG Partner of Year (2020) and Praxity Alliance Partner of Year (2017).

Traci Brown

Traci is  currently ranked the #3 body language expert in the world by GlobalGurus.org.

She has studied lie and deception detection alongside the Police, FBI, Army Green Berets and people who she believes could not tell her they were in the CIA.   Yes, she’s the only one who showed up to class without a gun.  She uses this information in her keynotes for banking, credit unions and finance groups to detect and prevent fraud.  And this is currently what she’s called most to do.

When she’s not speaking, she’s working on investigations.  When the victims or their families feel like the police haven’t done them justice, they call Traci.  Cases have included million dollar business fraud, sexual assault, child abuse, municipal fraud and murders.  .

Her TV career started when she was asked to interpret the body language of the Aurora Movie Theater Shooter in 2012. And she’s revealed the truth in many events since then:  including murders, cold cases and politics.  Some of her TV appearances are here: https://www.bodylanguagetrainer.com/body-language-demo-videos/

And she’s the executive producer of the new TV series, Truth, Lies and Coverups.  Be sure you watch the trailer video on this page.  It’s super cool.

Traci is interviewed 5-7 times per week for TV, print and web media commenting on major world events:  crimes, politics, billion dollar business deals and if the couples on the Bachelor are really in love.  Many of the articles are published in Good Housekeeping,  Cosmopolitan, TIME and the Wall Street Journal.

In fact, TIME Magazine has named her one of the country’s top deception detection experts.

In her fast paced, interactive programs that are sure to entertain, Traci teaches lie, fraud and identity theft detection she’s used to get to the truth in billion dollar business deals, crimes and politics.

Traci is not only a master lie detector,  she’s a persuasion expert.  Her persuasion system landed her a  lucrative product deal with Kevin Harrington, a Shark from ABC’s hit show Shark Tank and took her on a wild ride to the big time consumer markets of TV shopping channels, infomercials and beyond.

Traci has even adapted the skills to talk herself out of an embarrassing number of traffic tickets.   She’ll teach you how to do it, too!

You’ll be able to immediately use the same tools to create more success in your own organization and personal life…so you see more  zeroes (before the decimal) in your bank account.

Jana Cinnamon

COO, Abdo

As Abdo's Chief Operating Officer, Jana Cinnamon leads the day-to-day operations of the firm. She provides strategic leadership to the firm's Human Resources, Marketing, Technology, and Administration functions to drive firm growth, while also providing strategic planning services to other firms. Jana uses a people-first approach to implementing positive changes to both the client and employee experience. She joined the firm in 2012, has a Master's in HR, was recognized as one of the Top 50 Women in Accounting by Practice Ignition, and currently serves as the Chair of the CPA Firm Management Association.

Natalia Cohen

With 20 years experience of living and working in over 70 countries, Natalia Cohen has chosen to follow an unusual and fascinating path.

Her broad range of professional experience within the travel industry includes adventure tour leading, operations management, teaching/training, volunteer and project coordination, as well as working within the Super Yacht industry and Eco-lodge management, running a remote Safari lodge in Tanzania.

Natalia is no stranger to being outside of her comfort zone and has made an art of embracing and adapting to change.

Her understanding of team dynamics, the importance of a positive mindset and the ability to live in the moment led her to become part of the first all-female team to row unsupported across the Pacific Ocean. ​​

Natalia and the crew completed this challenge in January 2016 setting two world records and gaining an international following.

This was a journey of just under 9,000 miles from San Francisco, USA to Cairns, Australia in a 29ft ocean rowing boat.

The expedition was not only a challenge of extreme conditions and perseverance but also a journey within to better understand the strength of human spirit, the importance of being aligned with your values, a positive mindset, the diversity within a team and enjoying the journey.​​​

Natalia’s vision is to empower others to reach their potential, push through their self-limiting mental boundaries and meet and overcome the challenges that life throws at them. 

Although she may have crossed her literal Pacific, we all have our own Pacific to cross.

 

Leah Davis

Partner, Abdo

Having grown up in a very large and tight-knit Minnesota farm family, Leah values relationships above all else. She’s quick to say it’s her love of people that inspires her each day. Since joining Abdo in 2016, Leah has helped employers find creative ways to overcome HR and payroll challenges. Whether it’s developing a motivating employee compensation and performance evaluation program, implementing an integrated HR/payroll system, or designing strategies to improve engagement, Leah and her team seek what’s best for both the organization and its people. Having owned and operated an outsourced HR and payroll consulting business for nearly a decade, Leah has worked with employers across all industries. Some of her areas of specialty include HR management, leadership coaching, regulatory compliance, employee benefit plans (including the Affordable Care Act), payroll, and employee compensation. Leah also has several years of experience in public accounting as a CPA. Her past experience as a business owner and public accountant give her valuable perspective on complex HR, financial and strategic planning issues.

Charles Hylan

The Growth Partnership

Charles Hylan joined The Growth Partnership as a Shareholder after dedicating 12 years consulting with, and working in, accounting firms ranging from sole-practitioners to National and Big 5 firms. During this time, Charles spent more than eight years working at Price Waterhouse and Arthur Andersen where he began his career as an auditor before transitioning into a strategic planning and marketing role. Charles entered the accounting consulting industry in 1999 as a Vice President in the Consulting Services division of Waugh & Co.  As a shareholder, Charles’ passion is to help each client succeed as a business owner. To this end, he is a trusted advisor to clients within several areas of TGP’s service offerings, including marketing, strategic planning, partner compensation, partner buy-in/out, partner succession and leadership development.

Charles works closely with TGP clients to create high-impact marketing plans focused on implementation. As a practice management consultant, he draws upon his practical, “can-do” approach to help firms create and execute long-term plans, effective compensation systems and realistic succession strategies. On the leadership development side of TGP, Charles facilitates several different training offerings that equip partners and future partners with the skills needed to successfully manage and lead their firm.  Finally, Charles leads the efforts on bringing The Rosenberg Survey, a benchmark report comparing over 100 metrics across nearly 400 firms, to the accounting marketplace.  No matter what service Charles is providing, his passion is to help TGP clients succeed as business owners.  Charles is an inspiration to clients due to his unique ability to focus on implementation…the only true way to bring about change.  Charles has been recognized as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in the accounting profession by Accounting Today and has written articles featured in various accounting publications and has spoken at many accounting firms, associations and other industry meetings and conferences.

Steve Jones

SVP/Brands & Content , Stingray Radio

Steve Jones has spent 35 years leading music and media organizations around the world.

Today Steve is the SVP/Brands & Content for Stingray Radio. Stingray is the world’s 3rd largest distributor of music behind only Spotify and Apple. Over the course of more than three decades, Steve has led successful media brands in the US, Canada, and the Caribbean. Along the way, he has had a unique front-row perspective on the rise (and sometimes fall) of countless rock stars. Those experiences form the basis for his two best-selling books, Brand Like a Rock Star and Start You Up.

Steve has worked alongside countless stars in music and observed how they strategically created passionate fan bases, built dedicated followings, and forged lasting and immensely profitable careers. He shows you how to apply those lessons to your business.

Wendy Sage-Hayward

Business Owner, Senior Consultant, The Family Business Consulting Group

Wendy is a senior consultant at The Family Business Consulting Group, working closely with business leaders, family firms and boards. She brings deep knowledge and perspective to global clients across sectors, leading conversations with multi-generational families on governance, family enterprise continuity, leadership, next generation preparation and conflict resolution. She is especially adept at establishing integrated governance structures for the family, business and ownership systems that promote alignment, communication and harmony within and across these constituencies.

Wendy is an owner in her family’s winery called Sage Hayward Vineyards which is located on one of BC’s Southern Gulf Islands. She also spent over 20 years as a partner and director of her family’s 130+ year-old U.S. firm where she helped lead approximately 50 cousin partners from the third through sixth generations. Her background and experience with her own family business motivated Wendy to dedicate her career to the needs of family enterprises as a consultant, educator and author.

Wendy is the Academic Director at Family Enterprise Canada (FEC), an organization focused on education and research related to family enterprise continuity. She’s a Lead Instructor for FEC’s Family Enterprise Advisors (FEA) program, a role that ensures she brings a sense of objectivity and fairness to tricky issues at the intersection of family, business and ownership. She works with business families every day, including her own, helping them navigate the challenges of operating, governing and transitioning their enterprises.

As an educator, Wendy is an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business, where she leads programs for business families in the Business Families Centre. Previously, she taught board dynamics in the Director’s Education Program for the Institute of Corporate Directors at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. She also taught programs to both families and rising generation members at the Cox Family Enterprise Center at Kennesaw State University.

Wendy is co-author of the two books: Human Resources in Family Business: Maximizing the Power of Your People, a definitive work on family firm HR strategies and tactics; and Own It! How to develop an owner’s mindset at every age, an invaluable resource focused on ownership development. As a sought-after speaker, she has presented on a range of family business topics at North American conferences including the CALU, Family Enterprise Canada’s Symposium, Family Firm Institute, Transitions East, Business Transitions Forum and the Canadian Bar Association of BC.