2007 Conference Speakers

Your Conference Host

Doug Sleeter - Founder and President, The Sleeter Group, Inc.

Doug Sleeter has taught over 30,000 accountants and QuickBooks users how to properly use QuickBooks software. Mr. Sleeter has worked with hundreds of QuickBooks consultants in numerous industries since 1994. Mr. Sleeter was a pioneer in developing the first QuickBooks seminars in the country and was selected to develop early Intuit training materials. In 2002, Intuit Inc., the developer of QuickBooks software, recognized The Sleeter Group's quality by endorsing their QuickBooks Technology Workshops and Managing & Marketing Your Practice Seminars for accounting professionals. Mr. Sleeter consults with several software and hardware companies on product design, marketing, and distribution.

Mr. Sleeter's in-depth knowledge of QuickBooks and his "systems" approach to solving small business accounting problems has earned him the reputation of being one of the nation's leading QuickBooks and accounting software experts. Mr. Sleeter is the author of numerous books, videos and courseware materials including The QuickBooks Consultant’s Reference Guide, Introduction to QuickBooks Textbooks, Introduction & Advanced Seminar Workbooks, Marketing & Managing Your QuickBooks Consulting Practice, The Successful QuickBooks Consulting System, and the Sleeter Group's online newsletter: The Desktop Accountant.

Keynote Speakers

Dr. Barry Asmus has been named by USA Today as one of the five most requested speakers in the United States. As a Senior Economist for the prestigious National Center for Policy Analysis, Dr. Asmus does more than just speak on policies, he is actively involved with their implementation. With over 25 years experience on the speaking platform, Dr. Asmus presents a powerful picture of America’s future, both here and abroad.

Whether addressing 30 world bankers at the home of Harvard’s President, 3,000 farmers in Des Moines or 7,000 members of the Million Dollar Round Table at Radio City Music Hall, Dr. Barry Asmus presents his commentary laced with humor, enthusiasm and solid business practices. Based on durable free market economic principles, his presentations analyze the current issues of the digital economy to help decision-makers formulate informed and effective choices in a global, e-commerce world. He has testified before the House Ways and Means Committee regarding our income tax system; was a featured speaker in a privatizing Social Security conference for Western European leaders; and has addressed the faculty for the Young Presidents Organization in Cape Town, South Africa. Dr. Barry Asmus is the author of nine books. His latest is titled Bulls Don’t Blush, Bears Don’t Die, it provides an insightful summary of today’s economy, the problems facing it and proposed solutions to these problems. As a Professor of Economics, he was twice voted University Professor of the Year and was honored with the Freedom Foundation Award at Valley Forge for Private Enterprise Education.

Steven Little, "The Business Growth Expert" is a much sought after speaker, consultant and writer on the subject of business growth and the future of opportunity. As a Senior Consultant for Inc. Magazine since 1998, he now speaks to thousands of owners and managers of growing businesses and communities each year. His style has been described as “real-world,” “highly credible” and “uniquely engaging.” From 1988 thru 1999, Steve was President of three fast growth companies. Both FAME, Inc. and Erb Industries, Inc. achieved profitable growth rates of over 500% during Mr. Little’s tenure. As President of The Queensboro Shirt Company, Steve helped to build one of the country’s most successful sites for Internet commerce. Steve is a graduate of Miami University and has studied at The Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland and The University of Houston’s Future Studies Program. Steve and family live in sunny Wilmington, NC and historic Merida, Mexico. Steve’s book The Seven Irrefutable Rules of Small Business Growth was published by Wiley in March, 2005 and is already on its 6th printing. For more information on Steve, be sure to visit his unique website at www.stevenslittle.com.

Conference Speakers

Jon Clark , Vice President, Sales Cabinet NG
Jon has worked in a range of technology sales and executive management roles over the past 20 years. Prior to joining Cabinet NG, he was instrumental in growing and navigating Revnet (a Huntsville based start-up) through the acquisition and integration process with MessageMedia. At MessageMedia, Jon continued to lead the growth of the hosted and licensed software business which was ultimately acquired by DoubleClick. Prior to Revnet, Jon worked with The Lietz Company and Sokkia Corporation in the surveying, mapping and Global Positioning software industry in sales, marketing and product management during a period that saw that industry's rapid transformation from optical mechanical instruments and drawing boards to hand-held GPS and PC's. Jon's career started as a Sales Engineer for Layne-Western, a mineral exploration services company. As a leader in the community, Jon has helped guide other local start-ups through their early business planning, strategic positioning and initial fund raising stages.  Jon earned his B.S. in Mining Engineering from the University of Missouri - Rolla.

Andrew Bates, CEO, Softrak
Andrew Bates has been involved with micro-computers since 1979. He is a founding partner and president of Softrak Systems Inc. In 1999, Softrak launched Adagio: a modular, batch-oriented accounting system designed specifically for the small to medium sized business. Adagio now consists of 19 modules, including the award-winning financial statement designer Adagio FX. Adagio by Softrak is currently installed at thousands of organizations across the planet.

Doug Blackburn, Director of Sales, PDG Software, Inc.
Doug Blackburn is the Director of Sales for Atlanta based PDG Software, Inc.  While at PDG, Doug has been instrumental in the growth of the company and his insight into the ecommerce marketplace has helped establish PDG as one of the premier providers of ecommerce software and services.  Doug’s primary focus at PDG has been to use his own experience and the feedback offered by the thousands of merchants utilizing PDG’s solutions to simplify the day-to-day processes of ecommerce merchants.  Prior to joining PDG in 1999, Doug served as Operations Manager and Inventory Manager for big-box retailer Best Buy, Inc.

Leslie Capachietti has been working with small businesses for over 15 years, helping them both streamline and gain a better understanding of their financial operations using QuickBooks software. Having successfully owned and operated her own businesses, Leslie has a personal understanding of the unique needs and resource constraints (both time and money) of business owners. She is National Speaker and Trainer for Intuit and is one of the country's leading experts on QuickBooks Financial and QuickBooks Point of Sale software. Ms.Capachietti holds an MBA degree in Finance and Accounting from Boston University and was a member of Intuit's Accountant and Advisor Customer Council from 2003-2005. This year, Leslie returns to our Preconference day with her QuickBooks Point-of-Sale consutling seminar. Having just completed her book QuickBooks Point of Sale - Best Practices for Success, published by The Sleeter Group, Leslie is one of the country's leading authorities on QuickBooks Point-of-Sale.

David M. Cieslak, CPA.CITP, GSEC
David Cieslak is a Principal with Arxis Technology, Inc., a computer consulting firm with offices in Southern California, Chicago and Phoenix.  He specializes in micro-computer accounting systems, information security, the Windows operating environment, eCommerce, handheld computing, systems development and project management. He is currently an instructor for K2 Enterprises and frequent speaker for the California Society of Certified Public Accountants (CalCPA), the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and other state accounting societies.  He speaks on computerized accounting topics, information security, handheld computing, electronic commerce, Linux and the Windows operating environment.  He has taught micro-computer classes for California State University at Northridge and written articles for The Quantum PC Report for CPAs, CSCPA Outlook, California CPA, and the AICPA InfoTech Update.  He is currently on the editorial board of the CPA Technology Advisor and the California CPA.  He is a Sage ACCPAC ERP and Sage ACCPAC Plus Certified Consultant, a Windows Certified Professional and holds the GIAC Security Essentials Certification (GSEC).  Mr. Cieslak currently chairs the AICPA IT Executive Committee and the Sage ACCPAC Business Partner Advisory Council.  He is the past president of the California CPA Education Foundation and is an active participant with the Council, CalCPA State Technology Committee and Westside Micro-computer Users Discussion Group.   He is past chairman of the CalCPA State Technology Committee, former member of the AICPA Information Technology Practices Sub-Committee and previously served on the Information Technology Alliance board of directors.  He is a member of various other AICPA and CalCPA planning committees for courses, conferences and computer shows.

William S. English, QuickBooks Financial and Point of Sale ProAdvisor, Member Retail Solution Provider Program (RSP)
William English, owner of English Management Solutions, Inc., has over twenty years of helping small businesses manage their finances. Mr. English holds a Bachelors degree in Business Administration from National University in San Diego.  He is an Advanced 2007 Certified ProAdvisor, has been a QuickBooks Point of Sale Certified ProAdvisor since version 2 and is a Sleeter Certified QuickBooks Consultant. Mr. English has a number of articles published on the QuickBooks ProConnection web site.  This site provides technical and marketing information to QuickBooks ProAdvisors all over the country.  In addition, Mr. English trains other QuickBooks ProAdvisors in best of class installation methods for QuickBooks Point of Sale.

Steve Green, Software Consultant, SDG Business Solutions, LLC
Steve has been working in the accounting industry for over 20 years and has earned every QuickBooks certification offered through the ProAdvisor Program.  He is also a member of the Intuit Speaker’s Bureau, the Retail Solutions Provider Program and holds a BA from the University of the Pacific. Central to Steve’s practice is assisting business’ in the set-up, installation and training of QuickBooks POS and QuickBooks Financial Software, but a great deal of his time is also spent providing content direction and testing for third party application developers, writing and reviewing content for Sleeter manuals, and in public speaking engagements.

Randy Johnston is executive vice president and partner of K2 Enterprises and Network Management Group, Inc. Randy is known as one of the 2004, 2005 Accounting Today's Top 100 Most Influential People and one of nine technology stars in the U.S. according to Accounting Technology Magazine. Randy Johnston is a nationally recognized educator, consultant, and writer with over 30 years experience in Strategic Technology Planning, Systems and Network Integration, Accounting Software Selection, Business Development and Management, Disaster Recovery and Contingency Planning, and Process Engineering. Randy has consistently been rated the top speaker at previous Sleeter Group conferences. His unique ability to clearly and simply communicate complicated technologies across a broad range of subjects makes him a compelling speaker. This year, Randy will give us a Technology Update, covering technologies from cell phones, to laptops, to accounting software technologies that will affect how you and your clients will do business in the future.

David F. Kvederis, President and CEO, BankServ.
Kvederis' vision was to use the experience he had gained from nearly 30 years in banking to refine and advance electronic payments systems. "We are going to structurally change how payments are made," he said at the time. "Technology, the Internet and years of payments know-how allow us to do that." A pioneer in the electronic payments industry, Kvederis spear-headed the creation of such now-familiar services as direct deposit of payroll, direct debit via electronic check technologies and global Fed wire-transfer outsourcing solutions during the 1980s and early 1990s. In his former life in banking, he headed Wells Fargo Bank's corporate banking and cash management divisions and was elected chairman of the boards of the National and Calwestern Automated Clearing House Associations by the banking industry. Before his 14-year association with Wells Fargo (1982 to1996), Kvederis served six years with Mellon Bank in Pittsburgh and six years with Continental Illinois Bank in Chicago. A free-market advocate who puts his beliefs into action, he has taken his vision of electronic payments outside the boundaries of the United States. For five months in 1993, Kvederis took a leave from his day job to work for the U.S. Department of the Treasury and served as an advisor to the government of Lithuania.  From May through September of that year, he worked in Vilnius, Lithuania, where he assisted in the reform of the nation's banking sector and its transition to a free market economy. Kvederis' grandparents immigrated to the United States from Lithuania in the late 1800s.
An active member and leader of the National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA), Kvederis has served both as a director and as chairman of its Board of Directors. He also has served as a member of NACHA's Executive Committee since 1986 and was responsible for the development and implementation of its highly successful national direct deposit marketing plan. Dave is also past-president of the CalWestern Automated Clearing House Association (CACHA). In that role, led the development of the private sector ACH processing system. In 1999, he was elected to the NACHA Electronic Check Council Steering Committee. A native of Pittsburgh, Pa., Kvederis holds an MBA from the University of Chicago. He resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Gregory LaFollette, CPA.CITP and Executive Editor of The CPA Technology Advisor, is a nationally recognized speaker on subjects that address the use of technology to support a better business process with the goal of building a better accounting practice. Greg is an accomplished professional who is adept at sharing his knowledge in ways that both engage and inform the audience. Greg is uniquely qualified to help firms navigate through the technology maze to find practical solutions that work. In past lives he practiced for over 25 years in the large, local firm he founded in South Dakota and spent over five years as VP of Product Strategy for Thomson Creative Solutions. He left that position in 2003 to “reclaim my independence” and take editorial and strategic responsibility for The CPA Technology Advisor. His role with the magazine provides him enhanced access to the executive leadership of all of the major software vendors while his consultancy role provides him the opportunity to be in literally hundreds of practices.

Bob Lewis, Senior Marketing Manager, Accounting Professionals, Microsoft Business Division, Microsoft Corp.
Bob Lewis is Senior Marketing Manager, Accounting Professionals for Microsoft Business Division.  He is responsible for Microsoft’s engagement strategy with the accounting community and the end-to-end experience for accounting professionals working with Microsoft.  His recent focus is on marketing and launching Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting 2006.  Bob, along with the entire Microsoft team, has worked closely with the Accounting Professional community to develop the detailed product information, training, support and other resources including the “Microsoft Professional Accountants’ Network” (MPAN), a new program tailored for accounting professionals to help them grow the profitability of their practices and support their critical role in helping small businesses meet their financial management needs. Bob is a CPA and CITP with more than 15 years of experience working in the accounting industry directly with accountants.  Bob has a deep understanding of the tools accountants need to help them succeed and to help them better service their small business clients.  Bob’s time working with accounting community prior to Microsoft includes at Intuit supporting various QuickBooks products, several years working with Internet start-ups managing their accountant strategies and sales channels.  In addition he spent five years at ADP marketing to small businesses and accountants.  Bob’s deep experience and tremendous wealth of knowledge compliments Microsoft’s commitment to supporting the critical roll accounting professionals play in helping small businesses start, grow and thrive by delivering innovative software solutions and programs to meet their needs and the needs of their small business clients. Bob has a Bachelor’s of Science in Commerce in Accounting (BCS) from Santa Clara University.  He is a C.P.A, certified by the Washington State Board of Accountancy and C.I.T.P. by the American Institute of CPAs.  Bob lives in the Seattle area with his wife and two children and enjoys skiing, golfing, mountain biking and traveling with his family.

Julie Lubetkin, PayCycle
Julie Lubetkin is the marketing director of the accounting professional program at PayCycle, America’s #1 online payroll service.  Julie has over 10 years of experience in marketing professional services and specializes in helping accounting professionals develop effective marketing and pricing strategies.  Julie received her MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University and her undergraduate degree from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.

Mario Nowogrodzki, CPA.CITP
Mario Nowogrodzki, CPA.CITP, Advanced Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, Certified QuickBooks POS ProAdvisor, member of the Intuit Accountants Speakers Bureau, Founder and Principal of Mendelson Consulting (established in 1992). Mario is a consultant and instructor, specializing in QuickBooks and information technology consulting services.  His firm focuses on providing a solution-based approach, customized to each client's individual and specific needs.  The combination of Mario’s accounting background with the expert knowledge of QuickBooks financial software gives clients an unparalleled edge. Mario holds a Master of Accounting Information Systems degree and serves on the advisory council of the QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions Provider Program.  A frequent author and instructor of QuickBooks and technology topics for accountants and continuing education programs, Mario is a contributing author for The Sleeter Group’s QuickBooks college textbook.

Anna M. Sheets, CPA, Principal, Accounting Made Simple
Since 1976, Anna has helped meet the accounting & reporting needs of Not-for-Profits. Over the years, she has served small businesses and Not-for Profits from inside and out. Her experience includes acting as auditor, tax professional, and consultant, as well as board member, manager, internal bookkeeper and volunteer. Her experience includes a broad range of software; from QuickBooks & Peachtree to M.I.P & MAS systems as well as exposure to a wide variety of management solutions. Her practice today specializes in optimizing QuickBooks® for use in non-profit and church accounting. Her experience has enhanced the Sleeter Group’s range of industry excellence as contributing author, consultant and speaker for several years.

Leslie Shiner—author, speaker, and trainer—has more than twenty years of experience working as a financial and management consultant for the construction industry. As the owner and principal of The ShinerGroup, she has helped both small and large construction companies better understand their business practices and maximize their profits. Ms. Shiner firmly believes training and education is instrumental in the growth and success of those in the contracting field. She is also the author of numerous publications that focus on the construction industry including the Profit Press Profit Guides: Choosing ‘Best Fit’ Construction Management Software, Implementing New Business Management Software and Health Checkup for Your Construction Business among others. Ms. Shiner’s post-graduate education focused on Finance and Accounting culminating in an MBA from UC Berkeley. Ms. Shiner has combined her knowledge of construction management with her passion for education. She teaches Construction Accounting and Project Management seminars around the country and frequently speaks at industry conferences, both locally and nationally. She has received the CEDIA Top 10 Instructor Award for the last two years. Ms. Shiner has taught as Adjunct Faculty both at the California State University System and Dominican University.

Ron Souder, Acctivate
Ron has extensive experience over the past 35 years building software products for the small businesses in the wholesale and distribution industries.  During this time he has visited with hundreds of small businesses all over the world.  The cumulative experience has provided a perspective on the market, a variety of business styles and practices, international differences, and practical methodologies to serve the SMB market.

Joe Woodard is an Advanced Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor and Trainer with over 10 years of experience supporting clients who use QuickBooks. Since Joe began teaching QuickBooks 7 years ago, he has taught over 15,000 QuickBooks users and QuickBooks consultants across the country. Joe currently works as a consultant and seminar instructor with Intuit, The Sleeter Group, and Atlanta-area CPA firms to present advanced QuickBooks instruction to accounting professionals and QuickBooks users. Joe is without a doubt, one of the most knowledgable, dynamic, and entertaining speakers in the QuickBooks consulting world. At this year's conference, Joe will present several sessions on troubleshooting, workarounds, consulting best practices, and business development. Also, in a special preconference session on Tuesday 10/23, Joe will present a session on how becoming a Value Added Reseller (VAR) for Fishbowl Inventory can significantly increase the depth and breadth of your consulting practice.

Amy Vetter, CPA.CITP is President of AV Accounting Services, Inc. in Florida. Amy provides clients with operational accounting and finance support, including QuickBooks and third party application set-up, implementation, training and troubleshooting, fractional CFO and bookkeeping services. Amy is a co-author of The Sleeter Group's QuickBooks end user training materials. Amy is a member of the Intuit Speaker’s Bureau, Intuit’s Certified Trainer Network and is an instructor of QuickBooks and Accounting topics for consultants, students and software applications users spanning universities, technical schools and workshop venues. Amy earned a MBA from Nova Southeastern University, BBA from University of Cincinnati, she is a licensed CPA in the state of Florida, and is also a Certified QuickBooks Advanced ProAdvisor, Certified QuickBooks Enterprise and POS ProAdvisor, and Sleeter Group Certified QuickBooks Consultant.

Geni Whitehouse, CPA.CITP, CSPM
Geni Whitehouse, CPA.CITP, CSPM started out as a tax accountant with Deloitte (before Touche). She once held a role where she was in charge of sales tax for a company that was substantially underpaid. Hence her passion for finding ways to apply technology to improve business results and to keep the auditors away.