2026 Higher Education Accounting Forum (Recordings)

Frank Azuola is the Chief Information Officer of Excelsior University and a member of the President’s Cabinet, where he provides strategic leadership for the university’s digital transformation, including M&A-related IT integrations. He leads an AI-first technology roadmap focused on building a secure, intelligent, and customer-centric IT ecosystem that advances teaching, learning, and operational effectiveness. Under his leadership, Excelsior is modernizing and re-engineering core business processes through advanced AI, automation, and scalable digital platforms.

Prior to joining Excelsior, Frank held senior technology leadership roles at the University of Miami and The George Washington University, where he led enterprise IT operations, strategy, and innovation initiatives in business intelligence and enterprise information services. Earlier in his career, he served as Assistant Vice President of Computer Services at Temple University, overseeing enterprise IT operations and strategic planning for a community of over 50,000 users.

Frank holds a PhD in Computer and Information Science, an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania, a BS in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Costa Rica, and is a Fulbright Scholar.

Lynda Buzzard is Associate Vice President and Controller at Villanova University in Villanova, PA. Previously, she served as the Vice president of Finance and Administration at Cabrini University in its final year. Prior to that, she spent four years at La Salle University.

In her current role, Lynda oversees the accounting, payroll, accounts payable and bursar’s office functions. She is primarily responsible for the University’s audit and tax compliance. Most of Lynda’s career was spent as an auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers in the Philadelphia and Tyson’s Corner offices, working on a variety of clients, from Fortune 500 industrial manufacturers to non-profits. She is an active CPA in the state of Pennsylvania.Lynda serves as a member of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Finance Council, is an active Middle States Commission on Higher Education peer evaluator and volunteers for the Delaware Valley Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

As the Associate Vice President and Systemwide Controller for the University of California, Barbara is responsible for the development and implementation of accounting and financial policies for the University and its ten campuses, six academic health centers, the UC Retirement System, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and ten campus foundations. She oversees accounting and financial reporting, tax services, costing policy and analysis, financial systems and payroll compliance, as well as a new operational excellence unit. Barbara provides system-wide campus support from a business, financial, and regulatory perspective for all major business transactions of the University.

Barbara brings to UC more than 20 years of finance experience in higher education. She comes to UC from the University of Massachusetts, where she was the Assistant Vice President and University Controller. She has also held leadership roles at KPMG, Harvard Medical School and PwC.
 
Barbara holds a BA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and an MBA and Master’s Degree in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University; she is a CPA and a member of the AICPA. She serves on the NACUBO Accounting Principles Council.

Kendra Cooks, PhD, CPA is the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Wabash College in Crawfordsville, IN. Kendra has served higher education in financial, administrative, and risk management roles for over 30 years, including prior roles as Comptroller at Purdue University, Controller at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and previous positions involving tax management, cost accounting and sponsored programs administration, accounting, and business management. 

Kendra holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Financial Planning and Counseling, a Master of Science degree in Management, and a PhD in Higher Education Administration from Purdue University. Dr. Cooks is a certified public accountant (CPA), licensed in Indiana and North Carolina. 

Kendra hails from Crawfordsville, IN and is blessed to serve at Wabash College, combining her love of higher education with her home town. Kendra and her husband, Owen live in Lafayette, IN.

John Dyer serves as the Assistant Vice President of Financial Planning & Analysis at Saint Joseph’s University where he leads the university’s strategic planning, budgeting and forecasting functions. In this role he helps guide financial strategy and supports long-term institutional planning at the university. Before assuming his current position, John held several roles in the Saint Joseph’s controller’s office, including Associate Controller and Director of Financial Reporting. Prior to joining Saint Joseph’s, John spent 13 years in public accounting rising to the role of Senior Audit Manager with a focus on not-for-profit clients including higher education institutions. John is a licensed Certified Public Accountant and holds an MBA from Saint Joseph’s University, as well as a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Accounting from Muhlenberg College.

Claire is an audit partner and member of Grant Thornton’s Higher Education and Not-For-Profit industry practices. Claire has spent her career working with higher education and not-for-profit organization and her experience includes managing financial statement audits as well as various regulatory audits including Uniform Guidance audits, offering recommendations on internal controls, operations and accounting issues, and training accounting professionals to ensure they provide the proper guidance and support to their clients. She has also assisted clients with financing arrangements and acquisitions. Claire has extensive experience serving large, complex organizations with international operations, multi-location university systems and organizations with over $1billion in federal expenditures and >$4 billion endowment portfolios.Claire has authored training materials and technical guidance covering not-for-profit accounting and auditing issues as well as instructing courses on a national level covering these topics. She also speaks at not-for-profit industry events such as EACUBO and NACUBO meetings, primarily providing updates on technical accounting matters and mergers and acquisitions in higher education.

Kara D. Freeman is NACUBO's president and chief executive officer, the first African American woman to serve in this role.

Freeman, a strategic leader with extensive national higher education experience, brings more than three decades of experience to NACUBO and is joining from the American Council on Education (ACE), where she has worked since 2006. She most recently served as senior vice president and chief operating officer (COO), with the responsibility for setting the strategic direction of the administrative and operational areas of the organization. She previously was ACE’s vice president of administration and chief information officer.

As an executive leader at ACE, Freeman’s portfolio included providing strategic thought leadership on organization-wide initiatives, representing ACE with constituency groups such as the ACE Women’s Network, and playing a leading role in ACE’s efforts to share advocacy information with presidents of Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in information systems from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and an M.B.A. from The George Washington University. She also holds a certified association executive credential from the American Society of Association Executives. 

Jeff Gabello is a staff member at the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). He joined the FASB staff in May 2014, leading the project team that developed the 2017 standard to improve and simplify accounting rules around hedge accounting. Since early 2021, Jeff has focused on not-for-profit technical accounting issues. He also leads the FASB project on the statement of cash flows. Prior to joining the FASB, Jeff worked for five years as an accounting policy manager at IBM in Somers, New York, where he assessed the impact of FASB and International Accounting Standards Board standard-setting activities on the company's financial reporting. Prior to that, Jeff worked for eight years as the assistant director of external reporting at UBS AG in Zurich, Switzerland, focused on International Financial Reporting Standards, U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reporting. Jeff holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania and an MBA from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

Dr. Hampton serves as Chief Administrative Officer at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). Prior to joining RPI in August 2025, Dr. Hampton was an Executive Education Advisor at Amazon Web Services (AWS), where he led business development efforts in academic research and worked with hundreds of institutions across the world in adopting modern cloud technologies including cloud-based AI tools in digital tranformation efforts. Dr. Hampton has held administrative roles at seven different higher education institutions and has served as a faculty member at three.

Cindy Hope is the Director for Costing & Financial Compliance (CFC) and leads COGR’s efforts to address federal policies impacting financial management of research programs. Prior to joining COGR, Cindy served as Associate VP for Research Administration at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Assistant VP for Research at The University of Alabama, Assistant Controller and Indirect Cost Specialist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and audit associate at Coopers and Lybrand, now PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she participated in and led engagements of various University Federal (Single Audit) and Financial Statement audits.

Cindy has over 25 years of research administration experience and has served as chair for the COGR Costing Policies Committee (now CFC) and for the Federal Demonstration Partnership.

She is a CPA (inactive) and holds a BS degree in Accounting and a BA degree in Psychology from The University of Alabama.

Blaine Jasper is a Principal in Baker Tilly’s national office and the firm’s technical leader for governmental auditing, with expertise in Uniform Guidance, Single Audits, and Government Auditing Standards. As member of the firm’s professional practice group, he leads the governmental auditing technical function and oversees audit quality, audit methodology and practice resources. Blaine serves on the AICPA Government Audit Quality Center's Executive Committee and is a frequent speaker on audit standards, Yellow Book compliance, and Uniform Guidance.

Quimby Kaizer is a Principal at KPMG specializing in transformative initiatives within the education sector and government operations, with over 30 years of management consulting experience. As the National Education Sector Leader and Lead Account Partner for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Quimby tackles complex challenges by seamlessly integrating expertise across public, healthcare, and private sectors to deliver impactful solutions and sustainable growth. Her strategic vision and technical acumen have driven significant projects, from expanding healthcare access for underserved communities to enhancing educational systems through innovative design and management. Grounded in the values of honesty, integrity, and excellence, Quimby is committed to mentoring and empowering individuals, fostering environments that promote lifelong learning and growth. Her passion lies in bridging disciplines to uplift communities and create opportunities that position her clients as leaders in innovation and societal contribution. Quimby invites collaboration to explore impactful change and lasting benefits, contributing meaningfully to both individual institutions and the broader society.

Rahul Kohli is the cybersecurity leader for the KPMG US State and Local Government Practice. He has over 25 years of experience spanning the fields of cybersecurity, identity and access management (IAM), cybersecurity assessment, strategy, and roadmap, data protection, and systems integration. Rahul's professional focus is helping organizations in all industries reduce the risk of cybercrime while complying with the applicable regulations, improving operational efficiency, and securely enhancing the end-user experience. Rahul is a Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP).

Anita has worked at three Florida public colleges in financial roles for over 25 years. Anita has been the Chair of the GASB subcommittee for over 20 years and is currently the Chair of the Florida College System Council of Business Affairs Accounting Committee. Anita has previously served on the SACUBO Community College Constituent Group and was a member of NACUBO’s Accounting Principles Council (APC). Anita is currently NACUBO’s representative on the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council.

Angie Leahy is the Associate Vice Chancellor for Finance and Controller at Washington University in St. Louis. Angie's primary responsibilities include the leadership and supervison of the university's accounting, tax, payroll, and accounts payable and receivable functions, including overseeing and managing the preparation of the university's auditied financial statements and tax filings. Prior to her current role, Angie spent 10 years at the head of the university's tax department, where she was responsbile for the Forms 990, 990-T, state income tax returns, subsidiary income tax returns, and Forms 1099 and 1042-S. Prior to joining Washington University in 2010, Angie worked in KPMG’s state and local tax practice and spent 12 years in charge of not-for-profit accounting and tax reporting for a labor union. She holds a CPA and a Master of Accounting from University of Missouri.

Dean has been with CRI, a top-25 national accounting and consulting firm, since 2022. Previously, he was on the staff of the GASB for 24 years, most recently as Assistant Director of Research and Technical Activities. During that time, he was Coordinator for the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council (GASAC) and an adjunct professor at Rutgers Business School, teaching governmental and NFP accounting, auditing, and financial analysis. Dean is a nationally renowned speaker, teacher, and writer. He authored GASB’s plain-language communications, including its award-winning User Guides, and received the National Federation of Municipal Analysts’ Award for Excellence for his efforts to educate the municipal bond community. Dean was appointed as a member of the GASAC starting January 1, 2025, and also serves on the board of the Southern Municipal Finance Society and AGA’s Financial Management Standards Board. Dean is a graduate of Cornell University and pursued a doctorate at New York University, completing all but the dissertation. He is a Certified Government Financial Manager and a reviewer in the GFOA’s Certificate of Achievement program.

Jeff Mechanick is Senior Project Advisor—Not-for-Profit Organizations at the FASB. In this role, he provides organization-wide technical and strategic advice on all standard-setting activities affecting the not-for-profit sector, guides and facilitates stakeholder outreach with the sector, chairs the FASB’s Not-for-Profit Advisory Committee, and participates in some of the FASB’s broader educational activities. He is also a member of the Technical Advisory Group of the International Financial Reporting for Nonprofit Organizations initiative (#IFR4NPO).

Prior to joining the FASB staff in 2006, Jeff spent 20 years working in and with the not-for-profit sector, as the CFO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc., and before that, as a Senior Manager with KPMG, LLP, in the firm’s New York office. He is also a past member of the AICPA’s NFP Expert Panel. Jeff received his MBA from Rutgers University and his AB from the University of Chicago, and he is a member of the AICPA and the New York State Society of CPAs. He is also an adjunct instructor in Columbia University’s MS program in Nonprofit Management.

Sue Menditto is NACUBO’s expert on financial accounting and reporting, managerial analysis, and financial viability. She is charged with fulfilling higher education advocacy needs with the GASB, FASB, AICPA, and Department of Education. She was appointed to the IPEDS Finance Survey Workgroup in August 2023 as one of its financial reporting experts. She has also represented higher education on the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council (2006–2012), AICPA’s Revenue Recognition Task Force (2016–2017), and the Department of Education’s financial responsibility subcommittee (2017–2018).

Menditto informs the association’s research efforts on accounting issues, endowment management, and tuition discounting; writes member communications: news, advisories, accounting tutorials, and articles; and supports members’ professional development needs by providing subject matter guidance. She has also co-authored chapters of publications addressing accounting, public health, and analytics and regularly speaks on accounting and financial management topics at conferences.

Menditto began her career in public accounting, was a CFO and Controller for a not-for-profit organization, and a vice president for Bank of America where she specialized in change management and accounting policy. She holds degrees in psychology and accounting and is a certified public accountant.  

Travis is a Partner in PwC’s National Tax Services office and its Exempt Organization Tax Services practice. For over 27 years, Travis has served exempt organizations focused on higher education, healthcare, foundations, and cultural organizations. Travis is resident in Washington, D.C., where he monitors legislative and regulatory developments from Capitol Hill, Treasury, and IRS. He advises clients on the impact of tax reform legislation, IRS examinations, governance, compensation and benefits, unrelated business income tax, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, international activities, Form 990, and other topics. Travis is a former board member, treasurer, and chair at Whitman Walker Health, a Federally Qualified Health Center. Travis is a CPA licensed in Virginia and the District of Columbia. He holds a BBA in Accounting from The College of William and Mary and a MS in Taxation from American University.

Rachel I. Reiser is the founder and principal of Generationally Speaking; Generationally Speaking provides consultation to companies and other organizations in helping them to consider their work in this particular era of the multi-generational workplace. Rachel is also currently Senior Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Student Experience & Services at the Boston University Questrom School of Business. As well, Rachel is a Certified CliftonStrengths® Coach.

In a career spanning over 25 years in higher education, Rachel has held leadership positions at several schools, and her direct work with college students has provided her the opportunity to experience first-hand the dynamics of the multi-generational environment. This, coupled with her own observations, fostered her initial professional interest in generational studies.

A few of her favorite non-work things include reading, cooking, biking, and kayaking.

TJ Sheehy is a Managing Director in HilltopSecurities Strategic and Financial Advisory practices. He has over 15 years of not-for-profit and municipal finance experience, covering primarily the education, cultural institution, and not-for-profit sectors. Before joining HilltopSecurities from Prager & Company, Mr. Sheehy was a Vice President with the Yuba Group, consultants to higher education and not-for-profit institutions. Prior to that, he was a Vice President in the investment banking division of Loop Capital Markets, where he led its national investment banking coverage of higher education and not-for-profit institutions. From 2006 until 2016 Mr. Sheehy was with Morgan Stanley & Co. in its Municipal Securities Department, most recently as a Vice President in the Public Finance Higher Education and Not-for-Profit Group. Earlier in his career, he was a member of the faculty at the Vail Mountain School (Vail, CO) and the Rectory School (Pomfret, CT). Education BA, Bowdoin College MBA, Georgetown University Licenses Held Registered Representative of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) General Securities Representative, Series 7 Municipal Advisor Representative, Series 50 Municipal Securities Representative, Series 52

Katie Walker serves as Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration at Indiana University Bloomington. As the chief financial officer of the campus, she leads the development, implementation, and administrative control of the $2.5 billion Bloomington campus operating budget. She has oversight of broad auxiliary operations, including housing and dining. Through direct engagement with deans, faculty, and senior university leadership across Bloomington, she leads transformative efforts in revenue innovation, shared services optimization, and financial planning—advancing IUB’s mission in research, education, and public service. 

Walker previously served as Associate Vice President for Budget at the University of Virginia, in the budget office at the University of Colorado Boulder, and in various roles in UVA’s School of Education and Human Development.

She holds a PhD in higher education from UVA and wrote her dissertation about responsibility center management (RCM) budget models in higher education. Additionally, she holds a master’s degree in teaching social studies from UVA and bachelor’s degrees in history and anthropology from Arizona State University. 

Lindsay K. Wayt, Ph.D., is senior director of analytics at NACUBO. She works on initiatives and programming that support NACUBO’s efforts to help colleges and universities integrate the use of analytics to achieve institutional goals. This includes collaborating with NACUBO members and key stakeholders from other organizations to propel the use of data-informed decision-making in higher education. She has experience conducting higher education research, studying topics such as the use of data and analytics in higher education, tuition discounting, and higher education leadership. Wayt completed her doctoral work focused on educational leadership and higher education.

Joe Wicklund is a project manager with the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) in Norwalk, Connecticut. His current project assignments include Infrastructure Assets, Cybersecurity Risk Disclosures research, and the Post-Implementation Review of Statement No. 87, Leases. His prior project assignments include Revenue and Expense Recognition, Subsequent Events, and GAAP Utilization research.

Before joining the GASB staff, Joe worked in higher education administration and finance in financial reporting roles for over 12 years at both public (GASB) and private (FASB) institutions. He was most recently the Associate Controller of New Jersey’s Rowan University, responsible for the coordination and preparation of the audited financial statements of the institution, its foundation, and other affiliated component unit entities. His previous experience also includes time at PricewaterhouseCoopers performing financial reporting and compliance audits. Joe received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from Temple University and holds a Master of Business Administration from Widener University. He is also licensed as a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Pennsylvania.