AICPA/IASC Foundation Conference on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in North America 2009: The U.S. Perspective, October 29-October 30, 2009, Millennium Broadway Hotel, New York, NY
Robert H. Herz, Chairman Financial Accounting Standards Board

Robert H. Herz was appointed Chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), effective July 1, 2002.  Previously, he was a senior partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Prior to joining the FASB, Mr. Herz was PricewaterhouseCoopers North America Theater Leader of Professional, Technical, Risk & Quality and a member of the firm’s Global and U.S. Boards.  He was also President of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Foundation which supports college and university activities.  He also served as a part-time member of the International Accounting Standards Board.  Mr. Herz is both a Certified Public Accountant and a Chartered Accountant and a gold medal winner on the uniform CPA examination. 
Mr. Herz joined Price Waterhouse in 1974 upon graduating from the University of Manchester in England with a B.A. first class honors degree in economics graduating top of his class.  He later joined Coopers & Lybrand becoming its senior technical partner in 1996 and assumed a similar position with the merged firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1998. 

During his distinguished career, Mr. Herz headed Coopers & Lybrand’s corporate finance practice and served as audit partner on numerous major clients including AT&T, Dun & Bradstreet, Goldman Sachs, Shearson Lehman Bros, and Volvo.

Mr. Herz has authored numerous publications on a variety of accounting, auditing and business subjects, including the book, The Value Reporting Revolution:  Moving Beyond the Earnings Game, which he co-authored. He is regularly quoted in the major news media and has appeared on a number of television and cable business shows.

Among Mr. Herz’s other activities, he chaired the AICPA SEC Regulations Committee and the Transnational Auditors Committee of the International Federation of Accountants, and served as a member of the Emerging Issues Task Force, the FASB Financial Instruments Task Force, the American Accounting Association’s Financial Accounting Standards Committee, the SEC Practice Section Executive Committee of the AICPA, and the International Capital Markets Committee of the New York Stock Exchange. 

Paul A. Volcker

In the course of his career, Mr. Volcker worked in the United States Federal Government for almost 30 years, culminating in two terms as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from 1979-1987. He divided the earlier stages of his career between the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Treasury Department, and the Chase Manhattan Bank.

Mr. Volcker retired as Chairman of Wolfensohn & Co. upon the merger of that firm with Bankers Trust. From 1996-1999, Mr. Volcker headed a committee formed to determine existing dormant accounts and other assets in Swiss banks of victims of Nazi persecution. From 2000 – 2005 Mr. Volcker served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the International Accounting Standards Committee overseeing a renewed effort to develop consistent, high-quality accounting standards acceptable in all countries. In 2003, he headed a private Commission on the Public Service recommending a sweeping overhaul of the organization and personnel practices of the United States Federal Government. In April 2004, Mr. Volcker was asked by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to chair the Independent Inquiry into the United Nations Oil-for-Food Program. The report on the Inquiry was published in October 2005. In 2007, Mr. Volcker was asked by the President of the World Bank to chair a panel of experts to review the operations of the Department of Institutional Integrity. A report was published in September 2007. In November 2008, President Elect Obama chose Mr. Volcker to head the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Pursuing his many continuing interests in public policy, Mr. Volcker is associated with the Japan Society, the Institute of International Economics, the American Assembly, and the American Council on Germany. He is Honorary Chairman of the Trilateral Commission and Chairman of the Trustees of the Group of 30.

Educated at Princeton, Harvard and the London School of Economics, Mr. Volcker is Professor Emeritus of International Economic Policy at Princeton University and was the first Henry Kaufman Visiting Professor at the Stern School of Business at NYU.

Aaron Anderson

Mary E. Barth

Mary Barth is the Atholl McBean Professor of Accounting and Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Professor Barth is considered one of the best and most prolific academic accountants of her generation. Her work deals with financial reporting issues that are important to practitioners and regulators alike, including goodwill, international standards, earnings patterns, stock options and intangible assets. In 2001, Professor Barth joined the 14-member International Accounting Standards Board.

Martin F. Baumann

Martin F. Baumann presently serves as the PCAOB Chief Auditor and Director of Professional Standards as well as the Director of the Office of Research and Analysis. Prior to joining the PCAOB in September 2006, Mr. Baumann was the Executive Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer for Freddie Mac for three yeas, where he was responsible for accounting and reporting, corporate planning, taxation and capital management. Mr. Baumann led the completion of Freddie Mac's restatement and improvements in their financial reporting. Prior to that, Mr. Baumann retired from PricewaterhouseCoopers after a 33-year career spanning positions as partner, deputy chairman of the World Financial Services practice, and Global Banking leader.

Mr. Baumann earned a BA degree in Accounting from Queens College and an MBA in Finance from Baruch College. He also completed Columbia University's Executive program in Business Administration. Mr. Baumann is a certified public accountant in New York.

Neri Bukspan

Neri Bukspan is a managing director with Standard & Poor’s Credit Market Services. Based in New York, Neri is Standard & Poor’s global chief quality officer and chief accountant, and is responsible for overseeing the development of operating standards, metrics and key reporting requirements for managing criteria development and its ongoing application, while managing ratings quality assurance processes.

Neri also chairs Standard & Poor’s accounting task force, directs the financial reporting specialists and accounting coordinators supporting Standard & Poor’s credit analysts in the industry groups, and is a member of Standard & Poor’s Analytical Policy Board. In this role, he oversees Standard & Poor’s accounting initiatives through advanced training, internal and external communications, and the establishment of a global internal accounting network. He supports Standard & Poor’s analysts, as well as CPAs and chartered accountants in the analytic teams in addressing the increasing complexity of emerging accounting and financial reporting matters.

Neri joined Standard & Poor’s in 2002. Prior to that, he served in Ernst & Young's National Accounting office as a technical resource for the firm's professionals worldwide.

Neri is a CPA, licensed in New York and California. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the American Accounting Association, the New York State Society of CPAs, and the California Society of CPAs. He is a member and a former chair of the FASB’s Investors Technical Advisory Committee and serves on the FASB’s User Advisory Council, the Standards Advisory Committee of the IASB (SAC), and on the Accounting Standards Executive Committee (AcSEC) of the AICPA. He also advises FASB on numerous projects including Liabilities & Equity, Derivatives Disclosures and Fair Value Reporting, and is a member of the joint IASB/FASB working group on lease accounting.

Neri holds a B.A. in Accounting and Economics from Tel-Aviv University, an M.B.A. from the Anderson School of Business at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Masters in Taxation from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. He has completed the S&P Executive Education program at Columbia Business School, is a Next Generation Fellow for the American Assembly and is a recipient of the McGraw Hill Companies’ Excellence in Leadership Award.

Stephen Cooper

Mr. Cooper was a Managing Director in the Equities business of UBS Investment Bank in London from 1997 to 2008. During this time his main role was as a publishing analyst and head of valuation and accounting research. He was also a member of the European and Global investment recommendations committees and the investment committee of the UBS pension fund in the UK.

As a specialist in accounting, security valuation and finance he worked closely with many other professionals throughout the investment bank, including those involved in quantative and sector equity research, pension finance and corporate finance. As an analyst he advised many institutional investors around the world on investment issues, particularly on techniques of equity analysis, security valuation and related financial reporting issues. He also developed a number of valuation models for use in equity research.

Mr. Cooper has been recognised as a leader in his field and was voted the top European Valuation and Accounting analyst by in the Extel and Institutional Investor surveys on 10 consecutive occasions.

Mr. Cooper has been actively involved in the IASB’s work for a number of years through his participation in various IASB committees and other groups. He served on the IASB’s advisory group for share based payments and more recently the joint IASB-FASB working group on financial statement presentation. He was a member of the Analyst Representative Group, the IASB’s consultative group for analysts and investors, since its formation. He has also been a member of the financial reporting committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and the pensions accounting advisory group of the UK ASB. Mr. Cooper was also an active member of the Corporate Reporting User forum, a group of analysts and investors formed to consider financial reporting issues.

Prior to joining UBS as an analyst Mr. Cooper ran his own training and consultancy business providing education courses on accounting and finance for many of the leading global investment banks and institutional investors. Prior to this he worked in the corporate finance division of Schroders in London, which is now part of Citigroup, providing advice to corporate clients and working on various transactions, including company acquisitions, privatisations and capital raising.

Mr. Cooper is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants, qualifying as an accountant in 1983. He also has a master’s degree in accounting and finance from the London School of Economics.

W. Peter Day

Peter Day is currently chairman and director of a number of Australian listed companies with international operations.

He served as CFO of Amcor, a global packaging company. Amcor successfully transitioned from AGAAP to IFRS under Peter’s stewardship, involving around 230 entities in over 30 countries. Amcor also reported contemporaneously under US GAAP as an SEC foreign registrant.

Peter is a former Chairman of the Australian Accounting Standards Board, has participated in IASC work, and served as Deputy Chairman of the Australian Securities & Investments Commission.

Patrick Finnegan

Patrick Finnegan is a former Director of the Financial Reporting Policy Group at CFA Institute Centre for Financial Market Integrity. Mr Finnegan led a team at CFA Institute (a global, not-for-profit association for investment professionals with nearly 100,000 members) responsible for providing user input into the standard-setting activities of the IASB, FASB and key regulatory bodies. He has also co-ordinated the work of the CFA Institute’s Corporate Disclosure Policy Council, which reviews and comments on financial reporting policy initiatives around the world.

Before joining the CFA Institute in 2008, Mr Finnegan worked at Moody’s Investors Service, where he served as a managing director in Moody’s Corporate Finance Group and as a senior analyst in Moody’s Financial Institutions Group. Previously, he worked for Deloitte as a partner providing audit services primarily for insurance companies and conducting financial due-diligence services for private equity firms. Mr Finnegan also worked for the American Institute of CPAs as a technical manager and for the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a staff accountant.

Cindy Fornelli

Cindy Fornelli is the Executive Director of the Center for Audit Quality (CAQ). Founded in 2007, the CAQ is dedicated to enhancing investor confidence and public trust in the global capital markets. As the point person for the CAQ on audit-related issues, she has been named one of Directorship magazine’s 100 most influential people on corporate governance and in the boardroom. She also was named to Accounting Today’s 2009 list of the most influential people in accounting for the third consecutive year. Prior to becoming the Center’s Executive Director, Fornelli was the Regulatory and Conflicts Management Executive at Bank of America. Before joining Bank of America, Fornelli was Deputy Director of the Division of Investment Management of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Robert P Garnett

Robert P Garnett is a Non-Voting Chairman of the International Financial Reporting Committee. Immediately before then, he was Executive Vice-President: Finance for Anglo American plc, one of the world’s largest mining companies. He was a member of the South African Accounting Practices Board and served as a committee member on IASC Foundation's project on extractive industries.

Mr. Garnett qualified as a chartered accountant with Peat Marwick Mitchell in 1972, subsequently acting as Technical Director of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (1982-1984).

Following a return to the practising profession as a partner in Arthur Andersen’s financial consulting practice in Johannesburg (1984-1987), he joined a Southern African venture capital group to head its investment management operations, primarily in healthcare and pharmaceuticals (1987-1991).

As a member of the Investment Analysts Society of Southern Africa, his next move was as General Manager of Finansbank, then a leading South African merchant bank (1991-1994). After that he joined Anglo American with responsibilities in both London and Johannesburg.

Jay Hanson

Jay Hanson is the National Director of Accounting for McGladrey & Pullen, LLP. He has overall responsibility for the Firm’s accounting guidance, training on all accounting topics, and leadership of McGladrey’s Accounting Standards Group.  Jay has been with McGladrey & Pullen since 1979 and became a partner in 1988. He has served clients ranging from small businesses and not-for-profit organizations to multinational public companies. He also has been responsible for the review and coordination of international SEC filings, establishing the credentials of RSM International affiliates to practice before the SEC, and development and coordination of local and national training programs.

Jay is a Certified Public Accountant who is licensed to practice in Minnesota.  He is a member of the Emerging Issues Task Force of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and was previously the Task Force Chair of the Industry Working Group for the FASB’s Business Reporting Research Project.  Jay currently is the Chair of the Accounting Standards Executive Committee of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Chair of the AICPA Derivatives Implementation Technical Practice Aid Task Force.  He also is an Advisory Board Member for The SEC Institute, Inc.  Jay is a frequent presenter at national industry, state society, and AICPA conferences.  Jay graduated from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in business administration, accounting and mathematics. He also has completed the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, RSM McGladrey Business Advisor Schoo

Robert R. Harris

Robert R. Harris is Vice Chairman of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants for 2008-09 and will serve as Chairman in 2009-10.
Harris has served the AICPA in many capacities.  He is a former member of the Board of Directors of the AICPA and has been a member of the governing Council for 15 years. From 2003 – 2008, he was chairman of the AICPA’s National Accreditation Commission, which oversees the Institute’s four specialized credentials.  He chaired the 150-Hour Task Force in 1999-2001 and has served on the PCPS Executive Committee, Work/Life and Women’s Initiatives Executive Committee, Quality Review Executive Committee, Life and Disability Executive Committee, State Legislation Committee and Finance Committee.

He is managing director of Harris, Cotherman, Jones, Price & Associates, Certified Public Accountants - Chartered, in Vero Beach, Florida.  In his role as a consulting and testifying expert, he speaks to attorneys and CPAs throughout the country on professional standards and malpractice issues.

He was president of the Florida Institute of CPAs from 1990-1991 and a member of the Board of Governors from 1985-2001. Harris graduated from Stetson University with a B.B.A. in Accounting.

Tom Jones

Tom Jones was vice chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) from its creation, in April 2001, to June 2009.  He continues to serve the IASB as an advisor to the Trustees of the IASC Foundation and as an advisor to Chairman of the IASB.  He is a British chartered accountant and has worked as a preparer for almost forty years.  Before joining the IASB, he was the Chief Accounting Officer and subsequently Principle Financial Officer of Citibank and Citicorp in New York for 20 years.  Before that he held various senior financial positions in many European countries and New York with ITT.

In addition to his preparer activity Tom has been involved in standard setting for many years.  He was chairman of the committee on corporate reporting of the FEI and also chaired the Chief Financial Officers Committee of the American Bankers association.  He was a member of the Emerging Issues Task Force for many years and was a member and Vice Chairman of the Financial Accounting Foundation which oversees the activities of the FASB.  He also served on the Board of the International Accounting Standards Committee and was the last Chairman of this organization during its transition to the new full time IASB.

Olivia F. Kirtley

Olivia F. Kirtley is a Certified Public Accountant and business consultant for corporate strategy and governance issues in the U.S. and internationally.  She is a former Chairman of the Board of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).  She also served as Chairman of the AICPA Board of Examiners throughout the conversion of the Uniform CPA Examination to a computer-based examination with significant revisions to content and structure.

Ms. Kirtley is a Director of three public companies:  U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB), Papa John’s International, Inc. (Nasdaq: PZZA) and ResCare, Inc (Nasdaq: RSCR). Other board service includes the National Center for Family Literacy, SOZO International (NGO in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka), and International Federation of Accountants (IFAC).  She is also a faculty member for The Conference Board Directors’ Institute.  Prior to 2000, Ms. Kirtley was Chief Financial Officer of Vermont American Corporation, a global manufacturer of power tool accessories.  Prior to joining Vermont American, she was Senior Tax Manager with Ernst & Young.

Ms. Kirtley is a recognized speaker and advocate for effective corporate governance. She testified before the SEC’s Blue Ribbon Committee on Improving the Effectiveness of Corporate Audit Committees, which led to Audit Committee reform by U.S. stock exchanges.  She also testified before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs during its Hearing on Accounting and Investor Protection Issues Raised by Enron and Other Public Companies and served on the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) Task Force that published the report entitled Rebuilding Public Confidence in Financial Reporting.

Rachel Knubley

Rachel Knubley is the Senior Project Manager on the IASB’s leasing project.

Prior to joining the IASB in January 2006, she worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) initially in their audit practice. As part of PwC’s UK accounting technical team, Rachel advised on all aspects of accounting and specialised in leasing and financial instruments issues.

She is a qualified chartered accountant based in the UK.

Ken Kuykendall

Ken is the leader of PwC's US IFRS Tax practice in the US, as well as a leader in PwC's Tax Accounting Services and Tax Function Effectiveness networks. Ken has over 15 years of experience in taxes including extensive experience in SFAS 109 and IAS 12 as well as the related US GAAP and IFRS rules.  Ken works closely with many US-based MNCs in educating them on IFRS as well as evaluating the potential impact of moving to IFRS.  Additionally, Ken has played a key role in educating external stakeholders, including the IRS and Congress, on the potential tax considerations inherent in the movement to IFRS.  Within PwC, Ken leads a team of PwC professionals in researching the potential impact that the IFRS movement will have on a company's global tax function and developing the firm's thought leadership and tools to facilitate the transition to IFRS.  In addition to tax accounting matters, Ken is deeply involved in advising our clients on the broader tax implications of the movement to IFRS in the US, such as accounting method and inventory considerations as well as various international tax issues.  Ken is a frequent speaker on these topics in many public forums, including PwC's IFRS Readiness webcast series.
 
Ken has a Bachelors degree in accounting from Eastern Illinois University, a Masters degree in taxation from DePaul University, and a Juris doctorate from The John Marshall Law School in Chicago.  Ken is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the American Bar Association.

James J. Leisenring

James J. Leisenring was appointed as a member of the International Accounting Standards Board and its liaison member to the FASB in 2001. At the time of his appointment, he was Director of International Activities at the FASB. Mr. Leisenring joined the staff of the FASB in 1982 as Director of Research and Technical activities and became Chairman of the Emerging Issues Task Force when it was formed in 1984. Mr. Leisenring was appointed as a member of the FASB in October 1987 and was appointed its vice chairman in January 1988 where he served until June 2000. He served as chairman of the FASB Derivatives Implementation Group and the FASB Financial Instruments Task Force. He was also a member of the International Joint Working Group on Financial Instruments. Mr. Leisenring also served as chairman of the G4+1 group of standard setters. Prior to joining the FASB, he was a partner and director of accounting and auditing for Bristol, Leisenring, Herkner & Co., Battle Creek, Michigan, USA, a firm that is now a part of Plante & Moran. He served as chairman of the Auditing Standards Board of the American Institute of CPAs and has been a member of several other Institute committees.

From 1964 to 1969 he was a member of the faculty of Western Michigan University. Mr. Leisenring received his BA from Albion College and an MBA from Western Michigan University. Mr. Leisenring is a member of the Accounting Hall of Fame.

Patricia McConnell

Patricia McConnell is a former Senior Managing Director in Equity Research and Accounting, and Tax Policy Analyst for Bear Stearns & Co.

In a 32-year career in Bear Stearns’ Equity Research group, Ms McConnell established herself as one of the leading analysts in the United States on issues related to accounting. Institutional Investor magazine ranked her the leading analyst in the United States on accounting and tax matters for 16 consecutive years from 1991 to 2006.

Throughout her career, she has been an active participant in accounting standard-setting activities as a member of the IASB’s Standards Advisory Council, the International Accounting Standards Committee (the IASB’s predecessor body), the CFA Institute’s Corporate Disclosure Policy Council, and the New York Society of Security Analysts.

Warren McGregor

In 2007, Warren was appointed Honorary Professor, Department of Accounting and Finance, Monash University.

Before joining the Board, he was a founding Director of Stevenson McGregor, a boutique accounting practice specializing in financial reporting and accounting standards.

Prior to that, he was for 10 years the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Accounting Research Foundation (AARF), the body that until 30 June 2000 was responsible for providing technical support to the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) in the development of Australian Accounting Standards.

From 1983 to 1999, he attended meetings of the IASC as Technical Adviser to the Australian delegation. He was Chairman of the IASC's Insurance Steering Committee.

Warren was a founding member of the G4 1 Group of national accounting standard setters.

David Morris

Prior to founding MORRIS CONSULTING, an international financial accounting and advisory firm, Mr. Morris was Senior Vice President of JPMorgan Chase Bank and Co-Director of Corporate Accounting Policies at his retirement. 

He is currently a member of the Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting of United Nations Conference of Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the Consultative Advisory Group (CAG) of International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB).  

He is a frequent speaker on international accounting issues and has authored over 50 articles published in various accounting, finance and banking journals. 

Paul Munter

Paul Munter is a Partner in the Department of Professional Practice—Audit & Advisory with KPMG.  He serves as the lead technical partner for the US firm’s international accounting and IFRS activities and also serves on KPMG’s Global IFRS Panel which is responsible for establishing KPMG positions on the application of IFRS.He also is involved in the development of firm positions in response to proposals from the IASB, IFRIC, FASB, SEC and other standard setters as well as the development of the firm’s guidance and publications including Comparison of IFRS to US GAAP and First Impressions:  Business Combinations (joint IASB/FASB project).
 
He served as the Academic Fellow in the Office of the Chief Accountant at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission where he worked on many of the Commission’s Sarbanes-Oxley initiatives and rule-making activities.  Previously, he served as KPMG Professor and Chairman of the Department of Accounting at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida.  He earned his PhD in accounting at the University of Colorado.  He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Fresno State University.  He is a CPA in New York, Florida, and Colorado.Mr. Munter was honored by the Texas Society of CPAs as its first “Outstanding Discussion Leader.”  He has also been honored by the Florida Institute of CPAs as its Outstanding Educator and he was honored by Beta Alpha Psi as the National Business Information Professional of the Year.

Charles H. Noski

From 1999 to 2002, Mr. Noski served as senior executive vice president and chief financial officer of AT&T Corporation and was elected vice chairman of AT&T's Board of Directors in 2002. He retired from AT&T upon the completion of its restructuring in November 2002. From 2003 to 2005, Mr. Noski served as Corporate Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Northrop Grumman Corporation, and was a director from 2002 to 2005.

Prior to joining AT&T, Mr. Noski was president, chief operating officer, and a member of the board of directors of Hughes Electronics Corporation, a publicly-traded subsidiary of General Motors Corporation in the satellite and wireless communications business.  From 1992 to 1996, he was corporate senior vice president and chief financial officer of Hughes and was elected vice chairman in 1996.  Mr. Noski was a partner with Deloitte & Touche prior to joining Hughes as corporate vice president and controller in 1990.

Mr. Noski is presently a director of Microsoft Corporation, Morgan Stanley, Air Products & Chemicals, Inc., and Automatic Data Processing, Inc., and serves as chairman of the audit committees of Microsoft and Morgan Stanley.  He is also a director of the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County.  Mr. Noski is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Financial Executives International, and the Audit Committee Leadership Network-North America, and is a past member of the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council of the FASB and the Standing Advisory Group of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.  In 2006, Mr. Noski was inducted into the Financial Executives International Hall of Fame.

Mr. Noski received his B.S. degree in business administration, magna cum laude, and a M.S. degree in accountancy from California State University, Northridge.  In 2007, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by the California State University system.

Judy O’Dell

Judy O’Dell serves as the chair of the Private Companies Financial Reporting Committee. The PCFRC is part of a broad initiative by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB or “the Board”) and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) to further improve the FASB's current standard-setting process to better meet the financial reporting needs of private companies and the users of their financial statements. She was named one of Accounting Today’s Top 100 Most Influential People in 2007 and 2008 for her role as chair of PCFRC.

O’Dell is also president of O’Dell Valuation Consulting LLC, CPA in Chestertown, Maryland in addition to her role as CFO of family hotel/restaurant and real estate development businesses. She serves on the Audit Advisory Committee of the US Government Accountability Office. O’Dell previously served as a trustee of the Financial Accounting Foundation and on the board of the AICPA.  She has served on and chaired numerous AICPA committees including the Technical Issues Committee. She has over 35 years of public accounting experience and was the managing partner of Beucler, Kelly& Irwin in Wayne, PA for 13 years. Judy is a graduate of Immaculata University with a BA in Economics.

Paul Pacter

Paul Pacter holds two concurrent positions: Director of Standards for Small and Medium-Sized Entities at the International Accounting Standards Board in London, and Director, Global IFRS Office of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu in Hong Kong. 

The goal of his IASB work is to develop and promote adoption of an International Financial Reporting Standard that reduces the financial reporting burden on small entities.  His responsibilities at Deloitte include responding to client technical questions and managing the website www.iasplus.com.  He worked for the IASB’s predecessor in London from 1996-2000, managing projects on financial instruments, interim financial reporting, segment reporting, discontinuing operations, extractive industries, agriculture, and electronic financial reporting.  Previously, Paul worked for the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board for 16 years, and, for seven years, was Commissioner of Finance of the City of Stamford, Connecticut.  Paul was Vice Chairman of the Advisory Council to the U.S. Governmental Accounting Standards Board (1984 to 1989) and a member of GASB’s pensions task force and FASB’s consolidation task force.  He is co-author of two university textbooks and has published over 100 professional monographs and articles.  He received his Ph.D. from Michigan State University and is a CPA.  He has taught in several MBA programmes for working business managers.

Leslie F. Seidman

Leslie F. Seidman, was named a member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, effective July 1, 2003.  Prior to joining the Board, she managed a financial reporting consulting firm that served global corporations, accounting firms, and other concerns. Among the previous posts she held were Vice President at J.P. Morgan & Company, where she was responsible for establishing the firm’s accounting policies, and Assistant Director of Implementation and Practice Issues at the FASB. She started her career as an auditor at Arthur Young & Company (now Ernst and Young LLP) in New York.

Ms. Seidman was the author of the first three editions of Financial Instruments, a comprehensive practice manual for accountants and other professionals (currently in its 5th edition and maintained by CCH Publishers). She has contributed to several other publications.

Ms. Seidman, a Certified Public Accountant, earned a B.A. degree in English from Colgate University and a M.S. degree in accounting from New York University. 

Olivier Servais

Olivier Servais is Director of XBRL Activities at the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) Foundation, the oversight body of the IASB, a private, not-for-profit organisation responsible for the development and promulgation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the IFRS Taxonomy.  In his capacity of Director Olivier is responsible for coordinating all of the Foundation’s XBRL-related activities and resources in order to accelerate the implementation and adoption of IFRSs with XBRL, working with private and public organisations, regulators, jurisdictions and other interest groups.

Olivier has extensive experience in co-ordinating international XBRL developments, having served as Secretary General and then European Director of XBRL International, and as a member of the XBRL International Steering Committee, the Consultative Working Group of CESR Transparency, and the Eurostat XBRL Pilot Task Force.

Olivier holds a Licentiate’s degree (Ingénieur commerical) in Business Administration and a post-university degree in SME Administration, both from ICHEC, Brussels and he is also the author of various publications on the subject of XBRL.

Henry Siegel

Henry Siegel is Vice President for Risk Management and Financial Reporting at the American Academy of Actuaries.  In this role, he oversees the Academy’s comments on accounting proposals from the IASB and FASB.  He also represents the Academy on International Actuarial Association groups working on accounting issues. 

He is a frequent speaker at industry events, has represented the Academy at meetings with the SEC, FASB and PCAOB and writes frequently on accounting and other actuarial issues.

He is Vice President in the Office of the Chief Actuary of New York Life where his responsibilities include oversight of actuarial aspects of GAAP accounting. 

John Smith

Prior to joining the IASB and while Mr. Smith was a part-time member, he was a partner in Deloitte and Touche. He retired from D&T in June 2007 and was reappointed as a full-time member of the IASB for a five year term ending June 2012. Mr. Smith represented D&T on the Emerging Issues Task Force of the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). He also provided accounting consultation to D&T national office and client service personnel.

Mr. Smith was a member of the FASB’s Derivatives Implementation Group (DIG) and Financial Instruments Task Force. He was a member of the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) and was previously a founding member of the predecessor body, the Standing Interpretations Committee. Representing the US he served as a member of the Board of IASC in 2000. He was a member of the Steering Committee for the development of IAS 39 and chaired the former IAS 39 Implementation Guidance Committee.

Before joining the National Office of D&T in Wilton, Mr. Smith was in charge of the Financial Instruments Research Group in New York. That group consisted of financial instruments specialists whose focus was on the valuation and operation of, and accounting for, financial products. Under his direction, the group provided consultation and technical support to practice office personnel and clients nationally, primarily on financial instruments including:

• securitisations
• hedging and risk management strategies and policies,
• off balance sheet instruments,
• derivative products, and
• valuation techniques.

He regularly makes presentations on accounting matters, particularly financial instruments and hedging activities.

Mr. Smith joined the audit staff of his firm in Fort Lauderdale in 1973. He spent four years as a manager in the National Office SEC Department and was responsible for reviewing and consulting on filings with the SEC. He also served as an audit partner responsible for numerous audit engagements in the Dallas and New York offices.

He received his BA and MA in accounting from the University of South Florida.

Margaret M. Smyth

Margaret M. Smyth is Vice President, Controller of United Technologies Corporation. In this role, she is responsible for many of the global finance functions for this $53 billion, Dow 30 diversified company that provides high technology products and services to the building and aerospace industries. Prior to her current position, Smyth was Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer of 3M and a senior partner at two leading global accounting and professional services firms in New York City. Smyth earned her undergraduate degree in economics from Fordham University, and her master’s degree in accounting from NYU Leonard N. Stern School of Business, graduating summa cum laude from both.  She is also an alumna of the Aspen Institute’s Henry Crown Fellows Program.

She currently serves as a Director for Concern Worldwide (U.S.) and Fordham University. Smyth is also a member of IFRIC, the interpretations group of the International Accounting Standards Board, as well as on the Board of Directors of Mutual of America Investment Corporation.  A second-generation Irish-American and an Irish citizen, Smyth is married and has two sons.  The Smyths reside in West Hartford, CT and have a second home in County Roscommon.

Donna L. Street

Professor Donna L. Street is the Mahrt Chair in Accounting at the University of Dayton. She is President of the International Association for Accounting Education and Research and a Past President of the International Section of the American Accounting Association (AAA) and of Beta Alpha Psi.  Her research interests include international accounting standards.  Street has received the International Section of AAA’s Outstanding Service Award and Outstanding International Accounting Educator Award.

Alan Teixeira

Dr. Alan Teixeira is the Director of Technical Activities at the IASB.  He joined the IASB as a Senior Project Manager in 2005 from the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants (now known as NZICA), where he was the General Manager of the standards and quality assurance division.  NZICA has responsibility for accounting standard setting in New Zealand and one of Alan’s roles was to lead the adoption of IFRSs in New Zealand. 

Prior to that he balanced an academic career at the University of Auckland (where he was a textbook author, researcher, administrator and award winning educator) with technical roles assisting New Zealand’s leading accounting firms on financial reporting interpretation. 
Alan was one of the authors of the IFRS XBRL Taxonomy and has been a major contributor to the XBRL framework.  He was also the lead author of the discussion paper Management Commentary, published by the IASB.

Sir David Tweedie

Sir David Tweedie, Chairman, International Accounting Standards Board, was educated at Edinburgh University (BCom 1966, PhD 1969) and qualified as a Scottish Chartered Accountant. He was appointed Technical Director of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland in 1978 and moved from there in 1982 to the position of National Technical Partner of the then Thomson McLintock & Co. In 1987 his firm merged with Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co., and he was appointed National Technical Partner of KPMG Peat Marwick McLintock. In 1990 he was appointed the first full-time Chairman of the (then) newly created Accounting Standards Board, the committee charged with the responsibility for producing the UK’s accounting standards.

He is a visiting Professor of Accounting in the Management School at Edinburgh University. He has been awarded honorary degrees by eight British universities, the ICAEW’s Founding Societies Centenary Award for 1997 and the CIMA Award 1998 for services to the accounting profession.

Patricia Doran Walters

Patricia Doran Walters, PhD, CFA®, is Clinical Associate Professor of Accounting at Fordham University in New York City where she teaches International Accounting as well as US GAAP Financial Reporting & Analysis in the undergraduate, MBA and Executive Programs.  She is also President of Disclosure Analytics, Inc, a consulting firm specializing in the independent assessment of the quality of financial reporting and disclosure under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and US GAAP.  Disclosure Analytics also offers workshops and custom training in International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). In Canada, Dr. Walters is a member of the Accounting Standards Oversight Council of the Canadian Accounting Standards Board  (AcSB) and the AcSB’s International Advisory Council.  She has taught IFRS courses across Canada.

Formerly a Senior Vice President at the CFA Institute, Dr. Walters was responsible for global advocacy on financial reporting and capital markets issues, development of Global Investment Performance StandardsÒ, and enforcement of the CFA Institute’s Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice.  Dr. Walters has a Ph.D. in Accounting from the Stern School of Business, New York University, and holds the Chartered Financial AnalystÒ (CFAÒ) designation.

Wayne Upton

Wayne Upton joined the IASB staff as Research Director in June 2001 after 17 years at the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board.  As Research Director, his assignment included oversight over projects on the IASB’s agenda and other IASB technical activities.

Mr. Upton was designated as Director of International Activities in April 2008.  In that role, he continues his work assisting both major and transitional economies in making the transition to IFRSs and implementing IFRSs.  He also handles special projects for the Board.

Mr. Upton is a frequent speaker at accounting conferences and has written a number of articles on accounting topics.  His articles have appeared in The Journal of Accountancy, Best’s Review, Compensation and Benefits Management, The Journal of Reinsurance and in publications of the Australian Accounting Research Foundation, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the International Accounting Standards Committee, the ACCA (United Kingdom), and the Society of Actuaries.  He is also the author of three FASB Special Reports.  He is a 1972 graduate of Regis University in Denver.

Michael Wells

Michael Wells leads the education initiative of the International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation (IASC Foundation). He qualified as a South African chartered accountant with Ernst & Young before being seconded to the firm's Detroit office. He subsequently joined the academic world and became the Associate Professor responsible for the financial accounting section of a South African university. He also served as an independent evaluator of professional qualifying examinations. He is a member of a number of international accountancy education advisory groups.