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Controller Appreciation
Week '26

Cecily VM Welch, CPA, PFS, CFP®, has more than 30 years of experience in public accounting as well as in the private sector, spanning financial planning, business advisory, as well as tax planning and compliance, and is known nationally as The Accountant You Can Understand® and The Tax Translator™. She began her career as a national and international auditor before building and running her own CPA firm, advising clients from sole proprietors to mid-market companies and nonprofits on tax strategy, entity structure, and financial operations, including building accounting and tax operations SOPs from scratch.

In addition to creating and delivering an in-depth 10month course for small operations teams called The LAB: Building Your Compliance BlueprintTM , Cecily has taught over 100 courses to fellow CPAs and non-accountants alike. A former board member of the Georgia Society of CPAs, Cecily was also appointed to the IRS Advisory Council, where she chaired the Small Business/Self-Employed Committee.

Today, she focuses on helping finance professionals move out of the weeds and into the strategic seat, coaching CPA firms and controllers on translating financial analysis into language executives act on. She has taken that work to stages nationally and internationally, from the AICPA National Not-for-Profit Conference to the World Diversity in Leadership Conference in Edmonton, Alberta. Through her podcast, The Tax Translator™, she is dedicated to helping finance leaders tell a clearer story with the numbers and earn a seat at the table.

Joseph Krahn is the Senior Controller at U BEAUTY, where he has been with the company for five and a half years, and plays a key role in overseeing the company’s financial operations, reporting, and strategic financial management. With a strong focus on accuracy, efficiency, and business performance, Joseph helps support informed decision-making and the continued growth of the organization.  In his role, Joseph works across financial planning, accounting, controls, and operational analysis, partnering with leadership to ensure the business maintains strong financial discipline while pursuing its broader goals. His approach combines hands-on financial expertise with a practical understanding of the needs of a growing business.

Thomas Peck is a finance and accounting leader with nearly a decade of experience building and scaling finance functions at high-growth, venture-backed companies. He began his career in audit and alternative investments at KPMG before moving into industry as a Senior Accountant at DoorDash, then took on Assistant Controller and Controller roles at Bungalow, Local Kitchens, and now Owner.com. In each of these roles, Thomas has owned the close process, financial reporting, and internal controls that let fast-growing companies scale without losing rigor. He holds a B.B.A. in Finance and a Master's in Assurance and Advisory, both from the SMU Cox School of Business. He's passionate about building lean, high-integrity accounting operations that keep pace with rapid growth.

Lisa Dy, CPA, MBA, is a leadership development speaker and professional educator who helps finance and accounting professionals become more confident, influential, and effective leaders. Drawing on more than 30 years of corporate experience and her background as a CPA, Lisa brings a practical understanding of the challenges analytical professionals face as they move from technical expertise into greater leadership responsibility. She has presented to more than 45,000 professionals through webinars, workshops, and speaking engagements.

Mark James is an accomplished business improvement advisor and frequent speaker regarding workplace performance, culture, employee engagement, and change management.  He possesses over 45 years’ experience helping business and professional services firms find and fix barriers that get in the way of people and operational performance.  His signature keynote talk, Business Improvement Einstein’s Way, reveals how to succeed amidst uncertainty and difficulty.  In addition to his consulting practice, Mark serves on the board of Family Counseling Service, a behavioral health agency in Aurora, Illinois and the board of the Suburban (Chicago) Illinois Alumni Club where he leads the Personal and Professional Development Program for its members.  Mark earned a B.S. Finance degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Dayton.

Nicholas Saller is an AI business strategist who makes the intersection where AI and business meet actually make sense. When ChatGPT launched, he already had 9 years of experience implementing AI in business. Now, he has 11 years in AI and 31 years in building businesses. He has built a strong foundation through: teaching AI to over 1,100 student professionals, multiple AI speaking engagements, serving as an AI Automation college extension course content creator, a corporate AI trainer for large companies domestically & abroad, an AI automator, group founder, & community creator, and as an AI advisor to businesses.

For more than 30 years, Mark Brousseau has established himself as a thought leader on accounts payable, accounts receivable, payments, and document automation.   A popular speaker at industry conferences and on webinars and podcasts, Brousseau advises prominent end-users and solutions and services providers on how to use automation to improve document- and payments-driven business processes.  Brousseau has chaired numerous educational conferences and has served on several industry committees and boards.  He resides in Center City Philadelphia with his wife and three sons.