Denise Dross, president of Human Resource Guidance, has 30 years experience as a human resource professional, consultant and trainer. She has successfully conducted thousands of training seminars and workshops to employers of every size throughout the region. Prior to establishing her consulting business, Denise served as Director of Human Resources for County Seat clothing stores.

Will Fleenor, CPA.CITP, PH.D. is currently the CFO of K2 Enterprises. Will has conducted seminars for more than 40 State CPA Societies and has spoken at numerous accounting technology conferences, including speaking at the AICPA Information Technology Conference for the past 14 years as well as doing training for other organizations such as the FBI. Will is a past Chairman of the AICPA Information Technology Conference in addition to being past chairman of other conferences and professional committees. Will is a co-author of the Practitioners Publishing Company's Guide to Installing Microcomputer Accounting Systems and has had numerous articles published in professional journals including the Journal of Accountancy, the CPA Journal, and others.

Dennis Gerschick, J.D., CPA, CFA is the founder and President of Regal Seminars. He brings to the podium a truly unique set of skills and many years of experience as an Attorney, CPA, Chartered Financial Analyst, and Venture Capitalist. Mr. Gerschick has the knowledge and background to present topics from a variety of perspectives. Before entering law school, Mr. Gerschick worked as a CPA with Ernst & Young. After graduating from law school in 1983, from Drake University, Mr. Gerschick worked in the tax department of one of Atlanta's largest law firms, Powell, Goldstein, LLP. Currently, he is of counsel to the law firm of Taylor, Busch, Slipakoff, & Duma, LLP. of Atlanta, Georgia, specializing in the areas of business transactions, tax, and corporate governance. In 1990, he earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. Since 1999, he has served as President of VenCap Advisory Group, Inc. This is the sole general partner of VenCap Opportunities Fund, L.P., which is a venture capital fund. In addition to speaking at seminars, Mr. Gerschick provides financial and business advice to individuals and companies through Gerschick Business & Investment Counsel, LLC. He acts as an advisor to both the experienced and the novice investor, about investing in privately held companies, or other proposed investments.

F. Snyder Gokey, J.D., CPA
Vogel Law Firm
Snyder focuses exclusively on immigration law for businesses and families. Snyder brings years of experience as a former government attorney and long-time business attorney to his practice of immigration law. Before joining the Vogel firm in 1986, Snyder spent four years as a trial attorney for the Tax Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. For many years after joining the firm in 1986, Snyder practiced primarily as a business attorney, representing businesses of all sizes in matters ranging from business formation, to contracts, to regulatory compliance in a wide range of areas. For more than a decade Snyder focused on all aspects of the business issues of health care providers. Snyder is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. He is a Certified Public Accountant and member of the North Dakota Society of Certified Public Accountants. He is a member of the North Dakota and Minnesota Bar Associations, and admitted to practice before the US District Courts of North Dakota and Minnesota, and the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

John H. Higgins, CPA.CITP
As a former CEO of a technology consulting and training organization, John has more than 20 years experience advising startup and established businesses. Combining his technology expertise with his in-depth understanding of how to grow an organization, John works with clients to develop and implement effective IT strategies. He has authored numerous articles and is a popular speaker, always providing practical and valuable “how to” advice. A CPA, John is a former national practice director of mid-market IT consulting for a top ten accounting and consulting firm. The Michigan Association of CPAs honored John with the Innovative User of Technology Award. The American Institute of CPAs inducted John into their Business & Industry Member Hall of Fame in 2004. John is past Chairman of the Board of the Michigan Association of CPAs.

Ralph Kingsbury, MS (Econ) is a Grand Forks, ND based economist. His firm, Kingsbury Applied Economics, does market research and provides financial services on a contract basis. Readers may be most familiar with his Grand Forks Herald report and commentary known as The Economic Data Bank. That report appears in the Herald on the last Monday of each month. In addition to the Economic Data Bank Kingsbury writes a weekly column for the Herald that is based on what he considers important information for the upper Midwest, North Dakota, and the Grand Forks area. Kingsbury was a Red River Valley farmer for 30 years until forced to retire from farming due to limitations caused by spinal stenosis. Prior to farming, Kingsbury was first an instructor in economics, and then the Director of Institutional Research, both at University of North Dakota. He also was an economics instructor for the University of Maryland’s Far East Division. He is currently an adjunct faculty member of Embry Riddle Aeronautical University teaching at the GFAFB. He has served on many local and state boards, including the State Board of Higher Education and the State Board for Public School Education and Vocational Education.

Joan Moser
As the founder of Spoken Impact, Joan brings a unique talent mix of corporate communications and product marketing, public speaking development and business communications training to every assignment. With more than 25 years of practical business world experience, Joan helps clients develop speeches and business presentations that zero in on the interests of the audience while creating content that addresses them in an engaging, memorable and persuasive way. Prior to starting Spoken Impact in 2000, Joan ran marketing and training departments for a number of technology companies including Spanlink Communications, American Paging, Computer Network Technology, Aldata and I.C. System, Inc. Joan has an MBA from the University of St. Thomas in New Business Ventures. She is a 25-year member of Toastmasters International and has earned an ATM Gold for speaker excellence. She is also a member of the National Speakers Association and regularly speaks at industry and association events.

John Paling, PhD is a respected professor, a producer and photographer of many Emmy Award Winning television programs, including National Geographic. As an accomplished speaker, he relates the lessons from nature to our daily lives. As President of The Environmental Institute, he champions cooperative, non-adversarial solutions to our current environmental challenges. John Paling is a naturally light- hearted communicator who provides a unique blend of expert information along with unrivaled enthusiasm for his subject, all topped by outstanding visuals. He illustrates his message with carefully chosen excerpts from his spectacular wildlife movies—all reedited and narrated in person. He has appeared in Congress discussing the benefits of Relative Risk Communication and the merits of having government regulatory agencies instructed to use the Paling Perspective Scale. Dr. Paling also specializes in effective communication about risks and benefits for top health care professionals, pharmaceutical companies and healthcare agencies.

Marian Powers, PhD is an adjunct associate professor in the Kellogg School of Management and the Allen Center of Executive Education at Northwestern University. Her almost 20 years training and consulting experience includes working with both small and large, public and private corporations in both the US and internationally. Dr. Powers is co-author of several accounting texts and in-depth cases on financial analysis. The Text and Academic Authors Association chose Financial Accounting as recipient of the 1998 Textbook Excellence Award. Professor Powers has co-authored three accounting and finance interactive multimedia software products including Introduction to Financial Accounting, a goal-based simulation that uses the Financial Consequences® Model to introduce financial accounting and the financial statements to those unfamiliar with accounting. Her research has been published in numerous accounting and business periodicals. She has been active in several professional organizations including the Illinois CPA Society, American Accounting Association, European Accounting Association, International Association of Accounting Education and Research and The Education Foundation for Women in Accounting.

Charles (Chuck) Selcer, CPA has 30 years of experience in auditing and business consulting. His areas of specialization include audits of distribution and service companies, not-for-profit organizations and charities. He is currently serving his third term on the AICPA Technical Standards Board--the ethics enforcement body for the technical sections of the Code of Ethics. He also is Chair of the MNCPA Professional Ethics Committee and has authored a monthly ethics article for the “Footnote” since 1990.

Doni Tamblyn In 1989 Doni was a San Francisco-based comedian and commercial actor with clients like Hewlett Packard, Pacific Bell, Nestlé, and Apple. She was hired to use humor in designing state-licensed traffic violator school classes. (Yes, only in California!) In an environment notorious for both its monotonous content and hostile learners, she used theatre improvisation games, in which attendees taught—and delighted—each other with imaginative presentations of curriculum material. Some asked if they’d have to get another ticket to come back! They left their day of “Detention” upbeat, energized… and sold on driver safety. Intrigued by this experience, Doni began studying brain research and the biological effects of humor. What she discovered surprised even her. The best news, Doni says, is that people are astonishingly adept at using humor appropriately, if they are just given permission and then facilitated right. She has presented at international conferences for the American Society for Training and Development, the International Society for Humor Studies, the Society for Pharmaceutical and Biotech Trainers, and been interviewed for numerous radio and journalistic reports. She is author of two internationally-selling books, The Big Book of Humorous Training Games (McGraw-Hill, 2000), and Laugh and Learn: 95 Ways To Use Humor for More Effective Teaching and Training (AMACOM Books, 2002).

Ken Tupa, President of APT, Inc., a government relations and issues management company in Bismarck. Born in Mott, and raised in Bismarck ND. BA from Bemidji State University, MN, and returned to ND and began working with APT, Inc., a company started by his father, Tom, in 1988. APT, Inc. has represented Society of CPAs since 1995, Ken since 1997. Ken and other APT, Inc. lobbyists represent non profit organizations, professional associations, small businesses and fortune 100 companies, developing and managing solutions, working with local, state and federal branches of government on behalf of clients.

Harold Wilde, CPA, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor and Director of the Department of Accounting at UND. He is currently the President of the ND State Board of Accountancy as well as Past President of the ND Society of CPAs. He is a frequent speaker for several societies and CPA firms in North and South Dakota and is a recipient of the AICPA Outstanding Discussion Leader Award.

Stefanie M. Meyer, CSCS, MS
Stefanie Meyer is the Coordinator of Fitness Experience at the UND Student Wellness Center in Grand Forks. She graduated from UND in May 2006 with a Bachelor of Physical Education and Exercise Science and then in May 2007 with a Master of Science in Kinesiology, also from UND. In 2006 she became a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist from the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Stefanie’s experiences include personal training, working with athletes, and managing the fitness areas of group exercise, personal training, the fitness experience desk, and fitness internships. In her spare time, Stefanie enjoys running, playing volleyball, and watching movies. Future career aspirations include physical activity, wellness, and behavior change research as well as possible pursuit of a PhD.

Amanda L. Eickhoff, MS
Amanda Eickhoff is the Assistant Director for Work Well at the UND Student Wellness Center. Work Well is the University of North Dakota’s employee worksite wellness program. Amanda graduated from Northern State University in Aberdeen, SD in 2005 with Bachelor’s degrees in Fitness Management and Physical Education. She then continued onto graduate school at UND, where she received her Masters of Science in Kinesiology in 2007. Amanda loves being a part of changing lives and hopes that Health and Wellness becomes an integral part of worksites across the world.