2009 Practice Management Conference


PRE-CONFERENCE FLY-INS

Optional Offerings

Human Resources Fly-In
Jennifer Wilson, ConvergenceCoaching, LLC
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Tackling the Tricky Stuff
Even with the need to drive new business, we must also remain focused on our people – our firm’s greatest assets.  As the economy embarks on recovery, the demand for top talent will be even more exasperating than it has been and retention will re-emerge as a significant issue.  Those with HR and management responsibilities within a CPA firm are encouraged to attend this year’s HR Fly-In to discuss four tricky – yet differentiating -- areas affecting HR and examine strategies that will make the most impact with your people, including:
  • People development programs – how firms are developing leaders, rainmakers and managing learning overall
  • Inspiration and motivation – programs and techniques to drive connectivity, productivity and Retention
  • Programs designed for the young - including flexible work arrangements, electronic communication, community service and social activities

  • Diving deep into difficult conversations – how to deliver truly transformative feedback and teach others to do the same
Leave this full-day program with ideas to stimulate innovation and creativity in your HR programs and seed strategies that will ensure your firm’s success.

Jennifer Wilson with ConvergenceCoaching, LLC will lead this year’s Human Resources Fly-In.  Jennifer is a co-founder and partner of ConvergenceCoaching, LLC, a national leadership and marketing consulting firm dedicated to helping CPA and IT firms achieve success by helping them develop and implement leadership, succession, marketing, and training and development plans. Jennifer’s ultimate goal is to make a transformational difference in the lives of her clients and in their businesses.

Named as one of Accounting Today’s 100 Most Influential People in Accounting and INSIDE Public Accounting’s Top 10 Most Recommended Consultants, Jennifer has worked in both the public accounting and IT sectors before co-founding ConvergenceCoaching, LLC. As a partner for the top ten accounting firm, BDO Seidman, LLP, Jennifer ran the National Financial Solutions Group practice with nearly 100 consultants providing financial systems selection, implementation, and support services to clients.

Prior to BDO Seidman, Jennifer was Vice President of Sales and Customer Services for State Of The Art, Inc. (now known as Sage Software, Inc.) where she was responsible for the publicly-traded software publisher’s marketing, sales, education, and customer services functions. Instrumental in implementing the company’s highly successful CPA marketing programs, Jennifer assisted in recruiting tens of thousands of CPAs to State Of The Art.

Jennifer is a member of the Association for Accounting Administration (AAA), Association for Accounting Marketing (AAM), American Marketing Association, and International Coach Federation. She is a past Board member and among the founding members of the Information Technology Alliance (ITA) and has been both Chair and member of the planning committee for the AICPA TECH Conference. Jennifer is an active volunteer in the profession and currently serves on the Education Committee for AAM and as a member of the Bill.com Advisory Board.

Jennifer is also a member of the New Horizon Group, a forum for leading consultants to the accounting profession. She serves on the editorial advisory board and is a regular guest columnist for Accounting Today and Accounting Tomorrow with many recently published articles on leadership, practice management, and marketing. She is a nationally recognized speaker, teacher, and facilitator delivering leadership and marketing programs to accounting and technology associations, state societies, and firms on a regular basis.


Leadership Fly-In
Sam Allred, Upstream Academy
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Solving Your Firm’s Biggest Challenges: The Consultant’s Approach
Every firm has its own unique challenges—some large, some small, and many in-between.  Some firm problems are easily resolved; others never seem to go away.  As a key firm leader, you spend a lot of time and energy trying to solve your firm’s challenges – challenges that hold you and the firm back from your full potential.

Designed for partners, COOs, firm administrators, and other high-level firm leaders, this intense, all-day workshop will teach you how to tackle your firm’s biggest problems the way a consultant would approach them.  You’ll learn principles and processes for responding to the toughest challenges your firm faces.  You’ll be taught how to pick the right processes and tools and how to properly implement them so the job gets done.  And you’ll learn all of this from one of the most sought-after consultants in our profession.

Utilizing a highly interactive approach that will include team exercises, brainstorming, and problem-solving, you’ll learn how to deal with your firm’s biggest challenges like a consultant.  Don’t pass up this opportunity to learn from one of the best!

Sam Allred, CPA, is a Shareholder with Anderson ZurMuehlen & Co., P.C., a regional CPA and business consulting firm headquartered in Helena, Montana. The firm has six offices and over 200 employees. Sam is also the Founder and Director of Upstream Academy, an international association of CPA Firms, and was the central figure in the development of a consulting methodology now practiced by hundreds of CPA firms and consulting organizations around the country. Sam is also the Founder of LeaderSkills Institute which develops professional training materials to help CPA firms teach and promote leadership skills internally.

Sam interacts with hundreds of CPA firms around the world every year via conferences, partner retreats, management presentations and training sessions. He speaks and writes extensively both in the U.S. and abroad. In high demand as a facilitator for CPA firm retreats, Sam energetically and creatively engages all of the partners in the discussion, using proven processes and their firm’s strengths to successfully navigate challenges the firm may face. He is viewed as one of the top strategic thinkers in the profession.

Sam has been regularly recognized as one of the major influencers of the accounting profession and has been listed for the past three years as one of “IPA Most Recommended Consultants.”

His hobbies include spending time with his family, fly fishing and golf. Sam and his wife Marlene have seven children.