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Instructors
Georg Gerstenfeld
Vice President of Marketing, Accounting
Professionals Division Intuit Inc.
 As
the marketing leader for the Accounting Professionals Division of Intuit
Inc., Georg Gerstenfeld leads the marketing teams in development of
strategy, priorities, and initiatives to increase customer acquisition and
retention and to drive revenue growth. In addition, Georg’s teams develop
the QuickBooks ProAdvisor Program for accounting professionals and
consultants who serve clients that use QuickBooks to run their businesses.
Georg joined Intuit in 1999, serving in various leader roles, including
Intuit’s Retail Channel Group, Quicken, and Accountant Central teams. He
has received two Intuit “CEO Leadership” Awards: one for the launch
strategy for QuickBooks Point of Sale and the second for Intuit’s
Green/Social Responsibility initiatives. Prior to Intuit, Georg held
leadership positions in advertising and media at Ketchum, DMB&B, and in
marketing at Sprint PCS. Georg holds a B.A. degree from Cornell University
and has studied at Universitaet Hamburg.
Dawn Ashpole
SBA Services, Inc.
 Dawn
Ashpole has worked with over 2,000 businesses in the past 20 years,
helping them with their accounting. She has worked with just about every
type of industry there is including landscapers, construction, wineries,
distribution, accountants, and more. She has a Bachelor of Science Degree
in Management from Marylhurst University and over 20 years in the
electrical field working with inventory and distribution. Because of her
vast background, she understands what a business owner needs to know to
manage their business, as well as their accounting.
Dawn has a unique approach of customizing the program to fit the needs of
the business, rather than changing the business to fit the program. She
takes a management approach rather than an accounting approach.
As a speaker Dawn is entertaining and easy to listen to. She speaks in
everyday language and understands the landscaping industry.
Dawn is an Advanced Certified QuickBooks Pro Advisor, a QuickBooks
Enterprise Solutions Provider, a member of the Intuit Speakers Bureau, a
Certified ToastMaster, and a member of the candidate program for the
National Speakers Association. Dawn received the Intuit Marketing
Excellence and Sales Achievement Awards in 2008 for top sales and
marketing.
Some of the clients she has conducted seminars and trainings for are:
Sleeter National Convention
Oregon Landscaper Contractors Association
Washington Association of Landscape Professionals
Oregon Trucking Association
Oregon Soil & Water Conservation Districts
Oregon Association of Independent Accountants
Oregon Association of Tax Consultants
Portland Community College
Clark College
Mario Nowogrodzki
CPA.CITP
 Mario
Nowogrodzki is an information systems consultant and instructor. He is the
founder and principal of Mendelson Consulting (established in 1992),
specializing in QuickBooks and information technology consulting services.
The firm focuses on providing a solution-based approach, customized to
each client's individual and specific needs. The combination of Mario’s
accounting and technology background with the expert knowledge of
QuickBooks financial software gives clients an unparalleled edge.
Mario holds Master of Accounting Information Systems and Bachelor of
Accounting degrees. He is a Certified Public Accountant since 1992 and has
received the Certified Information Technology Professional (CITP)
designation from the American Institute of CPAs. Mario is an Advanced
Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, Certified QuickBooks Enterprise
ProAdvisor, Certified QuickBooks POS ProAdvisor, and member of the Intuit
Trainer/Writer Network. A leading figure on the national QuickBooks scene,
Mario was selected to be a charter member of the QuickBooks Enterprise
Solution Provider and the QuickBooks POS Retail Solution Provider
programs; he currently serves on the Intuit Solution Provider Program
Advisory Council.
A frequent author and instructor of QuickBooks and technology topics for
accountants and continuing education programs, Mario is a contributing
author and speaker for Intuit and The Sleeter Group on QuickBooks and
technology. In 2008, he was recognized as a ‘Killer VAR’, a prestigious
distinction awarded by “Accounting Technology” magazine acknowledging
commitment and character as a value-added-reseller. His firm was also
selected as a ‘Technology Pacesetter’ by “Accounting Technology” magazine
recognizing its reputation among peers and participation on advisory
boards and speaker panels at industry events.
In addition to working with QuickBooks users and ProAdvisors, Mario
provides information technology consulting services to accounting firms
and other businesses—helping them to serve clients better and manage their
practice more efficiently.
Amy E. Vetter,
CPA*/CITP
 Amy leads the
Florida office for Technology In A Box as an Executive Director. Amy
specializes in operational accounting and finance and trouble-shooting,
outsourced controllership and fractional CFO services. Her expertise
includes streamlining internal policies and procedures and integrating
accounting software programs to maximize performance and productivity.
Solution-based approaches are tailor-made to meet each client's personal
or industry-specific needs. By combining her accounting experience with
the utilization of technology, Amy helps business owners implement sound
planning and effective strategies for growth.
Amy's public accounting experience includes tenure with KPMG, LLP, where
she performed external financial statement audits. Amy's corporate
background includes Fortune 500 business experience that encompassed
internal control reviews to implement financial and operational
improvements and preparation of pricing strategies for potential domestic
and international clientele. She has served as a business and financial
process liaison between Information Technology consultants and Operational
personnel to implement new accounting systems and has been involved in the
implementation of EVA (Economic Value Added) at a large private
corporation.
Amy is an accomplished education provider, having served as an Adjunct
Professor for Nova Southeastern University’s School of Business and
Entrepreneurship and Kaplan University. Amy is a national and local
speaker on QuickBooks® training topics for consultants and software
application users, in addition to other financial topics. Amy is also a
co-author of QuickBooks® reference material published by The Sleeter
Group, Inc, in addition to delivering advanced QuickBooks-related
presentations at The Sleeter Group National Conferences and Webinar
Series.
Amy earned a Masters of Business Administration degree from Nova
Southeastern University and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree
in accounting from the University of Cincinnati. She is a licensed
Certified Public Accountant in the State of Florida, Certified Information
Technology Professional (CITP) awarded by the AICPA, Advanced Certified
QuickBooks® ProAdvisor, Certified QuickBooks® Enterprise and POS
ProAdvisor, and a Sleeter Group Certified Consultant. Amy is a member of
the Intuit Trainer/Writer Network where she is one of the few trainers
from around the country to achieve Intuit's "Tier 3" instructor status and
present for Intuit at various accounting technology and user conferences
throughout the United States. Amy has been a participant in the Accountant
and Advisor Customer Council for Intuit, Inc. during 2006-2008 and
recognized by The CPA Technology Advisor as an outstanding 40 under 40
technology-based accountant. Additionally, Amy is the Expert Contributor
on All Things QuickBooks for The Progressive Accountant, a premier digital
resource for tax and accounting professionals. In 2007, she won the South
Florida Business Journal’s Up & Comer award for her expertise in
accounting and dedication to the community. Amy is a member of the Florida
Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
*Regulated by the State of Florida
Joe Aliota, CPA
 Joe Aliota is a
CPA with the firm Porter & Sack CPAs, S.C. in Madison, Wisconsin. Joe
works almost exclusively with small business clients in the planning and
preparation of business tax returns. He is able to advise clients on
business tax issues, including payroll tax and sales tax compliance. Joe
has audit, review, and compilation experience.
Joe prepares business tax returns at Porter & Sack, CPAs when he isn’t
helping clients learn QuickBooks or helping other Porter & Sack
accountants with QuickBooks challenges. As a preparer of tax returns, Joe
recognizes the challenges that clients bring to their accountants at tax
time. Joe typically will clean up the data file in front of the client at
the client’s office, using the clean-up process as a teaching moment for
the client. This is a great opportunity to learn more about the client’s
business, the challenges they face every day, and their pain, with the
goal to lighten that pain. This process has proven to make the data and
workpaper documentation gathering for tax return preparation effective and
efficient, while providing value the client experiences.
As a controller of a country club in Madison for four years, Joe used
QuickBooks 99 and later QB Enterprise Solutions to bill over 1,000 golf,
tennis, and fitness members for membership dues (with a multitude of
payment plans) and monthly POS transactions. Joe experienced and quickly
learned how to manage the pain QBES users know too well in a multi-user
environment with a rapidly growing data file, recording over 8,000
invoices in a typical summer month.
Joe grew up in a restaurant family. His father owned and operated a
fine-dining restaurant in Milwaukee for over 50 years, where Joe began
working at a young age. Joe worked for a Milwaukee based hotel/restaurant
management company for six years, where he gained considerable experience
with restaurant POS systems. Afterwards, he and his sister operated a fine
dining restaurant in Madison for six years immediately prior to joining
Porter & Sack, CPAs in 1997.
Joe earned his BA in Accounting at Marquette University. Joe is a past
treasurer of the River Alliance of Wisconsin, a former board member of the
First United Methodist Church preschool, and is the current treasurer of
the DeForest Area Youth Football League.
Joe is an Advanced Certified QuickBooks
ProAdvisor.
Chuck Vigeant,
M.Ed.
 Chuck Vigeant, M.Ed. is the
Managing Partner of ACCOUNTiGRATE, LP and is known as the “grandfather” of
Crystal Reports and Business Intelligence for QuickBooks. He is considered
the foremost expert on QuickBooks data extraction, and using the ODBC
driver/Intuit SDK for data analysis and integration.
Chuck’s accounting roots began in 1977 as a branch controller for the Ben
E. Keith Co. in Dallas, Texas where he migrated manual accounting systems
to mainframe computers and later obtained Accredited Personnel Credentials
when he established a personnel department from scratch.
In the 1980's, while engaging in a professional golf career he started a
traditional bookkeeping, tax and IRS problem solving practice, that
simultaneously entailed the installation of the first Personal Computers
and accounting software (Peachtree) in his clients’ businesses. By the
year 2000 his business morphed into a large one stop shop company that
provided a combination of accounting, technology, and internet solutions;
using a variety of accounting and software packages for well over 400
clients.
In 2003, Chuck sold his business entities and decided to focus on his
passion: QuickBooks reporting and integration. Within a short time, he
directed his company to be the world's largest provider of Business
Analysis, Business Intelligence, and custom management report systems for
a variety of Intuit products; he also enlisted ACCOUNTiGRATE as a charter
Enterprise Solutions VAR, and a Business Objects Solutions Provider.
Most recently, Chuck consulted with Intuit on their new Business Analysis
ES application, as a data analyst, database engineer, schema architect and
Business Objects specialist to transform the raw QuickBooks data into
usable and manageable pieces for their engineering and asset design teams;
and further assisted in the organization and presentation of the semantic
data levels upon which the Business Objects tools are used.
He has received awards from the Austin Entrepeneur’s Association, was a
keynote speaker at the National Association for Professional Saleswomen,
and has taught business curriculums at local community colleges. He now
speaks regularly at Intuit functions, CPA chapters, and the annual Sleeter
Group accounting technology conference.
Chuck achieved several technical certifications - most notably MCSE and
CCNA; and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Public Administration
from The University of Hartford, and a Masters of Education degree from
The University of North Texas.
Currently, Chuck is a member Emeritus of the Intuit Accountant and Advisor
Council, a member of the Intuit Speaker’s Bureau; an Advanced Certified
QuickBooks Pro Advisor, and continues as an Intuit data analyst and
consultant.
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