“I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing”.

― Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, or, the Whale

    I began my professional career in public accounting with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Charlotte, North Carolina. While at PwC I worked extensively in the development, planning, and execution of audits for various clients in the 'Technologies, Products, & Services' industry sector ranging from multi-million to multi-billion dollar public international companies. This experience was instrumental in gaining an in-depth understanding of business as well as gaining exposure to numerous accounting theories and concepts. Particular areas I focused on were business consolidations and acquisitions, joint ventures, and Sarbanes-Oxley compliant internal control design, implementation, and evaluation. Upon leaving PwC as a Senior Associate I took a position with the Tennessee State Comptroller’s office in Nashville, Tennessee where I was an auditor working primarily in audits of state funded universities. After a brief time with the state I decided to broaden my experience in accounting and find a more hands on role in financial accounting. In doing so I worked as a Senior Financial Accountant for Wicked Weed Brewing in Asheville, North Carolina. While there I was concerned primarily with the execution, review, and reporting of financial statements and transactions. Transactional areas included cash, sales, inventory, accounts receivable, fixed assets, and accounts payable. I also gained significant experience in the financial analysis of budgetary costs/tracking and product profitability (i.e. cost and managerial accounting). I am a licensed CPA in the State of Tennessee and a member of the Tennessee Society of CPAs. I hold masters and undergraduate degrees both in accounting from East Tennessee State University. While in the ETSU Masters of Accountancy program I worked as a graduate assistant teaching and then after graduating taught as an adjunct lecturer courses ranging from principles of accounting to managerial accounting. Areas of research I am interested in are the quantification of the impact on businesses related to climate change, the future role of the audit profession in the ever changing global business environment, and the effects of greater enforcement on financial reporting and audit quality.

    Outside of my professional life I enjoy many things, but I especially enjoy reading, golf, and traveling. I’ve been fortunate to have visited 6 of the 7 continents (Antarctica is a little more difficult to get to) and close to 20 countries. I enjoy reading classic authors and count John Steinbeck, J.D. Salinger, and Herman Melville to be among my favorites. I also enjoy learning about popular science, history, biology, and astronomy.

    My goal in teaching is to expose students to new ideas and ways of thinking. I am a strong advocate of the accounting profession and want to open student’s eyes to the myriad of ways that accounting can not only be beneficial as a career choice, but also beneficial in any business related discipline. Only with the development of accounting principles and theories were humans able to organize ever advancing societies and cultures. Whether it’s organizing and starting their own business, understanding costing and pricing and its impact on products and services, or using it in everyday life and their personal finances, having an understanding of accounting will serve students for the rest of their lives. I want to build and foster this passion and understanding of accounting in each and every one of my students and show them accounting isn’t just computing numbers, but that it’s a broad subject that is imperative to just about any career path they choose.