GFOA-WMA Annual Conference
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Washington Marriott at Metro Center
8:30 am Registration and Continental Breakfast
9:00 am Welcome, Mohamed A. Mohamed, GFOA-WMA President
Morning Keynote Address
Dr. Mark Nigrini
Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Dr. Mark Nigrini serves on the faculty at the College of Business and Economics at West Virginia University. Considered a leading expert in the field of Forensics, Fraud Detection and Prevention, Dr. Nigrini has authored several publications and is often referenced in The Financial Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Globe and Mail, and New Scientist.
In his book, Forensic Analytics, Dr. Nigrini shares with readers the various tests used to detect fraud, errors, estimates and biases in financial data. However, he is best known for his work on using Benford’s Law as an auditing and accounting tool to detect anomalies in company and tabulated data. And yes, he wrote a book about it, Benford’s Law.
Dr. Nigrini’s work has not been limited to publication or the classroom. His television appearances have included interviews on NBC’s Extra and The Investigation Discovery Channel for their series on Evil Twins.
Dr. Nigrini earned hi B.Com (Hons) degree from the University of Cape Town, an MBA degree from the University of Stellenbosch, and his Ph.D. degree from the University of Cincinnati. In addition to his academic credentials, Dr. Nigrini passed the Chartered Accountant (South Africa) exam. In his past life, he served as a Divisional Accountant for Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. (now KPMG).
10:30 am
Concurrent Sessions
GASB Update
William (Bill) Seymour
William Seymour is a partner at SB & Company, LLC (SBC) and has spent over 15 years in public accounting. Before joining SBC, Bill spent time at Arthur Andersen, LLP where he was a part of its Mid-Atlantic State and Local Government and Employee Benefit Plan Practices.
Bill has performed many audits for mid-sized to large multibillion-dollar entities and government entities. He focuses on SBC’s government, employee benefit plan and emerging growth clients. Bill is a GFOA certificate reviewer and is active in the industry attending many GFOA, MDGFOA, GFOA-PA, AICPA, and MACPA events. He has testified on proposed government accounting standards to GASB.
Additionally, Bill has taught at MDGFOA courses and is a frequent speaker on industry related topics. Bill is a member of the AICPA Government Quality Center Executive Team and a former member of its Employee Benefit Plan Quality Center Executive Team.
"Best Practices in Managing an Organization"
Khaled Falah
Khaled Falah is a Federally Certified Chief Information Officer (CIO) from the CIO University, a Federally Certified Enterprise Architect from the Federal Enterprise Architect Council, and he holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute.
Prior to his current appointment as a Cluster CIO for Planning and Economic Development Sector, District of Columbia Government, Khaled served as the Vice President of Operations at an international non-profit organization. Prior to that, he spent close to nine years in the public sector as a senior technology executive for several governmental agencies in Washington, D.C.
Khaled was among the original IT professional team that helped transform D.C. government agencies from a technologically deficient status in 2000 to award-winning leaders in best practices by 2006.
Khaled also serves as an adjunct professor at Campbellsville University, where he teaches courses in Leadership, Project Management and Information Technology, to name a few. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Southern Illinois University his Master of Science in Management of Information Systems from the University of Maryland.
11:30 pm Networking, Luncheon
Afternoon Keynote
Robert Bobb
Robert C. Bobb leverages more than 40 years of executive management experience in both the private and public sectors. He is the owner, President and CEO of The Robert Bobb Group, LLC (RBG), a multi-faceted private/public sector consulting firm. RBG primary objective is to help governments, schools and businesses find financial and operational solutions, greater efficiency and long-term viability.
Recently, Mr. Bobb served as Emergency Financial Manager of the 87,000-student Detroit Public Schools (DPS) from March 2009 through May 2011. Robert was appointed Emergency Financial Manager for DPS by Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, which was extended by her successor, Gov. Rick Snyder. The Detroit Turnaround story has been covered nationally by Time magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, the Bond Buyer, the Associated Press, and Education Week. He has appeared on CNN, National Public Radio, and Meet the Press.
Among his many career contributions, such as serving as City Manager for Oakland, California; Santa Ana, California, Kalamazoo, Michigan; and Richmond, Virginia, Mr. Bobb is also the former City Administrator and Deputy Mayor for Washington, D.C. and served as the District of Columbia’s Homeland Security Advisor. He managed a workforce of approximately 20,000 employees and an annual budget of $8 billion dollars. In November 2006 he was elected city-wide as the President of the Washington, D.C. Board of Education and served on the Washington, DC State Board of Education.
Robert C. Bobb earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Grambling State University in Grambling, Louisiana and a Master of Science in Business from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
The establishment of the District of Columbia Government’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) was a landmark event in this City’s history; forever changing how the District conducts government business. But few know or fully understand everything that was involved with the Control Board, the redefined relationship with the Office of the Mayor and the building of a formidable team to achieve its mission. But our moderator and esteemed panel do. Join us as we discuss:
The District’s Independent CFO: 1995 to the Present
PANEL MEMBERS
Anthony A. “Tony” Williams is the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of the Federal City Council of Washington, DC, an organization instrumental in projects such as the Metro, Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, and revitalization of Union Station in Washington, DC.
However, he is best known as the District of Columbia’s first Independent Chief Financial Officer (1995-1998) and two-term Mayor (1998-2006). In the mid-nineties, the District experienced a fiscal crisis of grand proportion that Congress introduced legislation establishing a financial control board, charged with oversight and management of its finances. The same legislation that created the position of Chief Financial Officer, also gave Williams direct control over day-to-day financial operations of each city agency and- significant to note- independence from the mayor's office. With the support of the Control Board, as well as Congress, Williams began steering D.C.'s finances toward financial recovery, moving from a $355 milliondeficit at the end of 1995 to a $185 million surplus in the city's fiscal year 1997.
Williams’ financial successes marked him as an ideal mayoral candidate and the “Draft Anthony Williams” movement ensued. Accepting the challenge, Williams won the Democratic primary with 50% of the vote in a six-person race.
After his second term ended in 2006, Williams decided not to seek reelection as mayor. However, he remains a thought leader and contributor to the public sector arena. He was selected as the William H. Bloomberg Lecturer in Public Management at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He joined the law firm Arent Fox LLP, served as Executive Director of the Government Practice at the Corporate Executive Board Company and as a Senior Strategic Advisor and Independent Consultant at McKenna, Long and Aldridge LLP.
Williams earned his Bachelor of Arts from Yale College, his Juris Doctorate degree from Harvard Law School and a Master of Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He serves on several boards to include the Board of Directors of the Bank of Georgetown, the Calvert Sage Fund, Meruelo Maddux Properties, Inc., Freddie Mac and Weston Solutions.
Dr. Natwar Gandhi served as the Chief Financial Officer for the District of Columbia from 2000-2013. Nominated to the position by Mayor Anthony A. Williams and unanimously approved by the Council of the District of Columbia, Gandhi's first major achievement was reached on January 29, 2001, when he announced that, for the fourth year in a row, the District of Columbia received an unqualified or "clean opinion" from the city's independent auditors on its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR). This CAFR was a milestone because the city had now met the major requirement for ending the congressionally mandated control period: four years of balanced budgets. On October 1, 2001, the DC Financial Authority was dissolved and the city's elected leaders again became solely responsible for the administration of the District.
Under his leadership, the District achieved multiple general obligation bond rating upgrades, including AA- by Standard and Poor's, AA- by Fitch ratings, and Aa2 by Moody's Investors Service, which are the highest ratings the District has ever seen.
Prior to this appointment, Gandhi served as Deputy Chief Financial Officer for Tax and Revenue (District of Columbia Government), an organization responsible for administering the District’s tax laws and annually collects more than $3 billion in local revenues.
The momentum Gandhi established at OTR continued under his leadership as the city's CFO. In 2002, OTR received the Federation of Tax Administrators "Award for Outstanding Technology Applications for State Administrations" for its Electronic Taxpayer Service Center.
Prior to his appointment to OTR, Gandhi served as Associate Director of Tax Policy and Administration for the US General Accounting Office (GAO), where he managed major research projects involving financial and tax policy analysis and testified on tax issues before congressional and state legislative committees. In 1990, Gandhi served as a special assistant to New Jersey Gov. Jim Florio, where he studied the state pension system and advised on changes in its funding.
Gandhi holds a doctorate in accounting from Louisiana State University, a master's degree in business administration from Atlanta University, and an LLB and BCom in accounting from the University of Bombay.
After retiring as DC CFO, he became a policy fellow at the Georgetown University business school. He spends his spare time writing poetry.
Jeffrey S. DeWitt is the independent chief financial officer (CFO) for the District of Columbia and is responsible for the District’s finances, including its approximately $12.7 billion budget, the majority of which ($8 billion) is generated from local revenue sources. He also manages the city’s $6.5 billion capital improvement plan budget. He works closely with the Mayor, City Council, Congressional committees that oversee District affairs, and regularly interacts with the Wall Street financial community. Mr. DeWitt was appointed to this position by Mayor Vincent C. Gray and confirmed by the city council to complete Natwar M. Gandhi’s five-year term through June 2017. Previously, he served as CFO for the city of Phoenix.
As CFO for the District of Columbia, Mr. DeWitt sits on the boards of the Washington Convention and Sports Authority (EventsDC) and Destination DC. He is a member of the Government Financial Officers Association (GFOA), the American Accounting Association (AAA), Association of Government Accountants (AGA), and the American Water Works Association (AWWA).
Mr. DeWitt holds a master's degree from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, and a bachelor’s degree from Eastern Illinois University.
Moderator:
Daniel M. "Dan" Tangherlini is the proud President and Founder of SeamlessDocs Federal. He is a big believer in SeamlessDocs mission of making Government Beautiful and joined the team committed to helping propel the vision!
Dan is a former Administrator of the United States General Services Administration. Unanimously approved to the post by the United States Senate he had served as Acting Administrator since his appointment by President Barack Obama.
He earlier served as an executive in the U.S. Department of the Treasury, as City Administrator of Washington, D.C., as interim General Manager for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, as Director of the District's Department of Transportation, and the CFO for the Metropolitan Police Department.
