Wednesday, September 9

Please note: The program officially begins at 1:00 PM ET. The 11:30 AM Welcome Lunch & Registration and the 4:30 PM Reception are exclusively for in-person attendees at the St. Regis Atlanta.

 

11:30 am - 1:00 pm Eastern

Registration and Lunch
Hosted by Forvis Mazars

 

1:00 pm – 1:10 pm Eastern

Welcoming Remarks
Andrej Suskavcevic, CAE | President and CEO | FEI

 

1:10 pm – 1:30 pm Eastern

The Power of Her, Amplified by Connection
Doreen Levine has spent more than two decades at EY, and every move that mattered rested on being good at the work and was carried by relationships. When she moved from the entertainment industry into life sciences, her technical skill came with her and her whole network did not; she had to rebuild it from nothing. In conversation with Melissa Bird of Johnson & Johnson, who once shared an office with her, she talks about why being excellent is never quite enough on its own.

Doreen Levine | Partner | EY

Facilitated by:
Melissa Bird | Vice President, Global Technical Accounting | Johnson & Johnson  

 

1:35 pm - 1:55 pm Eastern

They Saw It First. Curiosity Did the Rest.
Dawn Alston arrived at Spelman College in 1999 as a research technician in a biology lab, and told the finance division at her interview that she was not an accountant and had never taken a business class. They hired her anyway. In conversation, the college’s chief financial officer traces a career built on mentors who saw work she had not thought of for herself — and on the curiosity that let her go and do it.

Dawn Alston | SVP for Business and Financial Affairs, CFO & Treasurer | Spelman College

 

2:00 pm – 2:20 pm Eastern

Trained in Certainty. Leading in Ambiguity. And Learning to Ask.
Denise Lucas was trained to find the right answer. Every move since has been into work where nobody had written the answer down yet — an integration, an ESG controllership that did not exist until she built the business case for it, and now AI governance. In conversation, she makes the case for asking out loud: first for the boundaries she needed as a new mother, and then for a function nobody had thought to create.

Denise Lucas | VP and Assistant Controller, Responsible Business and Technology | IBM Corporation

 

2:25 pm – 2:45 pm Eastern

People Can't Read Your Mind: Being Vocal About the Career You Want
Opportunities like an overseas assignment, a National Office partnership, or the controllership of The Coca-Cola Company didn’t just drop into Ellie May’s lap unexpectedly. She actively sought out all three. In conversation, she traces a career built on the simple, uncomfortable discipline of saying out loud what you actually want — including the time she was quietly written off as a married mother of small children who surely would not move to New York, and moved to New York anyway.

Ellie May | Senior Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer | The Coca-Cola Company

 

2:45 pm - 3:15 pm Eastern

Refreshment and Networking Break

 

3:15 pm - 3:35 pm Eastern

You Figure It Out. Leading Work That Has No Playbook
When Accenture needed structure behind everything the company was saying about its own sustainability commitments, its chief accounting officer handed the job to Carmelina Pagliero. She asked what exactly she was supposed to be doing. He said: you'll figure it out. It was not the first time, and it would not be the last. In this talk she traces a career assembled out of assignments that came with no framework and no precedent — and makes the case that what makes undefined work possible is not rigor. It is relationships.

Carmelina Pagliero | Managing Director, Assistant Corporate Controller | Accenture

 

3:40 pm - 4:00 pm Eastern

Guardian and Partner: The Building Blocks of Control Excellence
Over two decades, Christine Tammara rose into the controllership of one of the world’s largest companies by assembling a series of building blocks, each one earned in a role she had not done before. In this conversation she makes the case for staying committed to control excellence while being a genuine partner to the business, for continuing to grow while doing both — and for the teams that make leaders who they are.

Christine Tammara | SVP & Controller | PepsiCo

 

4:05 pm - 4:25 pm Eastern

Uncomfortable, Most Days. And Here For It.
Ashley Ensley walked into her firm as an intern and now leads its financial services practice nationally — a path she will tell you does not happen often, and did not happen smoothly. She moved her young family to a state where she knew nobody, and was chosen for a national role by a route none of her predecessors had taken. In conversation, she makes the case for being uncomfortable most days, and for believing the people who can see you are ready before you can.

Ashley Ensley | Partner, Financial Services National Sector Leader | Forvis Mazars

 

4:25 pm - 4:30 pm Eastern

Closing Remarks
Andrej Suskavcevic, CAE | President and CEO | FEI

 

4:30 pm - 5:15 pm Eastern

Networking Reception

 

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