Accountancy

Tony Bucaro earned both his Bachelors and Master in Accounting from the University of Florida’s Fisher School of Accounting in 1995. From there, Tony joined Deloitte & Touche as an auditor, ultimately specializing in internal controls over the financial reporting process, and became a Partner with the firm in 2007. Tony left Deloitte to become a PhD student at the University of Illinois in 2010. Tony enjoys spending his free time with his wife and two daughters, and relaxes through reading, cooking, and gardening.

Hye-Sun Chang began the PhD program in 2009. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Yonsei University, Seoul Korea. After graduation, she worked with Woori Bank for two years and then worked with Futures and Options Operation team, JPMorgan Securities for 8 months. Hoping to pursue further study, she stared her Master's in accountancy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and received her Master's in accountancy in 2009. Also, she passed the CPA exam in 2007.

Raluca Chiorean began the PhD program in 2010. She earned her Bachelor of Science from UIC in 2008 and completed the Master of Science in Accounting at UIC in 2010. Prior to entering the PhD program, she was a graduate assistant at the Department of Accounting at UIC. Raluca has worked in internships at Apex Insurance Managers and UBS. She enjoys reading, spending time with her family and traveling.

Richard Crowley began the PhD program in 2012. He holds Bachelor's degrees in Accountancy, Finance, and Mathematics from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Richard interned with JPMorgan Chase in the Treasury Services group. His primary research interest lies in financial reporting, using both empirical and analytical methods. In his free time, Richard enjoys playing tennis, listening to music, and playing with technology. https://sites.google.com/a/illinois.edu/crowley/

Keith Czerney, CPA, earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Michigan in 2005 and a Master of Accountancy from Villanova University in 2006. Keith entered the PhD program in 2010 after five years at KPMG LLP. At KPMG, he served as a manager in the external audit practice of the firm’s Detroit office where he worked on a variety of clients in the manufacturing, financial services, professional services, and real estate industries. Keith’s initial academic interests include archival research in various auditing and financial accounting topics. In his spare time, Keith enjoys cycling, snowmobiling, skiing, hockey, and spending time with his wife.

Paul Demere began the PhD program in 2012. He graduated with his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Accounting and Taxation, respectively, from Virginia Tech in 2008. Afterwards, he spent 3.5 years working at the Greensboro and Washington Metro offices of PricewaterhouseCoopers in their Private Company Services and Mergers & Acquisitions Tax practices. He is primarily interested in pursuing research related to U.S. taxation and tax accounting. When not being a tax nerd, he enjoys pleasure reading (particularly fiction novels), working out, and cheering the Hokies and Fighting Illini onto domination in football and other sports.

Cassandra Estep, CPA, CISA, began the PhD program in 2011. She received her Bachelor of Science in Commerce from the University of Virginia in 2005.Prior to joining the program, Cassandra worked at Ernst & Young as an IT auditor for over 5 years, specializing in financial audit IT integration. In her free time, Cassandra enjoys traveling, reading, and spending time with her husband and two dogs.

Brent Garza began the PhD program in 2011. He earned a Bachelor of Science from University of Houston in 2008 and a Master of Science in Accounting from Indiana University in 2009. Prior to enrollment in the PhD program, Brent was an audit associate at KPMG LLP in Indianapolis, IN helping complete all requirements to be licensed as a CPA. Outside of school, Brent enjoys spending time with his wife and attending the theater.

Shawn Gordon began the PhD program in 2012. Shawn received his Bachelor of Science in Accounting with Honors from the Smeal College of Business and the Schreyer Honors College at The Pennsylvania State University in 2007. Shawn began his professional career with Ernst & Young ("EY") in New York City. Shawn's experience includes financial statement audits of hospitals, managed care plans and pension plans and audits performed under OMB Circular A-133. In 2010, Shawn left EY to join the largest Medicare/Medicaid managed care plan in New York City. Shawn's experience in this role includes an ERP system implementation and corporate, partnership and not-for-profit tax reporting. Shawn is interested in researching auditing and financial accounting issues using experiments and behavioral methods. Outside of his academic pursuits, Shawn enjoys swing dancing, travel and play time with his cat. Shawn hails from New Jersey and is a CPA licensed in the states of New York and New Jersey.

Steph Grant, CPA, began the PhD program in 2011. She earned both her Bachelors and Masters in Accounting from the University of Northern Iowa in 2008. After graduation, Steph worked as an auditor for Deloitte & Touche in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She then went to work as the Business and Accounting Department Chair at a college in Cedar Rapids. Steph's initial research interest is experimental research related to auditing. Outside of the PhD program Steph enjoys running, sports, traveling, and doing dog agility with her Border Collie and Aussie.

Shuoyuan He began the PhD program in 2008. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Financial Management from Fudan University, China in 2004 and earned her Master’s in Finance and Master’s in Accountancy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Before coming to Illinois, she worked as an auditor in Ernst & Young for almost two years. She enjoys reading, travelling and playing sports with friends.

Sean Hillison is a graduate of the University of Florida's Fisher School of Accounting where he earned both his Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Master of Accounting degrees. After graduating in 2002, Sean practiced public accounting for nine years in Ernst & Young's South Florida audit practice. At Ernst & Young, Sean most recently served as an audit senior manager to various SEC registrants and private equity controlled companies. In 2011, Sean left Ernst & Young to begin the PhD program at the University of Illinois with a primary focus on audit research. Sean enjoys spending his free time with his wife and cheering on the Illini and Gator football teams.

Elena Klevsky, CPA, earned both her Bachelor of Accounting and Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in Finance from Florida International University ("FIU") in 2006. She also completed her Master in Accounting at FIU in 2007. Elena entered the PhD program in 2011 after four years at PricewaterhouseCoopers ("PwC"). At PwC's Boston office, she served as a senior associate, auditing clients in the asset management industry. In her spare time, Elena enjoys reading novels, creative writing, improvisational comedy, travel photography, and whatever other new hobby catches her eye.

Jeremy Lill began the PhD program in 2010. He received his Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Business Administration from The University of Kansas in 2002. After graduating he worked at Sprint within its internal audit department. He then left to complete his Masters of Business Administration from CIMBA, an international program located in Asolo, Italy. Afterward, Jeremy accepted a position at the University of Kansas as a full-time lecturer in the accounting department before starting his PhD program. He is primarily interested in managerial accounting research, specifically compensation contracts. Outside of the PhD program, Jeremy enjoys spending time with his wife and golden retriever working on projects around their home and in their yard.

Jennifer (Jenny) Nichol began the PhD program in 2009. Although she spent the first few years of her adult life devoted to childcare, she later returned to school to earn a B.S. in Accountancy from Illinois. Her research interests fall primarily within the domain of managerial accounting, with a special focus on motivation and incentive issues in small group environments. She currently lives with her twelve year old son, whom she adores. In her “spare” time, she enjoys taking a breath before getting back to work and vaguely remembers having once read books for fun.

EB Poziemski (Altiero), CPA, began the PhD program in 2009. She received her Bachelor of Science in Biology degree from The University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) in 2002 and completed the Master of Science in Accounting program also from the The University of Michigan in 2004. E.B. then went on work at Ernst & Young as a financial auditor for 5 years, specializing in financial services clients. Outside of the PhD program E.B. enjoys horseback riding and rides competitively on the hunter/jumper show circuit.

Stephen Rowe, CPA, began the PhD program in 2009. Stephen holds a bachelor's degree in Business from Covenant College and a Masters in accounting from Loyola University Chicago. He worked as a commercial banker for several years in Chicago before transitioning to public accounting. Stephen worked as an auditor for a local accounting firm in Seattle, and then joined KPMG in 2003, where he became an audit manager and worked until joining the Illinois program in 2009. Stephen's research and teaching interests are in auditing and corporate governance, with a focus on individual auditor behavior and the audit environment. Outside of work, Stephen enjoys hiking, golfing, and spending time with his wife and three children.

R. William Snyder, CPA, received both his Bachelors and Masters in Accounting from the Brigham Young University Marriott School of Business in 2006. Upon Graduation, Bill practiced tax at Deloitte & Touche in both New York City and Philadelphia. Bill most recently served as a Manager in the R&D & Government Incentives Group before leaving Deloitte to begin the PhD progam at the University of Illinois in 2012. In his free time, Bill enjoys spending time with his wife and 3 children (especially at amusement parks), road triping, hiking, cooking, fixing anything that is broken that he can get his hands on, and shoveling (yes shoveling, he has become quite the expert).

Matthew Stern began the PhD program in 2009. He received both his Bachelor's and Master's degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Matthew worked an internship for a mid-sized manufacturing company for several summers, as wells as an internship in external audit at PricewaterhouseCoopers. His research interests include auditing and financial reporting. Outside of accounting scholarship, Matthew enjoys playing the guitar and listening to music.

Jundong (Jeff) Wang began the PhD program in 2006. He earned his Master of Science in Finance degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in May 2006 and his Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Shanghai International Studies University in 2004. Prior to enrollment in the doctoral program, he worked as a Management Trainee for Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong for one year. In his free time, he enjoys playing golf, basketball and watching movies.

Aaron Zimbelman began the PhD program in 2009. Aaron holds a Master of Accountancy degree and a Bachelor's degree in Accountancy from Brigham Young University, where he took part in BYU's PhD Prep track. Aaron interned as an internal auditor at Sanmina-SCI and as an external auditor with KPMG. Aaron is primarily interested in studying auditor and investor decision making using experimental methods. He is especially interested in research questions related to the perpetration or detection of financial statement fraud. Outside of work, Aaron enjoys playing ultimate, reading, and spending time with his wife and daughter.