On-site Education Leaders

Bob is an accounting and finance professional with over 38 years of audit and accounting experience. Bob’s experience includes a full range of corporate accounting and assurance services, including financial statement preparation, auditing, SEC reporting, mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, due diligence, financing regulatory compliance, accounting system oversight, internal controls, IFRS conversions, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance advisory, and the independent review of external data.

Bob has been a discussion leader on numerous topics for Surgent Professional Education, the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, as well as for the firms for which he has worked, and has received high evaluations for his knowledge of topics and presentation skills. 

Bob received his Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Finance from Upsala College in East Orange, New Jersey, and has also earned a Masters in Accounting from Florida Atlantic University. Licensed as a Certified Public Accountant in Florida, Bob is a member of the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants (FICPA) and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He has previously served as chairman of the FICPA Accounting Principles and Auditing Standards Committee.

 

Subject areas for which Bob has served as a discussion leader include:

• Professional Ethics
• Accounting and Auditing Update
• Compilation and Review Update
• Governmental and Non-for-Profit Annual Update
• New Lease Accounting Standards (author and presenter)
• New Revenue Recognition Standard (author and presenter)
• Non-profit Accounting and Financial Reporting
• Applying the Uniform Guidance in Your Single Audits
• Audits of Employee Benefit Plans
• Auditing Workpapers: Documenting and Reviewing Field Work
• Recognizing and Responding to Fraud Risk in Governmental and Not-for-Profit Organizations
• The AICPA Financial Reporting Framework for Small and Medium Sized Entities (author and presenter)
 

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Milton Gene Friedman received a B.B.A. in Accounting from The George Washington University and a M.S.-Taxation from Florida International University. He practices public accounting with the firm of Friedman, Duque & Company, CPAs (and predecessors) in Ft. Lauderdale.

Several years ago he formed Friedman Associates Due-diligence, Forensic, Tax & Valuation Consultants which provides the specialized services described. Friedman has been a CPA since 1971 in the state of Florida, and also is a Certified Fraud Examiner, a Certified Insolvency and Restructuring Advisor and a Diplomat of the American Board of Forensic Accountants. He has served as a seminar/discussion leader since 1985 for various state CPA associations.

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Michele Norris

As President and CEO of Navigen Leadership, LLC, Michele Norris’ mission is to help her clients attract, retain, and empower the workforce of the future by developing its leaders. Michele is a navigational facilitator who specializes in executive and leadership coaching, corporate culture, generational education, and strategic leadership.  

After spending 30 years in sales leadership working for companies such as Xerox, ADP, and Boise Cascade/OfficeMax, Michele founded Navigen Leadership in 2009.  

As an accredited Executive and Leadership Coach, it is Michele’s belief that work has changed and transformational leaders hold the key to employee engagement and fulfillment.  With 7 out of 10 employees not engaged at work (Gallup 2017), Michele’s most exciting coaching engagements are those where she witnesses leaders unlocking the brilliance they possess right under their surface.  We all know the leader with whom we want to work.  Through coaching, leaders can hold up the mirror and realize how they can be that leader for those who lives are entrusted to them. 

Navigen Leadership’s corporate education and consulting focuses on creating the correct environment, culture and strategic leadership to form connected teams and associates.  Engaged associates who provide discretionary effort are most typically led by self-aware, emotionally intelligence leaders who also have Conversational Intelligence®. Navigen’s leadership workshops, programs and courses enable these leaders.

Michele holds a BA in Marketing from the University of South Florida’s (USF) College of Business in Tampa, Florida. She remains engaged with her university as a long-time volunteer, giving back through her roles as Chair of the USF Alumni Association National Board of Directors, Chairperson and Founding Member of USF Women in Leadership and Philanthropy, and Board Member of the USF Foundation. 

Michele is a Certified Dare To Lead? Facilitator. Based on the research of Dr. Brené Brown, Dare to Lead™ is an empirically based courage-building program designed to be facilitated by organizational development professionals. Other professional affiliations include Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credentialed through the International Coach Federation (ICF), University of Miami Coach Certification Program, C-IQ - Certified in Conversational Intelligence®, Facilitator for University of Tampa’s Modern Advances in Leadership Certificate; Coach for USF’s Management Certificate Program and the University of Tampa’s MBA Leadership and Fast Start Programs, and U.S. Partner for Women Reshaping the World (2014). She is secretary for International Coach Federation (ICF) – Central Florida. She is a member of the Association for Talent Development (ATD) and Working Women of Tampa Bay.
Michele spends her free time with Randy, her husband of 40 years, and her two Springer Spaniels, Auggie and Brucie. Whenever they can get away, they visit their Millennial son Alex and his family in Asheville, N.C.
 

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Cecil Patterson, Jr.

Cecil Patterson, (Pat), is an award-winning, nationally recognized author, speaker, and discussion leader for continuing education courses and numerous state societies. He has experience at the local and national CPA-firm level and as an adjunct university professor. 
 
Pat holds an MBA from the University of North Florida and is a CPA with Patterson CPA Group, Inc. His firm provides accounting, tax preparation and tax planning services, wealth management services, and consulting for businesses and other professional firms. The AICPA has recognized the firm for work in the “virtual office” field.
 
Pat has been awarded the “Florida Institute of CPAs Outstanding Discussion Leader of the Year 2016” award. He has been named an FICPA Outstanding Discussion Leader in years past, has received the FICPA’s Writing Excellence Award, and has also received the New York Society of CPAs’ Distinguished Discussion Leader Award.

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Tom Reilly, CPA is the partner in charge of Accounting and Auditing, and Quality Control for Holland & Reilly in Orlando, Florida.  He is a 1972 Honors graduate of Florida State University with a masters degree in Accounting.  He serves as a consultant to the Florida Board of Accountancy, Department of Professional Regulation as well as other CPA firms on technical accounting and auditing issues.  

Tom is one of three experts used by the Florida Board of Accountancy to review governmental reports filed with the Office of the Auditor General.  He is frequently requested by other CPA firms to perform pre-issuance reviews of governmental financial statements to ensure compliance with professional standards, as well as for submittal for the GFOA’s Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting.

Tom is a past chairman of the FICPA State and Local Government Conference.  He has served as a member of the FICPA State and Local Government Committee/Section for many years and is a past chairman.  He is a past chairman of the FICPA Government Standards Review Committee, whose purpose was to improve the quality of governmental audits by addressing the standards overload problem.  Tom served on the Task Force for Auditor Selection that developed legislation for changes to Florida law as well as other recommended practices regarding auditor selection.  

He was the author and instructor of the FICPA CPE course - “Auditing and Reporting on Local Governments in Florida”, which had been taught to CPAs throughout Florida from 1983 to 2014.  He has authored or co-authored various published articles on accounting and auditing topics as well as being a frequent speaker to professional groups and conferences.

Tom is a co-author of and serves as a discussion leader for the Government Ethics course for the FICPA.

Tom is a past president of the Central Florida Chapter of the FICPA and a past member of the FICPA Board of Governors.  He is a member of the American and Florida Institutes of CPAs - (AICPA and FICPA) and the National Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, as well as the GFOA and FGFOA.
 

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Michael Rosenberg received his B.S. degree with a major in accounting from Penn State University, his J.D. degree from Brooklyn Law School and his LL.M. degree in Taxation from New York University Graduate School of Law. He is a licensed attorney in Florida (active), Pennsylvania (active), and New York (inactive), a Florida Certified Public Accountant, a Board Certified Tax Lawyer in Florida, and he has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America since 1993, in the initial 1998 edition of the Guide to Leading American Attorneys, in Chambers USA America’s Leading Business Lawyers (Tax) since 2003, and in Florida Super Lawyers since 2006.

Michael was formerly the International Tax Manager of the Touche Ross & Co. office in Miami (prior to its merger into Deloitte & Touche) and was a member of their U.S. International Tax Group. He taught a course in International Taxation in the Master of Science in Taxation (“MST”) Program and then in the Executive Master of Science in Taxation (“EMST”) program at Florida International University for about 25 years, an international tax course at Florida Gulf Coast University for about 4 years, he taught a course at the Smeal College of Business, Pennsylvania State University during the 2007-2012 fall term, Principles of Taxation, and since 2011, has been teaching a fall term course entitled Hot Tax Topics. He has also been teaching a spring course at the University of Miami School of Law, Representing High Net Worth Individuals, since 2014.

Michael has co-authored a book with Bruce B. Packman published by the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants (FICPA) entitled “Foreign Investment in the United States Tax and Related Matters,” and has authored an FICPA book entitled “Estate & Gift Taxation of Nonresident Aliens in the United States.” Both books are used for FICPA continuing professional education courses for which Michael generally serves as the Discussion Leader, and Michael was designated the FICPA Outstanding Discussion Leader of the Year in 2008 and 2010, and has been designated as an Outstanding Discussion Leader in many other years, including 2013. Michael was also named by South Florida’s Best Lawyers - Lawyers of the Year “Tax Law Lawyer” for 2012.

In addition to Michael’s general tax and estate planning practice, he has developed a substantial international taxation practice concentrating on foreign persons investing in, doing business in, and immigrating to the U.S., and U.S. persons investing in, doing business in, or expatriating to foreign countries. Michael has been a frequent author and lecturer on topics of international taxation, he is a member of numerous domestic and international tax-related organizations and/or committees, he has been Chairman of the World Trade Institute's International Tax and Estate Planning Conference, he has served as an Advisory Board Member of Florida International University's EMST Program, and he co-chaired the Annual Inter-national Tax Conference co-sponsored by the FICPA/Florida Bar since its inception in 1982 through 2007.

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He is a consultant to the National Automobile Dealership Association on tax and accounting matters, most recently regarding the Mountain States Ford issue. Mr. Rosenfield graduated with a BS in Accounting (with honors) from Old Dominion University and has been involved in numerous professional and charitable organizations including Symphony Orchestras and a Zoo. His professional involvement includes the AICPA Auto Dealership Conference Committee, serving on the AICPA Tax Accounting Committee and Subchapter S Committee in addition to being the former chairperson for the FICPA State Taxation Committee.

Ken is a frequent speaker at dealership organization meetings throughout the United States, the AICPA Auto Dealership Conference, and is the course author and discussion leader for the Florida Institute of CPA's courses, Automobile Dealerships - An In Depth Perspective and Automobile Dealerships, Services to Clients. His work for these courses has repeatedly earned him an FICPA Outstanding Presenter award and he has presented them to other state societies across the country.

Mr. Rosenfield was the president and working partner of a group of automobile dealerships in Indiana; and has served on the board of directors of several dealerships throughout the country.

In his spare time, Ken is a devoted father to his four children. He enjoys deep sea fishing on his sport fishing boat, the Sea P. A., scuba diving and playing one of his many guitars.

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Terry L. Seaton is the Owner and President of Seaton Financial Advisors, LLC. 
Seaton Financial Advisors is an independent, fee-only registered investment advisory firm (RIA) registered in the State of Florida.

Mr. Seaton graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering and a Masters degree in Business Administration (MBA).  He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Financial Planner practitioner (CFPtm) and holds the Personal Financial Specialist (PFS) certification issued by the American Institute of CPAs.
 
Terry has held numerous positions with BellSouth Corporation including Director- Revenue Requirements, Director-Accounting Policy & Internal Controls, Director-Business Case Development and General Manager- Jacksonville Operations (BellSouth Entertainment).  Terry has been providing financial planning and investment management services to clients in northeast Florida since 2002.    

Terry has a wide range of financial experience including retirement planning, estate planning, investment management, tax planning, college planning, business case development, accounting operations and accounting policy.  He is a member of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), Florida Institute of CPAs (FICPA) and the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA).
 
Terry volunteers in community and professional activities including:
• FICPA:  
o Board of Governors (2008-2013)
o Financial Literacy Committee (Chair-2012)
o Investment Policy Committee (Chair 2013/2014)
o  Chapter Operations Committee (Chair-2012/2013)
o Elder Care Committee (2014-2017)
o CPE Committee (2015 to 2017)
• AICPA:  National Financial Literacy Commission (2011-2014)
• AICPA:  Consumer Education Advocates (2014 to 2016)
• Betty Griffin House:  financial literacy workshops 
• Building Homes for Heroes (financial advisor to wounded veteran)
• Financial Literacy for Teens Program in N.E. Florida 
 

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Mark Sellner teaches and consults with other CPAs and their clients on business and executive tax matters, including partnership taxation and the tax consequences of buying and selling a business.

He has both Big Four and Fortune 500 corporate tax experience. Mark completed a three-year Ernst & Young National Tax Department assignment in Washington, DC, and was tax counsel and Director of U.S. Taxes at Ecolab in St. Paul, Minnesota. He has served as a partner at KPMG’s metro New York headquarters, and was a tax partner at CliftonLarsonAllen in Minneapolis, where he chaired the Baker Tilly International federal tax committee.

Mark has served as an adjunct professor of business taxation at the University of St. Thomas Law School and has served as Director of Graduate Studies in Taxation at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. He has developed and taught graduate-level courses on corporate tax, mergers and acquisitions, accounting for income taxes, and consolidated returns in the Master of Business Taxation Program. 

He teaches for the AICPA and leading CPA firms nationwide and is a recipient of the R. Glen Berryman award for excellence in teaching and the Distinguished Award from the Minnesota Society of CPAs. 

Mark completed a four-year term on the Minnesota Board of Accountancy.

Mark received his accounting degree with high honors at the University of Illinois (1978), his law degree at the University of Minnesota (1981), and a master of laws in taxation degree at Georgetown University Law Center 1988). 

COURSES BY THIS INSTRUCTOR

CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS
• Tax Reform – Transition Rules and Planning
• Annual Tax Update

PASS-THROUGH ENTITIES
• Taxation of Partnerships and LLCs (including how to read a partnership/LLC agreement)
• Taxation of S Corporations
• Basis, At-Risk and Passive Losses

TAX ETHICS
• Tax Ethics Rules and Case Studies for CPA Firms

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
• Buying or Selling a Privately-Owned Business

TAX ACCOUNTING
• Accounting Methods and Periods
• Property Transactions
• Repair Regulations, Cost Segregation and the New IRS Audit Guide

CORPORATE TAXATION
• ASC 740 (FAS 109 and FIN 48) Income Taxes
• Taxation of C Corporations and Consolidated Returns

Mark’s professional affiliations include:
• Florida Institute of CPAs
• Minnesota Society of CPAs
• American Institute of CPAs

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