Accounting & Auditing Conference - Webcast

Steve Scranton is the Chief Investment Officer & Economist for Washington Trust Bank and holds a Chartered Financial Analyst designation with over 35 years of investment and economic experience.

As Washington Trust Bank’s Chief Investment Officer, Steve is responsible for management of the Portfolio Management Group and actively participates on committees within the bank to help design strategies and policies related to investments. As the economist for Washington Trust Bank, Steve participates in public speaking engagements, as well as authoring multiple communications, to keep clients and the public informed of economic and investment market conditions. Throughout the Pacific Northwest, Steve is a well-known speaker on the economic conditions and the world financial markets.

(11/11/20)

Christian Perrier specializes in helping people with their technology so that they can achieve success in their business. He has spent the last 15 years working with organizations to allow them to harness the power of new technology while defending themselves against cyber-attack. As the Vice President of Technical Solutions at Fixed Fee IT, Christian oversees the security posture, policies, and management of a SOC II Type II audited organization and has experience with SEC, FINRA, HIPAA, PCI, SOC, and NIST compliance standards. He has a passion for helping people and organizations navigate the ever-changing world of cybersecurity and implementing solutions to keep themselves protected.

(1/14/21)

Jonathan Howell

Jonathan G. Howell, CPA, graduated from Willamette University with a Bachelor's Degree and a triple major in German Language, International Studies and Political Science. During this time he completed a year as an exchange student, studying Economics and German at Ludwig Maximilian's University, in Munich, Germany. He later earned a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Accounting and a Master's Degree in Taxation from Portland State University.

Jon has extensive experience providing services to employee benefit plans, both administration and audit, franchise restaurants, retailers, professional service companies, medical practitioners, investment real estate, real estate brokers, financial services companies, and serves as the partner-in-charge of the Firm's Audit and Accounting Practice, which includes audits of privately held businesses, Employee Benefits Plans, and Nonprofit organizations.

Jon has served as Audit partner at local CPA firms in Portland since 1997. In 2020, Jon co-founded Howell Straczek LLC.

Jon is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), licensed in Oregon. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Jon serves on the Oregon Board of Accountancy's Peer Review Oversight Committee and is an Audit continuing education instructor for the Oregon Society of Certified Public Accountants. He also serves on the Budget Committees of the Lake Grove Fire District and the Southwood Park Water District. He is a past adjunct accounting faculty member of Portland State University's School of Business where he taught Advanced Accounting: Business Consolidations and Advanced Taxation. He previously served on the AICPA Employee Benefits Technical Resource Panel.

(3/18/21)

Kelly Mann

edited 4/16/25

Peter Zender

With extensive experience in auditing and technology, Peter serves as an Audit Training Facilitator at Galasso Learning Solutions. His expertise in auditing healthcare companies, employee benefit plans, and private companies with complex transactions has made him a key contributor to the development of technical accounting training programs. Before joining GLS, Peter worked at a Big 4, specializing in auditing healthcare companies in both public and private sectors. He later transitioned to an Internal Audit role at a Fortune 500 company before returning to public accounting at a national firm, where he focused on audits involving business combinations, asset acquisitions, GAAP to IFRS conversions, and technology implementations. While with GLS, Peter earned the prestigious Association for Talent Development Master Trainer™ designation, which was only possible because he spent much of his audit career, working closely with learning and development to design and facilitate training on both technical accounting and soft skills. He has experience designing, overseeing, and facilitating weeklong training programs and producing accounting podcasts eligible for CPE credit.

edited 6/5/25

Peter Zender

With extensive experience in auditing and technology, Peter serves as an Audit Training Facilitator at Galasso Learning Solutions. His expertise in auditing healthcare companies, employee benefit plans, and private companies with complex transactions has made him a key contributor to the development of technical accounting training programs. Before joining GLS, Peter worked at a Big 4, specializing in auditing healthcare companies in both public and private sectors. He later transitioned to an Internal Audit role at a Fortune 500 company before returning to public accounting at a national firm, where he focused on audits involving business combinations, asset acquisitions, GAAP to IFRS conversions, and technology implementations. While with GLS, Peter earned the prestigious Association for Talent Development Master Trainer™ designation, which was only possible because he spent much of his audit career, working closely with learning and development to design and facilitate training on both technical accounting and soft skills. He has experience designing, overseeing, and facilitating weeklong training programs and producing accounting podcasts eligible for CPE credit.

edited 6/5/25