|
|
Mark L. Cheffers CPA, ABV Chief Executive Officer and Founder
|
|
|
Mark Cheffers (mcheffers@ivesinc.com) is the Founder and CEO of IVES Group, Inc., an independent research provider focused on developing web based due diligence and market intelligence tools that allow analysts to better assess risks being presented by public company audit, internal control, and legal exposures. IVES' flagship services include www.accountingmalpractice.com and www.auditanalytics.com. IVES counts among its clients some of the largest professional service, research, regulatory, and financial services organizations in the world.
Mr. Cheffers is also a researcher, author, and litigation consulting specialist. He recently co-authored a graduate level text on accounting ethics, A New Approach to Understanding Accounting Ethics. Mr. Cheffers is a regular commentator in the major financial press on matters of accounting malpractice and corporate governance.
Prior to founding IVES Group, Mr. Cheffers operated a successful litigation consulting firm, specializing in fraud investigations and litigation consulting on large and complex professional malpractice cases. Mr. Cheffers began his career at KPMG in Boston and later joined PricewaterhouseCoopers in Sydney, Australia, where he became a Manager. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and has achieved its Accredited Business Valuation (ABV) professional designation.
Mr. Cheffers has a BSBA, magna cum laude, in accounting and finance from Boston University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He lives in Worcester, Massachusetts with his wife and eleven children.
Inquiries or comments about the company's programs and websites are welcome at mcheffers@ivesinc.com.
|
|
back to top
Christine Renda Esq Chief Operating Officer & Chief Legal Officer
|
|
|
Ms. Renda has spent the majority of her legal career specializing in litigation matters related to employment counseling, corporate defense, commercial litigation, professional liability, antitrust, class action and products liability cases. She has represented management in employment discrimination litigation before the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and various state administrative agencies. Before moving several years ago to the defense of corporations and directors, Ms. Renda had been integrally involved in developing a number of large and complex professional liability cases against accountants, directors and lawyers that yielded some of the largest settlements in the history of New England law. Ms. Renda is a graduate of New York University and the College of William and Mary’s Law School. She worked at Decof & Grimm, P.C., from 1994 to 1999 and for Nelson Kinder Mosseau & Saterley P.C. from 1999 until 2002. Ms. Renda is admitted to the Bar in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire.
|
|
back to top
Edward S. Turner Chief Information Officer
|
|
|
Mr. Turner brings tremendous IS experience to Internet Virtual Expo Systems, having been developer and consultant for over two decades. Mr. Turner has designed numerous systems in statistical analysis and quality assurance. He has extensive experience in credit card and mortgage banking, affinity marketing, manufacturing, and electronic funds transfer. Mr. Turner’s clients have included MBNA, Lomas Information Systems, IBM, Pertrol International, LTV Aerospace and the Federal Reserve. Mr. Turner has also had experience as an educator, specializing in mathematics, calculus, physics, and chemistry. He has a BS in physics from Wheeling College and an MA, summa cum laude, from the International Academy of Philosophy in Liechtenstein.
|
|
back to top
Advisory Board Members
Christopher A. Byrne, Esq Advisory Board Member
|
|
|
Mr. Byrne has over 27 years of legal and business experience in both private practice and government service. He is a nationally known consultant and expert in the field of financial investigations and professional liability matters pertaining to directors and officers, accountants and lawyers. On behalf of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Mr. Byrne structured the purchase and assumption of many failed financial institutions and provided the FDIC with alternative strategies on asset disposition and workouts. He handled sensitive tasks such as managing the FDIC’s investigation and civil prosecution of Charles Keating and Lincoln Savings & Loan. Mr. Byrne was also the Assistant Director of the FDIC’s Division of Liquidation, in charge of professional liability investigations nationwide. He also led many of the largest professional liability investigations and litigation for the Resolution Trust Corporation. More recently, Mr. Byrne was retained by the State of Rhode Island to investigate, formulate and pursue professional liability lawsuits arising from the collapse of its private deposit insurance system. Mr. Byrne is a popular speaker and guest lecturer for the Federal government and private groups. Mr. Byrne holds a BSFS degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and a Juris Doctor degree from Catholic University of America.
|
|
back to top
Edward S. Petry, Ph.D Advisory Board Member
|
|
|
Dr. Petry has been the Executive Director of the Ethics Officer Association (EOA) since 1995. With over 700 corporate members it is the largest non-consulting professional association for managers of ethics, compliance and business conduct programs. Dr. Petry has authored several major surveys including the U.S. Sentencing Commission's National Survey of Ethics & Compliance in Organizations (1995), Sources & Consequences of Workplace Pressure (1997) and Technology & Ethics in the Workplace (1998). He has edited and/or co-authored six books on business ethics, including The Ethical Edge: Tales of Organizations that Have Faced Moral Crises (1996) and The Ethics of Accounting and Finance (1996). He has been quoted or appeared on the topic of corporate ethics and compliance in journals, newspapers and media outlets including: CNN, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, USA Today, NBC's Today Show, Fox News, National Public Radio's Marketplace, The New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Working Woman magazine, CFO Magazine, Ethikos, Federal Ethics Report, Financial World, The Financial Times, La Tribune and Wprost (Poland). Dr. Petry received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Pennsylvania State University and has also received degrees in philosophy from The University of Toronto and Trinity College. He is a tenured professor of philosophy at Bentley College and a Visiting Professor at Clark University. Dr. Petry is a member of the Ethics Committee for the American Society of Association Executives, is a Senior Fellow and member of the Advisory Board of the Ethics Resource Center (Washington DC) and is on the Editorial Board of Business and Society Review.
|
|
back to top
Stephen A. Lynch CPA, CVA Advisory Board Member
|
|
|
Mr. Lynch has been a partner in Love, Bollus, Lynch & Rogers LLP, an accounting and consulting firm, located in Worcester, Massachusetts since its inception in February 1989. Prior to then, Mr. Lynch was a Senior Manager at KPMG Peat Marwick, and Controller for Quabaug Corporation. Mr. Lynch's career has been focused in the area of audits of primarily commercial companies in the manufacturing, construction and distribution industries and general business advisory services to these industries. He has provided services to a wide range of clients, from start up companies to mature entities. In more recent years, he has also provided litigation support services in the area of accounting malpractice. Additionally, Mr. Lynch is a Certified Valuation Analyst and oversees the business valuation practice at the firm. He is a member of the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts. Mr. Lynch has a Bachelor of Science Degree in accounting from the University of Vermont.
|
|
back to top
Martin Roper Advisory Board Member
Mr. Roper is the President of The Boston Beer Company, Inc. (NYSE:SAM), brewers of Samuel Adams beers, where he manages all aspects of the business. He joined the company in 1994 and has been the Vice President of Manufacturing & Business Development, Vice President of Operations and Chief Operating Officer. During his six years with The Boston Beer Company, he has been instrumental in reducing the cost of goods, improving business processes and procedures, acquiring businesses, and contract negotiations. Mr. Roper was part of the Senior Management team responsible for a successful IPO in 1995 and was the project leader on the company's record setting SAP R/3 implementation. Previously, Mr. Roper was President of the MEG Division of SteelWorks Inc. where he was responsible for a successful business turnaround. Prior to that he was Executive Vice President at Blocksom & Co. where he was responsible for a LBO restructuring and turnaround. Both SteelWorks and Blocksom were leveraged investments by Vanguard Investments, a Chicago based LBO investment group. Mr. Roper has also worked for The Boston Consulting Group in London. He holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a Masters in Manufacturing from Cambridge University. Mr. Roper is a British citizen.
|
|
back to top
Ross Fuerman PhD, JD, CFE, CPA Advisory Board Member
|
|
|
Dr. Fuerman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Accounting at Suffolk University's Sawyer School of Management. He is one of the foremost authorities in the area of securities fraud litigation research related to accounting malpractice matters. As a CPA (Ohio), CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner), former practicing transaction and litigation attorney, and former merit review examiner for the Ohio Division of Securities, Dr. Fuerman brings not only his formal education but also his experience to bear on the problems of accounting, auditing and financial reporting.
Dr. Fuerman's education includes: Ph.D. in Accounting, University of Cincinnati; JD, George Washington University; MA in History, Jewish Theological Seminary, New York; BA in History, University of Cincinnati, cum laude with High Honors. He is a member of the American Accounting Association, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.
Dr. Fuerman's most recent publication, "Accountable Accountants," Critical Perspectives on Accounting (forthcoming), was highlighted by Robert Barker in BusinessWeek, October 28, 2002, p. 129. His other publications, since joining Suffolk University, include the following:
Recent publications include:
- "Fraudulent Audited Annual Financial Statements in Post-PSLRA Private Securities Class Actions: Determinants of Auditor Litigation," (with S. Freund and L. Shaw) 2002, Vol. 3, No. 1. Journal of Forensic Accounting.
- "Balkanized Auditor Liability Research," Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 2001, Vol. 12.
- "Auditors and the Post-Litigation Reform Act Environment," Research in Accounting Regulation, Vol. 14, ed GJ Previts, 2000. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
- "The Role of Auditor Culpability in Naming Auditor Defendants in United States Securities Class Actions," Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 1999, Vol. 10.
- "The Effect of the Reform Act and Central Bank on Naming Auditor Defendants in Securities Class Actions," Research in Accounting Regulation, Vol. 12, ed GJ Previts, 1998. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
- "Naming Auditor Defendants in Securities Class Actions," Journal of Legal Economics, Vol. 7 (1), Spring/Summer 1997.
- "The Impact of Central Bank of Denver: Some Empirical Evidence," Research in Accounting Regulation, Vol. 11, ed. GJ Previts, 1997. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
|
|
back to top
|
|
 |
| Case Documents |
Access the original documents from nearly 15,000 corporate law cases.
Click for more
|
|
|
