OSCPA announces 2019-2020 board nominees

OSCPA staff report

The Ohio Society of CPAs Nominating Committee unanimously recommended Crystal Faulkner, CPA, of Cincinnati as the 2019-2020 chair-elect candidate of the Executive Board. She re-joined the board in 2017 having served a term previously.

The committee welcomes three new nominees to the board: Ellen Wisbar, CPA of Cleveland, Julie Wozniak, CPA, and Jon Zavislak, CPA, both of Columbus. Wisbar, Wozniak and Zavislak will serve three year terms from 2019-2022. In addition, Michael Elliott, CPA, of Burton will serve a second term.

The Nominating Committee also recommended that current Board Member Chris Igodan, CPA, assume the role of Vice Chair, Finance. Don Mellott, Jr. CPA, will become Chair of the Executive Board and John Venturella, CPA, J.D., will become past chair.

Meet the chair-elect, vice chair of finance and new Executive Board members:

Chair Elect: Crystal Faulkner, CPA, CExP, MAFF

Partner & Market Leader, MCM CPAs & Advisors

Faulkner has been the partner and location leader of MCM CPAs & Advisors in Cincinnati since 2015.Prior to her current role, she was a founding partner with Cooney Faulkner & Stevens, LLC, a CPA and business advisory firm for 19 years, before her firm merged with Mountjoy Chilton Medley. While there, she focused on tax planning and business consulting. Faulkner is a certified business transition and legacy specialist and her areas of expertise include business and tax advisory, strategic planning, income and estate tax minimization, fraud and forensic analysis, succession planning, wealth enhancement and transfer and consulting related to business acquisition and disposition. She graduated from Marshall University with a degree in accounting in 1982. She is a weekly columnist for Cinncinnati.com and the Cincinnati Enquirer, has appeared on the Local 12/WKRC-TV news station in Cincinnati as a financial expert and is a co-host for BusinessWise Radio. She is the president and founder of Accounting for Kids and serves on the board of Adopt A Class and board of trustees for the University of Cincinnati Economics Center, in addition to several nonprofit and business associations. She also recently was named the fundraising champion of the Dance With Your Heart charity gala.

Vice-Chair Finance: Chris Igodan, Jr., CPA

Vice President-Investments Controller, Nationwide Insurance

Igodan leads Nationwide’s Investment Controllership team that oversees all investments accounting, including investment reporting; supporting analysis and accounting internal controls; monitoring investment risks; and ensuring compliance with regulations and accounting standards. He joined Nationwide in 2010 and has held various roles with increasing responsibility within the Controllership department. He previously spent time on the Financial Reporting team managing the Nationwide Financial audited GAAP & statutory financial statements, and the Nationwide Financial Controllership team leading life insurance and broker dealer accounting operations. He also was previously part of the Investment Controllership team leading the Investment Advisory, Derivatives & Commercial Mortgage Loans teams. Before joining Nationwide, Igodan was an auditor at PwC and served clients primarily in the financial services industry. Additionally, he is a member of The Ohio CPA Foundation Board of Trustees and the Vice President of the Columbus Chapter of the National Association of Black Accountants.

NEW DIRECTOR NOMINEES (Nominated for three-year terms)

Ellen Wisbar, CPA

Director of Independence- CBIZ

Wisbar is responsible for developing and implementing processes to monitor independence and conflicts of interest, collaborative resolution of identified conflicts, leading CBIZ related aspects of associated CPA firm Peer Reviews, and training of all CBIZ personnel to heightened awareness of CBIZ policies, processes, and regulatory compliance matters. She is a member of the CBIZ Women’s Advantage Executive Board, leads the multidisciplinary Independence Task Force, and works with the CBIZ Merger & Acquisition team to address potential conflicts that may arise from services provided by acquisition candidates. Prior to joining the legal department, Wisbar served both CBIZ MHM and Mayer Hoffman McCann P.C. as a Financial Services Director and Senior Manager in the Cleveland office, including as the initial MHM Local Office Attest Practice Leader for Cleveland. She graduated from Miami University with a degree in accounting and was a member of the Phi Mu Sorority. She began her career at KPMG in the Cleveland audit department for 12 years working with middle-market as well as foreign and domestic publicly traded companies.




Julie Wozniak, CPA

Director of Benefits Administration – NiSource (Columbus Gas)

Wozniak has been at Columbia Gas/NiSource for 22 years and spent most of that time in various roles in the accounting department, most recently as controller of state accounting. Prior to NiSource she spent time in public accounting at Arthur Andersen. She graduated with her BSBA in Accounting from The Ohio State University and an MBA from the University of Dayton. She has served on the leadership team of employee resource group, Developing and Advancing Women at NiSource, as the treasurer, vice president and president from 2012- 2017. Wozniak is a committee member of the OSCPA Women’s Initiatives and the OSCPA Diversity & Inclusion Task Force. She volunteers at her son's school, St. Michael in Worthington, and serves as the treasurer for her older son's travel hockey and travel baseball teams, Columbus Chill Youth Hockey Association and Dublin Youth Athletics. Previously she was a volunteer preschool teacher at the parish school of religion at St. Joan of Arc in Powell. 

Jon Zavislak, CPA, CGMA

Director of Financial & SEC Reporting – Express

Zavislak oversees external reporting, sales audit and payroll departments. Prior to joining Express in 2010, he was at PricewaterhouseCoopers for 11 years. An accounting graduate of Hillsdale College in Michigan, he has been a chairperson on the Accounting and Auditing Public Companies Subcommittee at OSCPA for almost three years. He has raced for Pelotonia to raise money for cancer research since 2012.

Continuing Board Members

Libby Cullins, CPA, MBA

• Vice President and Controller, JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Ebonie Jackson, CPA

• Associate Director of Administrative Services, Lucas County Children Services

Lori Kaiser, CPA, CGMA

• CEO, Kaiser Consulting LLC

• Principal, PDS Planning Inc.

Paul Nungester, CPA, CGMA

• Executive Vice President, Director of Finance and Accounting, First Federal Bank

Jesse C. Wright, CPA, CGMA, CVA

• Supervisor, Schroedel, Scullin & Bestic, CPAs and Strategic Advisors