Business and Industry Conference Webcast

Erin Daiber is a relatable and results-oriented CPA turned coach, speaker & trainer in the accounting profession. She is the founder of Well Balanced Accountants LLC, and the creator of popular programs such as the CPA Exam Launchpad. She is known for her fresh approach to providing leadership development solutions designed specifically for your team of accountants. Well Balanced Accountants started after she went from a high-performing accountant to a burned-out, now-recovering CPA. She believes that leadership skills are integral to long and successful careers in the accounting profession. As a speaker, she shows accountants how to develop the skills they need to help attract and retain top talent, grow profits, and sustain higher revenues to better serve their clients. In her years of working with CPAs & accounting firms, she has helped sole practitioners and Top-100 firms transform their accounting talent using these practices. Erin began her career in the audit practice of Ernst & Young, where she had the opportunity to lead audit teams and serve a wide variety of clients from Fortune 500s to young start-ups. She spent several years in private industry working as a financial analyst before taking on her role as CEO & Coach. Erin is a graduate of John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio with a degree in accountancy. Erin holds an active CPA license in the state of California and the Professional Certified Coach (PCC) designation through the International Coach Federation.

Mr. Seiden is the Principal of Asset Enhancement Solutions, LLC ("AES"), a financial advisory firm that provides both Investment Banking and Consulting Services to companies considering important transactions such as selling a company, acquiring a company and raising capital. AES with its strategic partners consult with business owners on various types of transactions and throughout all phases of the M & A process. Mr. Seiden is periodically quoted in the New York Times, Newsday and Long Island Business News and is a frequent panelist at symposiums focused on financing. Mr. Seiden is the President of Long Island Chapter of the Turnaround Management Association, a Past President of the Long Island Chapter of the Institute of Management Accountants, and on the Long Island Committee of ACG, the Association for Corporate Growth. Mr. Seiden is a CPA with over 25 years experience in both public and private accounting. Mr. Seiden served as the CFO of companies with annual sales ranging from $5M to $90M. Industry experience includes manufacturing, distribution and service businesses. As the CFO of a NYC based manufacturing and Distribution Company he orchestrated a turnaround in a single year from a loss of $1.7M to break-even. He also refinanced the Company's senior debt, raised both equity and mezzanine debt and sold off a division to raise cash. Prior to this, he was the Controller of a $90M aerospace parts manufacturer where his successful pricing negotiations with Boeing led to a dramatic turnaround and consecutive years of record earnings. Mr. Seiden began his career at KPMG after graduating Summa Cum Laude from Boston University with a BS in Accounting. Mr. Seiden is a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society.

Michael Herz is a financial professional with more than 40 years of diversified financial management experience, including more than 20 years at the CFO level. He also had an outsourced CFO practice in which he provided fractional CFO services to a group of key clients during a 15-year period. During this 15-year tenure, Mr. Herz performed pre-acquisition due diligence on some 15 different target companies as the designee for the acquiring company. In addition, he recommended various deal structures, helped negotiate terms and conditions and assisted with post-acquisition integration of systems and personnel. Credentials include a CPA, an MBA in Finance and an ABV (Accredited in Business Valuation). He is a graduate from Pace University (both Bachelor’s and MBA degrees). He is a Past President and current Board Member (since 2013) of the NYSSCPAs Westchester Chapter. He has served as Co-Chair of the NYSSCPAs Westchester Accountants in Industry Committee since 2012. He currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer for NuEnergen, LLC, an emerging energy consulting firm in White Plains, NY. The firm has grown from $27 to some $50 million in revenues during his 3-year tenure there. Mr. Herz is in charge of all Accounting, Finance and Human Resources. The firm recently completed strategic acquisition, for which Mr. Herz was responsible for post-acquisition integration of all accounting, finance, and H.R. functions. Mr. Herz has three grown children and resides with his wife in Armonk, NY

Kristen Berdar is the founder and leader of Virtual Accounting Solutions (VAS) at BST & Co. CPAs LLP. She launched VAS after a 25-year career in public accounting, dedicated to helping clients in business, government and not for profits, most recently providing her expertise in Outsourced CFO, Controllership & Accounting. With a keen interest in technology and its ability to improve operations and efficiency, Kristen developed the VAS division now in its third year. Virtual Accounting Solutions partners with clients to make their businesses more efficient by streamlining processes and identifying and implementing best practices utilizing cloud –based technology. Outsourcing accounting functions allows organizations to save time and money by re-directing resources and staff to support higher profit, revenue generating activities. Clients using VAS can achieve greater performance, flexibility, and growth because they are provided with the visibility and control that previously could only be achieved by being at the core of the day-to-day activities of their business. Kristen is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Certified Management Accountant (CMA) with a background in Tax, and has extensive experience in the wholesale distribution, manufacturing, government, construction, and professional services industries. Kristen is an acknowledged industry leader who regularly contributes her expertise to local media, including The Business Review, Women@Work, and The Saratogian. She hosts a bi-monthly webinar series to provide helpful tips to businesses and not for profits.

Tim focuses his practice in the state and local tax area. His work primarily involves New York State and New York City tax litigation and controversy. Over the past 25 years, he has handled more than 3,000 personal income tax, sales tax, corporate tax, or other New York State and City tax audits, and over 100 cases in New York’s Division of Tax Appeals. Tim is also a member of the Board of Directors of Hodgson Russ.

Tim leads the firm’s Tax Residency Practice and he is one of the leading practitioners in this area of the law. He has handled some of the most high-profile residency cases in New York, including a significant win in the Gaied case, one of the first New York residency cases to ever reach New York’s highest court. He is often quoted by media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg, and Forbes, on residency and other state tax issues. Under his direction, the Tax Residency Practice authored What to Expect in a Residency Audit, a detailed guide to residency rules and audits in New York and other states. And over the past 25 years, he has guided literally thousands of taxpayers moving from high-tax states to low-tax states and successfully defended them in state residency audits.

As the “Noonan” in “Noonan's Notes,” a monthly column in Tax Notes State, Tim is a nationally recognized author and speaker on state tax issues. He co-authored the CCH Residency and Allocation Audit Handbook and Contesting New York State Tax Assessment- Fourth Edition, published by the New York State Bar Association. In addition, Tim has served as a contributing author or editor for several other tax publications and treatises, including the American Bar Association's Sales and Use Tax Deskbook, the "New York Sales Tax Guide" published by practicallaw.com, the corporate apportionment chapter in Thomson Reuters’ Checkpoint Analyst, the New York chapter of LexisNexis’s Practice Insights, and the New York Tax Litigation chapter in Thomson Reuters’ Commercial Litigation in New York State Courts treatise. He has also written more than 400 articles in state and local tax publications around the country over the past two decades, and he runs the award-winning Noonan's Notes Blog, where he and his colleagues offer regular commentary on developments in the world of New York and multistate tax law.

Tim also has extensive experience on New York City corporate and entity tax matters, and handled a significant number of residency and sales tax issues in other states, including work with many national and international clients on multistate compliance or voluntary disclosures. He has also appeared before the Connecticut Supreme Court and the Michigan Court of Appeals in litigated matters and is admitted to practice law in Connecticut.

Beth van Bladel, CPA, is a Director & Outsourced CFO with BST Consulting Group, a division of BST & Co. CPAs, LLP, where she provides financial, management, and accounting advisory services to support mission-driven organizations. She specializes in translating complex financial concepts into clear, actionable insights and collaborating to solve problems that lead to measurable, positive outcomes. Leveraging her Six Sigma Green Belt (CSSGB), she designs efficient processes and uses financial systems and automation to support growing organizations.

Coaching and developing her clients, team members, and NextGen CPAs is central to Beth’s work and brings her tremendous fulfillment.

Beth is honored to be recognized on the Forbes 2026 America’s Best-In-State CPAslist, a milestone that reflects her lifelong commitment to the CPA profession. She is currently serving a three-year term on the AICPA Council. Previously, she served on the Private Company Council, advising the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) on private company matters. She is also a proud member of the New York State Society of CPAs and a recipient of both the Distinguished Service Award and the Outstanding CPA in Industry Award.

Beyond her professional work, Beth is a volunteer patient advocate and founder of Capital Region Patient Advocacy, where she teaches healthcare advocacy and navigation skills to the Capital Region community.

In her free time, Beth can be found on a yoga mat or discovering backroads on her Can-Am Spyder.

Gregory J. Altman currently serves as the Vice President of Finance and Operations at Nardin Academy, Buffalo, NY and as Treasurer/Secretary for American Coradius International, LLC, Amherst, NY. Prior to this role, Mr. Altman served as the Director of Finance and Operations at Health Sciences Charter School, Buffalo, NY and as Chief Financial Officer at Zone Oil & Gas LLC and Somerset Production Company, LLC, and as controller for Somerset Capital Partners, all affiliated companies in the investment and oil and gas industries. Prior to becoming affiliated with the Somerset companies, Mr. Altman worked for an independent oil and gas exploration and production company, a real estate syndicator with public and private partnerships, and in public accounting for ten years. Former affiliations include serving on the finance and audit committee for The Olmsted Conservancy in Buffalo, past-President for the Western New York Kidney Foundation, and the annual chairperson for the Kids Escaping Drugs dinner gala, Buffalo, NY.

Mr. Altman is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants. Mr. Altman earned his bachelor's degree from New York University and graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo's graduate tax certificate program.

Frank is responsible for advocacy on labor/HR, unemployment insurance and workers' compensation issues, and for providing human resources consulting services to Council members. Frank comes to The Business Council from the New York State Funeral Directors Association where he provided human resource and OSHA consulting services to employers of all sizes. Prior work experience includes human resources staff and leadership positions in the financial services and health care arenas. Frank is a graduate of Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations with nearly 36 years of experience in human resource management. He is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), a Certified Association Executive (CAE), and a frequent presenter of human resource topics across the state and nationally.

Jerry Sheehan is the founder and CEO of SynchroNet Industries, a technology management company dedicated to better business results through better IT processes. For more than 25 years, Jerry has recommended and implemented technical and process-based solutions for small and medium businesses. A skilled communicator, Jerry excels at breaking complex problems into manageable parts and then following through on timelines. He enjoys sharing his knowledge to help other owners and stakeholders leverage their technology to drive bottom-line benefits. Jerry is especially interested in assisting SMBs in improving their cybersecurity standards and has worked on free training videos, guidance, and community outreach for the last three years. His goal is to help companies in WNY and beyond determine the next steps and move forward. He takes a back-to-basics approach to security awareness and emphasizes consistency and procedures over fancy tools and jargon. Jerry loves skiing, cheering for the Bills, Tim Horton’s coffee, his family, and his loyal canine sidekick, Diesel.al tools to make companies more productive and profitable.