2025 Employee Benefit Plans Virtual Conference

Ian Howe

Ian Howe, CPA is a Manager with Johnson Lambert LLP, a multi-office, niche-focused firm that provides audit, tax, and advisory services to employee benefit plans, insurance entities, and nonprofit organizations. With 5 years of experience, Ian actively participates in client engagements, including planning, executing, directing, and completing audits and managing budget for audit engagements. He is a member of the AICPA and the Greater Washington Society of CPAs. He is a graduate from College of William and Mary, where he received his Bachelor’s of science degree in mathematics and his Master’s degree in accounting.

Angela Juvelis

Angela Juvelis is a Senior Audit Manager with Buchbinder Tunick & Company LLP, a full service accounting firm specializing in providing audit, tax and advisory services to employee benefit plans and labor unions. With over 20 years of experience in public accounting, Angela’s practice areas include performing and supervising audits of pension, health and welfare, and 401(k) plans, as well as audits of charitable and other nonprofit organizations. Her expertise includes the disclosure and reporting requirements mandated by the DOL, IRS and ERISA. Angela received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Maryland, College Park, MD. Angela is on the Board of Governors of the Greater Washington Society of CPAs, is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and is currently the Vice President of Finance for the Greater Bethesda Chamber of Commerce.

Toby Ruda

Toby Ruda is a senior director and a member of the RSM US LLP Washington National Tax compensation and benefits practice. She has more than 25 years of experience in employee benefit plan tax and compliance issues. Toby focuses on advising clients of the audit, tax and advisory practices on a wide range of benefit, compensation and payroll tax matters associated with employee benefits, equity compensation and qualified retirement plans, including ERISA associated rules. Toby is a certified public accountant in North Carolina.

Christy Fillingame

Christy Fillingame has 30 years of experience with qualified retirement plans both with RSM and a national third-party administration firm. During this time, she has audited, designed, administered and provided compliance services for plans sponsored by employers varying in size from 1 to 200,000 employees. She assists clients with contribution funding issues, government filings, correction procedures for plan operational failures and plan termination processes.

Christy regularly consults with internal firm tax and audit personnel, as well as clients, on tax technical issues related to qualified plans, with a current focus on employee stock ownership plans. She also develops and publishes guidance and educational materials to support RSM professionals.

Susan Hicks

Sue is the Associate Director, EBP Audit & Accounting, with the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. In her role, Sue serves as the primary subject matter expert on employee benefit plan audit and accounting for the Association. She directs the activities of the Employee Benefit Plan Audit Quality Center (EBPAQC) and the Employee Benefit Plans Expert Panel while serving as our primary point of contact for DOL and standard setters on EBP matters. She also partners with the Vice President, Audit & Accounting Quality, to develop and execute strategies to serve AICPA members in the employee benefit plans space. In addition, Sue works closely with AICPA Peer Review and Professional Ethics and other Association teams on EBP related issues and serves on the annual AICPA Employee Benefit Plans Conference Committee.

Prior to joining the AICPA, Sue served as Controller at the Westfield’s Conference Center, and before that was an Audit Manager with Touche Ross & Co.

Omid Mohebbi

Omid Mohebbi, CPA ,is a Manager with GRF CPAs & Advisors. He joined the firm in 2011 and specializes in audits of nonprofit organizations and employee benefit plans. He has been very active with the firm’s DEI activities and is a current member of GRF’s DEI Culture and Communications Committee. Mr. Mohebbi is a frequent speaker at industry conferences on nonprofit accounting, employee benefit plans, and the latest accounting standards. He is a current member of the GWSCPA Board of Governors and Chair of the GWSCPA Nonprofit Section.

Jennifer Amato

Jen has played a number of key roles at the firm since she started with us over 17 years ago, and tells all of her counterparts that it’s all about what you make of it. As a Director at SC&H, she has contributed to a tremendous increase in the firm’s Employee Benefit Audit practice. She and her team conduct employee benefit audits of all sizes and complexity — from small, closely held businesses to large, publicly traded companies. As part of SC&H’s Audit & Tax Advisory Services, she also participates in client engagements involving financial statement audits and reviews, and process improvement.

She has extensive experience auditing employee benefit plans of distributors, service organizations, and retailers; she regularly advises her clients on Department of Labor and IRS regulations as they apply to employee benefit plans, as well as on the development of accounting policies and procedures and the assessment of internal controls. Her and her staff’s expertise in employee benefit audit ensures that clients received exceptional service and are in full compliance in a timely way.

Since she joined the firm in 2000, Jen has worked tirelessly to stay committed to her clients, colleagues and community. She considers the group of people she surrounds herself with to be her second family, and is proud of the great friendships she has formed — it keeps her energized and passionate about the work she and her team are doing for their clients.

In addition to her work on the audit side, Jen also manages SC&H’s administration and quality control, ensuring ongoing exceptional client service and communication. She directs all aspects of assurance engagements, including planning and budgeting, staff utilization, scheduling, and billing. She also ensures the supervision, training, and development of technical staff, providing guidance on challenging technical issues, and managing the CPA licensing and continuing education process at SC&H.

Jen graduated from Stevenson University with a B.S. in Computer Accounting, and is a Certified Public Accountant licensed to practice in Maryland.

Active in her profession and community, Jen is a member of the Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants (MACPA), the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and holds her Advanced Defined Contribution Plan Certification from the AICPA. She also serves on the Advisory Board for the Cool Kids Campaign.

Jen’s family are huge Disney fanatics — they take a family trip to a Disney park or two every year — but she also loves taking trips to the beach with her husband and two children. It’s all about the journey, not the destination, she says, and it’s something she carries with her from the Conference Room to Epcot and everywhere in between.