Brown Smith Wallace Announces Promotions, Appointment

Brown Smith Wallace has announced the promotion of eleven professionals, including:

Jason R. Buhlinger, CFE, CVA, has been promoted to principal in the Transaction Advisory and Litigation Support Services practice at Brown Smith Wallace. He formerly served as a manager in this practice, performing business valuations, fraud investigations and forensic accounting for clients.
 
Buhlinger joined the firm as a staff analyst in 2007 and was promoted to manager in 2014. He assists clients by performing business valuations for mergers and acquisitions; tax, litigation and corporate planning; as well as analyzing complex litigation support and fraud and forensic accounting engagements. He works with staff to oversee the day-to-day activities of many of the Transaction Advisory and Litigation Support Services practice’s engagements.

Emily Gau, CPA, formerly a supervisor in the Tax Services practice at Brown Smith Wallace, has been promoted to manager.
 
As a manager, Gau supervises and reviews tax engagements for individuals as well as the real estate and professional service industries. She also provides internal training and staff development at Brown Smith Wallace and co-chairs the firm’s Ronald McDonald House Charities Meals from the Heart program.




Stephanie R. Hardt, CPA, formerly a manager in the Audit Services practice at Brown Smith Wallace, has been promoted to principal. She will continue her work planning and leading audit engagements, providing advisory assistance and reviewing audit reports with the Audit Services team.
 
At Brown Smith Wallace, Hardt specializes in serving clients in the construction and health care industries, as well as employee benefit plan engagements. She is also active in mentoring her colleagues, and she helps lead staff development and training in the Audit Services practice.


Thomas J. Hill, CPA, formerly a supervisor in the Audit Services practice at Brown Smith Wallace, has been promoted to manager. He has more than seven years of experience in public accounting with a specialized focus in not-for-profit organizations and financial service related entities, including broker-dealers and registered investment advisors.

As a manager, Hill is responsible for planning and leading audit and attestation services for his clients. He leads the engagement planning and transition process, develops the overall audit plan and works with clients’ management and financial personnel to set and monitor engagement schedules, fieldwork and related timing of deliverables.

Matt D. Megargel, CPA, formerly a manager in the Entrepreneurial Services Group at Brown Smith Wallace, has been promoted to principal. Megargel works with small business clients in the construction, health care, insurance and not-for-profit industries, among others, providing individualized accounting and tax consulting, as well as planning and compliance services.
 
The Entrepreneurial Services Group at Brown Smith Wallace provides small business tax and accounting services for companies with revenues ranging from startup to $20,000,000. Megargel is an integral part of this team, working closely with his clients to prepare corporate and individual returns, provide tax planning strategies, QuickBooks consultation, and sales tax and payroll services for his clients. 

Todd Reich, CPA, has been promoted to principal in the Tax Services practice at Brown Smith Wallace. As a principal, Reich is responsible for client relations and overseeing tax and accounting engagements, as well as providing invaluable staff training.

He is responsible for supervising and reviewing tax engagements, including the preparation of federal and multi-state tax returns for individuals and businesses, such as large consolidated C corporations and the related accounting for incomes taxes (ASC 740).

Reich has nearly 15 years of experience as a tax professional, working in both public accounting and industry. He has worked with a variety of C corporations, including publicly traded companies, S corporations and partnership clients in a wide range of industries.

Marggie Schulte, CPA, CFE, CVA, formerly a supervisor in the Transaction Advisory and Litigation Support (TALS) Services practice at Brown Smith Wallace, has been promoted to manager.
 
Schulte first joined Brown Smith Wallace in 2011 as an intern, and she rejoined the firm in 2012 after completing her degree. Before joining the TALS practice, Schulte served in the firm’s insurance advisory services practice, where she audited regulated entities and evaluated the design and effectiveness of internal controls. Her background also includes assisting with merger and acquisition consulting engagements. Her transaction advisory engagement experience includes due diligence, quality of earnings, working capital disputes and post-closing opening balance sheet analysis for public and private companies, including global transactions.

Henry Struckel, formerly a supervisor in the Advisory Services practice at Brown Smith Wallace, has been promoted to manager. His responsibilities include conducting ERP software research and evaluation for manufacturing, distribution and service companies.
 
Struckel has more than 19 years of experience as a sales consultant, system analyst, and director of support and system implementation in the manufacturing, distribution and service sectors. His key areas of expertise include business process analysis, ERP contract negotiations and pricing, software implementation and project management, and customer relationship management.

Sheri D. Sussenbach has been promoted to principal at Benefit Plans Plus (BPP), an affiliate of Brown Smith Wallace. Sussenbach formerly served as BPP’s key accounts manager.
 
With more than 21 years of industry experience, Sussenbach plays an integral part in project and risk management, as well as the day-to-day operational efficiencies of BPP. She helps manage a number of high-profile client relationships, with a focus on retirement plans that require annual employee benefit plan audits. Sussenbach is also a member of the BPP management team, leading staff on training and skills development.

Curtis Taylor, CPA, CFE, formerly a supervisor in the Transaction Advisory and Litigation Support (TALS) Services practice at Brown Smith Wallace, has been promoted to manager.
 
As a member of the TALS practice, Taylor assists with financial analysis engagements including: business valuations for mergers and acquisitions; merger and acquisition consulting engagements; and fraud and forensic accounting investigations. Additionally, Taylor assists with transaction advisory engagements including due diligence, quality of earnings, working capital disputes and post-closing opening balance sheet analysis for both public and private companies.

Laura K. Welch, CPA, formerly a supervisor in the Audit Services practice at Brown Smith Wallace, has been promoted to manager.
 
At Brown Smith Wallace, Welch serves clients in a broad range of industries including construction, architecture, engineering, manufacturing and distribution. She provides her clients with services in a variety of areas including financial reporting, financial statement analysis and presentation, process control improvement and FAR compliance. In her new role as manager, Welch will take on a greater business development role while acting as liaison to many of the firm’s industry niche groups.

In addition to the multiple promotions, Brown Smith wallace has announced the appointment of tax partner Robin Bell to the Women's Foundation of Greater St. Louis.

Robin Bell, CPA, a partner in the Tax Services practice at Brown Smith Wallace, has been appointed to the board of the Women’s Foundation of Greater St. Louis.
 
Bell has more than 25 years of accounting, auditing and tax experience and is a key member of the Brown Smith Wallace tax practice management team. She has long enjoyed community service, serving as a board member for the Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts (VLAA), assisting artists with accounting issues and tax compliance. At Brown Smith Wallace, she helps lead the firm’s community service projects and Women’s Leadership Program, both internally and externally, making this new board position an especially good fit for her talents and interests.
 
Founded in 2007 by a group of forward-thinking St. Louis women, The Women’s Foundation of Greater St. Louis (WFSTL) is committed to improving the lives of women and girls in the St. Louis region by encouraging and promoting their economic self-sufficiency. The foundation assists women in local communities through thoughtful charitable investment in the forms of grants to emerging and established nonprofits that seek to improve economic independence for women and girls.
 
“I am thrilled to be appointed to the board of this outstanding organization.” said Bell. “Promoting financial literacy and economic self-sufficiency in women and girls is incredibly important, and I look forward to working with the organization to support local nonprofits in their efforts to improve the lives of St. Louis women.”
 
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Bell holds a Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice with a minor in accounting. She is a member of both the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Missouri Society of Certified Public Accountants. 

About Brown Smith Wallace
Brown Smith Wallace—an independent member firm of Moore Stephens North America—is a nationally recognized, top 100, full-service CPA and business advisory firm in Missouri with more than 300 employees. The firm is the top-ranked St. Louis firm in the 2019 Vault Accounting Firm rankings and is recognized as a top workplace for women by the Accounting MOVE Project. For more information, visit brownsmithwallace.com or call 314.983.1200.