92nd Annual Meeting and Convention

Jon is a leadership coach, corporate trainer, keynote speaker, and the author of Mission-Critical Leadership: How Smart Managers Lead Well in All Directions. He works with organizations to develop leaders everyone wants to follow, build teams no one wants to leave, and deliver exceptional results.

Before launching Lokhorst Consulting LLC, Jon enjoyed a 30-plus year career as a CPA, CFO, and organizational leader. He has a Master's in Organizational Leadership and is recognized by the International Coach Federation as a Professional Certified Coach. He also serves as adjunct faculty in the School of Business and Nonprofit Management at North Park University.

Jon is member of the National Speakers Association and serves as President of the Minnesota chapter. On a personal note, Jon loves grandparenting and being "Papa" to his four adorable littles, as he calls them.

Melody focuses her practice on data security and privacy and commercial litigation. She is Co-Team Leader of Butler Snow's Data Security and Privacy Team. She regularly advises clients on data security and privacy matters, including data breaches, development and implementation of data security and incident response plans, data breach litigation, privacy compliance, regulatory investigations, and advising on cyber insurance policies, coverage, endorsements and exclusions. She is Vice Chair of the ABA TIPS Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Committee.

Melody is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell and recognized in Best Lawyers in America® in commercial litigation, by Mid-South Super Lawyers® in business litigation, and Top Rated Lawyer in commercial litigation by The American Lawyer and Corporate Counsel. She serves as the Editor-in-Chief of Butler Snow's BizLitNews Blog, the firm's commercial litigation blog. She is a graduate of the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA) Trial Academy and is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and Tennessee Bar Foundation. Melody is an alumnus of the Tennessee Bar Association's Leadership Law Program (TBALL). She has been honored with the Mississippi Bar Association's Curtis E. Coker Access to Justice Award and the Jackson Young Lawyers' Pro Bono Award.

Melody obtained her J.D. from Mississippi College, cum laude, where she was editor-in-chief of Law Review. She is admitted to the Tennessee and Mississippi State Bars, the U.S. District Courts for the Western, Middle and Eastern Districts of Tennessee, the Northern and Southern Districts of Mississippi, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth and Sixth Circuits and the U.S. Supreme Court.

When she is not playing basketball, baseball or soccer with her 8 year old son, Melody enjoys gardening and cooking. She was addicted to spin class before the pandemic. She is also passionate about her volunteer work as a member of the Board of Directors of Susan G. Komen-Midsouth-Memphis-Mississippi. Melody has proudly participated in Komen's Race for the Cure for over 20 consecutive years.

As a leader of Kennerly Montgomery's pension and employee benefits practice, Kathy D. Aslinger assists public and private employers, plan fiduciaries, trustees, third party administrators, and advisors maneuver through the complex world of employee benefit plan design, implementation, and compliance. Additionally, she uses her experience and knowledge to assist companies in the following areas: due diligence and benefit considerations during merger and acquisitions; controlled group and affiliated service group analysis; executive compensation; audits; fiduciary liability issues; multiple employer and multiemployer benefit plan issues; DOL and IRS compliance; HIPAA; COBRA; ERISA and state law obligations; and Affordable Care Act compliance.

For an ERISA attorney, Kathy has an unusual background. She spent the first 11 years of her career as a government attorney and prosecutor. During that time, she worked as a judicial clerk for judges on the Tennessee Court of Appeals and Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, as an appellate attorney for the Tennessee Attorney General's Office, and as an Assistant District Attorney. She has tried cases before judges and juries and handled approximately 200 appeals before the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, the Tennessee Supreme Court and the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. She credits the research, writing, and advocacy skills she gained during these years for her continued success in the realm of employee benefits, and while she works hard to keep her clients out of the courtroom, she is grateful that she has the experience and ability to assist them in the courtroom if needed.

In addition to her ERISA practice, Kathy serves as the Managing Shareholder of the Firm. This role enables her to lead, mentor and guide the Firm in a positive direction.

Kimberly Ellison-Taylor grew up in the inner city of Baltimore and has proven that mentorship, coaching and sponsorship does work. As a leader in both finance and technology, Ellison-Taylor has received many awards and recognitions. In 2016, she became the first person of color to serve as Chairman of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the fifth woman, and the youngest Chairman. She is a sought-after speaker on several topics including Leadership, Strategy, Growth, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Transformation, and Emerging Technology.

For almost 17 years, Ellison-Taylor served in global leadership roles for Oracle Corporation. Kimberly advised C-Suite Executives on cloud solutions that innovate and transform business. Ellison-Taylor is also an adjunct professor for Carnegie Mellon University’s Public Trust and Chief Information Officer Certificate programs teaching Emerging Technologies & Innovation. She is a member of the Heinz Dean’s Advisory Council and is also an independent board director for US Bancorp, Mutual of Omaha, and Evercommerce.

Other professional achievements include tenure at Prince George’s County Government, KPMG, Motorola, and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Ellison-Taylor has an undergraduate degree in Information Systems from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, a MBA from Loyola University Maryland, an Accounting Certificate from the Community College of Baltimore County and a Master of Science from Carnegie Mellon University in Information Technology Management as well as a Chief Information Officer certificate. She is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Information Technology Professional, Certified Global Management Accountant, and Certified Information Systems Auditor.

Ellison-Taylor serves on the Loyola’s Board of Trustees and has a number of other volunteer roles including the 2022-2023 President of Beta Alpha Psi, Chair of the Maryland Association of CPAs Foundation and Chair of the AICPA’s National Commission on Diversity and Inclusion.

Steve is an audit partner in KPMG’s Nashville office. He began his career with KPMG in Birmingham, Alabama and relocated to the Nashville, Tennessee office in 2002. Steve has over 29 years of experience providing financial statement audits and audits of internal control, risk assessments, and other assurance services across a variety of industries. He has been a partner since 2006.

Thomas F. Landstreet, Co-founder and President of Trusco Investment Management, is responsible for the firm's "big picture" economic and thematic research. He is the Co-founder of N3L Capital Partners, manager of the N3L Fund, a strategic investment limited partnership. Mr. Landstreet was born in Nashville, TN and studied English literature at Auburn University and advertising copywriting at The Portfolio Center in New York City. He began his career in advertising at Ogilvy & Mather in New York City.

Mr. Landstreet's recent employment history includes: Senior Vice President at Laffer Associates from September 2006 until October 2010; from March of 2003 until September of 2006, he was Managing Director, Head of Institutional Sales, for Avondale Partners, LLC. From July of 1996 through March of 2003, Mr. Landstreet was a Managing Director, Institutional Sales at the Robinson Humphrey Co., Inc. in Atlanta, GA.

In 2011, Mr. Landstreet Co-Founded Tell-Tale Capital Corp. as well as founded Standard Research Corp., publisher of "Connecting the Dots" economic and investment research. As head of Standard Research, Mr. Landstreet advises major fund management firms on the investment ramifications of government economic policies. He is a top contributor to Forbes.com and writes "The Big Idea" column for CityWire Magazine. He is married for 27 years and the father of three well-behaved children.

Jennifer Weske obtained her bachelors degree in business administration (BBA) from Stephen F. Austin University with a major in accounting and a minor in computer science. During college, she worked on the Space Station OSC (Operations Support) contract at NASA. This was both a fun and exciting job! Immediately after college, Jennifer passed her CPA exam.

After graduation, Jennifer started her career in public accounting as an auditor with Arthur Anderson in the Houston office and was eventually recruited to start a computer audit group. From public accounting, Jennifer was recruited by FedEx to work in a computer audit group in Memphis. Jennifer has experience in project management, training, information systems and finance. Jennifer obtained her MBA in Finance from the University of Memphis and her Ph.D. in Accounting from Northcentral University with a specialization in forensic accounting. Jennifer is a Certified Public Accountant (Inactive), a Chartered Global Management Accountant, and a Certified Fraud Examiner. Jennifer also obtained one of the first Certified Information Systems Audit designations in 1990 but does not have an active certification. Jennifer teaches full time at Christian Brothers University as an Associate Professor of Accounting and is the Director of the Master of Accountancy program.