Arush is the co-founder and CEO of Modus. Modus is an active investor in CPA firms using technology to deliver differentiated outcomes. Arush launched Modus with the vision of delivering the world’s highest quality audit in the shortest amount of time. Using proprietary technology and AI, Modus delivers audits in a fraction of the time while reducing friction for clients. Modus combines capital, technology, and GTM support to scale its member firms practices.
Before Modus, Arush was a private equity investment professional at Thoma Bravo, the world’s largest software investment firm with $181Bn in AUM. At Thoma Bravo, he was part of the founding team for the London office and European strategy.
Arush studied Finance at the Wharton School of Business and Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Daniel Hood has been editor-in-chief of Accounting Today since 2011; he joined Accounting Today as managing editor in 1998. A graduate of Georgetown University, he has also served as a business editor for the New York Daily News, and as a production editor for The Wall Street Journal Europe. He is the author of five novels and a guidebook to New York City.
Reyes Florez is a rising leader in the accounting services sector and the founder and CEO of Platform Accounting Group. Reyes established Platform in 2016 with just one office and eight employees. Today, the company has expanded to over 40 offices with 900+ employees, becoming a leading provider of CPA, outsourced CFO, audit, tax, and compliance services to more than 65,000+ clients across 16 states. Under Reyes’s leadership, Platform has been an early adopter of AI and Automation in professional services, leading the charge in a rapidly changing environment. The company has been recognized as a Financial Services Industry USA Today Top Workplaces award winner in 2025, Accounting Today names Reyes to their list of Top 100 Most Influential People, and Utah Business honored Reyes as a 2024 CEO of the Year. Reyes’s deep roots in the accounting sector trace back to his early days working in various functional and operational roles within his family’s boutique accounting business. He is also a frequent speaker at AICPA and other leading industry conferences.
Stuart Ferguson leads Pointe Advisory, a boutique strategy consultancy with 15-plus years of experience advising leading professional services firms, including the Big Four. Pointe is a market leader in growth strategy, M&A diligence and value creation for CPA+ firms across the US and Europe. Over the last 5-years, Pointe has advised the largest PE funds on active processes around 15 of the top 25 US accounting firms and currently advises >10 of the T100 CPA firms’ leadership teams on strategy and operating model optimization.
Prior to joining Pointe, Stuart led diligences in Bain & Company’s Private Equity Group. Before that, he was an accountant at KPMG, specializing in hedge fund accounting and tax.
Stuart holds an MBA with distinction from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business and graduated magna cum laude with a BBA from the College of William & Mary. Stuart is also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in Virginia.
David has served as President and CEO of Dean Dorton since 2012. His previous roles in the firm included Lexington Market Leader, Business Consulting Service Group Leader and Leader of the firm’s healthcare industry team.
Under David’s leadership, the firm has consistently earned recognition as a best place to work across multiple markets. Dean Dorton has successfully expanded into four new geographic regions and broadened its advisory services, which now account for more than 35% of the firm’s annual revenue. These strategic initiatives have driven exceptional growth, resulting in Dean Dorton being honored as one of the fastest-growing firms in the country for the past two years.
Noah joined Platform from the Investment Banking division of Credit Suisse, out of their Los Angeles office where he specialized in Leveraged Finance for Financial Sponsors and Gaming industry coverage. While at Credit Suisse, Noah was a participant and client advisor on over $20 billion in financings across leveraged loans, HY bonds and equity products. Noah has been with Platform for 4 years and is responsible for leading out the firm’s corporate development initiatives including: sourcing new acquisition opportunities, diligence, structuring, negotiations and closing transactions. While at Platform, Noah has executed 40+ transactions, and enjoys getting to know firm owners on a personal level and helping them understand why Platform is different, creating win-win deals and building out an ecosystem of next-gen firms. Noah is a graduate from the University of Utah and is still actively involved with the university sitting on the Young Alumni Council.
Josh Beck is Managing Partner of Kansas City-based MarksNelson Advisory, a Springline Company, which has been named by Accounting Today as a 2025 Best Firms to Work For and by IPA as a 2025 Best of the Best Firms. Prior to assuming the role of Managing Partner, Beck served on the firm’s Executive Committee, led the Real Estate industry niche, and oversaw the Location Strategies Department. In 2023, MarksNelson received an investment from private equity firm, Trinity Hunt Partners, to become a founding firm for Springline Advisory. Beck currently serves on the Board of Directors at Springline and Chairs the firm’s Managing Partner Advisory Council.
Sanjay Agarwal is an experienced executive specializing in strategic growth, mergers and acquisitions, and operational scalability. Previously, as Tax Managing Partner and Strategic Growth Leader at a Top 50 CPA firm, Sanjay successfully expanded the firm’s national tax practice, increasing revenues from $4M to over $60M in five years through organic growth and targeted acquisitions.
In addition to leading a global team of over 250 professionals, Sanjay served on the Executive Committee and chaired its Strategic Growth Committee, directing negotiations and completion of significant CPA and advisory firm mergers totaling over $50M in annual revenue. His expertise includes talent acquisition, innovative service delivery models, high-value strategic tax advisory services and value creation through offshoring and enabling technology.
As CEO of Elevate, Sanjay drives strategic growth, value creation and operational excellence. He combines deep industry expertise, leadership acumen and an entrepreneurial mindset to guide the firm through rapid growth and innovation.
Sanjay holds an LL.M. in Taxation (Corporate and International) from New York University School of Law, a J.D. from St. Thomas University College of Law, and a B.S. in Finance from California State University, Northridge. He is a licensed member of the State Bar of California.
Phil specializes in CPA Firm Growth. Whether succession planning, M&A, talent acquisition, business advisory services or practice management consulting, firms of all sizes, from sole practitioners to top 10 global firms rely on him.
Phil has grown Whitman Transition Advisors to be the single largest advisory organization for CPA firms in the Nation. The depth and breadth of CPA firm leadership expertise by the Whitman Transition Team is unparalleled. With greater than 1,000 merger and acquisition transactions and consulting engagements, there is nothing the Team hasn’t seen.
Phil has expanded his CPA firm relationships and now helps small, medium, and large CPA firms help their clients. Through the C Suite IMPACT LLC group of companies, Whitman as Chairman, offers everything from Fractional CFO, Back-office Client Accounting Resources, Business Intelligence, and Deal Making, this includes buy-side, sell-side and capital raising, Whitman partners with the CPA firms and creates additional bottom-line revenue for the firms without them adding one new client or one new staff person.
Whitman has been a featured speaker for various state societies of CPAs, international CPA firm associations as well as a presenter for CCHs annual user conference. For over 25 years he has advised firms throughout North America.
When not focusing on strengthening existing business relationships Whitman enjoys connecting and building new relationships and prides himself on being a professional connector. Whitman has been married to Mia, his wife, for 33 years and enjoys time with his three adult sons, one an accountant, another a pilot, and the youngest a techie.
Bob is President of The Visionary Group and one of Accounting Today’s Top 100 Most Influential People. He has developed deep relationships with key leaders in accounting firms nationwide and is a frequent speaker on M&A, private equity, remaining independent, and building firm value through organic growth in the accounting profession.
His focus for the last thirty years has been only in the accounting profession. Bob helps firms build value and understand their options. His group is involved in dozens of M&A and private equity transactions annually and they created the “Build to Evolve” (BTE) process for accounting firms. BTE is a structured partnership to help firms develop an independence plan or a transition strategy if independence or an internal succession is not an option.
Bob has extensive experience supporting firms in need of a transition plan, structuring deal frameworks, negotiating M&A transactions and assisting with partner buy-ins and buyouts, and compensation plans. Through Visionary’s BTE process he helps firms analyze and upscale their client base, leverage better pricing structures, address capacity, expand advisory opportunities, and increase firm value. He was an accountant and has a Bachelor of Science in Finance, and an MBA, both from DePaul University in Chicago.