Speakers
Gary Shamis is a highly experienced and accomplished business advisor, entrepreneur, and Certified Public Accountant with over 40 years of experience in the accounting and consulting industries. As the Managing Director of Winding River Consulting, Gary provides strategic guidance and support to accounting firms, helping them navigate the complex challenges of the modern business landscape.
Throughout his career, Gary has worked with hundreds of accounting firms across the United States, ranging from small local practices to large international organizations. He has a deep understanding of the challenges facing the industry, and has helped countless firms overcome those challenges and achieve long-term success.
Gary is a recognized thought leader in the industry and a frequent speaker at industry events. He has authored numerous articles and publications on topics related to accounting firm management, leadership, and growth. He is passionate about helping accounting firms achieve their full potential and has dedicated his career to this mission.
Prior to founding Winding River Consulting, Gary was a co-founder of SS&G, a top 50 accounting and consulting firm, where he served as Managing Partner for over 30 years. Under his leadership, the firm grew from a small local practice to a regional powerhouse with multiple offices and a diverse portfolio of clients.
Gary is a licensed Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountants. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Accounting from the University of Akron.
With his extensive knowledge, experience, and passion for the industry, Gary has earned a reputation as a trusted advisor and mentor to accounting firm leaders across the country. He works closely with his clients to develop customized strategies that drive growth and profitability, and he is committed to helping accounting firms thrive in the face of the challenges and opportunities of the modern business world.
David Toth built his marketing expertise around a strong digital comprehension. Understanding the importance of data, he reasoned, should guide each step of the process, using informed decision making to adapt when and where necessary. Armed with the evidence, David challenges the status quo to drive results.
He is a strategic-thinker and believes the path to successful outcomes includes integrating technology with tried-and-true practices. As David sees it, when it comes to digital transformation there will always be new dots to connect. The challenge is having the discipline to make the connections that close the gap between marketing dollars and sales revenue.
David has served as an outsourced CMO, agency executive, and change agent for organizations in sectors from fast-growing start-ups to well established Fortune 500 companies. He has a knack for building meaningful relationships. David has found that while each business and industry is unique, the foundation to success is always the same — know your audience.
Joy Youell is a content strategist who helps companies understand that their content is more than just words on a page: it is a powerful tool that magnetizes a brand, providing essential differentiation in crowded markets. Her academic background in philosophy and psychology equipped her with a deep understanding of human behavior. She spent many years as the Chief Editor of an education franchising company, which gave her a taste for the winning power of marketing copy and its ability to transform the trajectory of businesses of all sizes.
Joy now provides both consultation and content production services for Winding River Consulting clients. She works closely with the digital marketing team to conceive and execute on creative strategies.
Joy is also the founder of Hire a Writer, a copywriting agency and training ground for copywriters worldwide. She is an avid student of human communication, a leading expert in on-page SEO, and a capable leader and instructor.
Franco is the founder of Narrative SEO, and leads a technical marketing consultancy renowned for giving industry leaders a competitive advantage. His expertise lies in fine-tuning websites across various digital platforms, enhancing lead generation, conversions, and sales. Narrative SEO has forged strong partnerships with global brands such as The Panama Canal, Avis, MattressFirm and others - a testament to its impact in the digital marketing sphere.
Before establishing Narrative SEO, Franco honed his skills as a network engineer and IT program manager at IBM. This experience laid a solid foundation for his venture into the world of SEO and digital marketing. Currently, Franco is dedicated to advising CEOs and CMOs on the latest industry trends, offering top-tier insights to boost sales performance through digital marketing strategies.
Remarkable brands require authenticity and a die-hard commitment to values & purpose. As CEO and Managing Partner of Resound, Mike Jones passionately pursues these beliefs with every client as he leads this award-winning B2B branding agency’s vision, strategy, and business development. And he preaches these beliefs as co-author of the soon-to-be-released book, You Are Remarkable: How To Unlock Your Authentic Brand To Attract Loyal Customers as well as hosting two podcasts, Resoundcast and AZ Brandcast.
Over the last 15 years he’s personally built – or led teams in building – brand experiences for hundreds of brands including Google, HP, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Shamrock Farms, and Breezes Resorts. In more recent years, he (and all of Resound) have focused on helping specifically B2B businesses with their brand strategy, content marketing, videos, and websites. He has a deep passion for developing customer experiences built on the authentic identity of the brand with the result of keeping customers coming back for more.
Due to his expertise and experience, Mike speaks and facilitates workshops on branding and marketing at a number of marketing-focused events (including Accounting Association of Marketing Summit, Legal Marketing Association annual conference, and PHX Startup Week) as well as for country’s top university’s and organizations (including Arizona State University, Texas Tech University, American University, Arizona Commerce Authority, and the Better Business Bureau).
With a deep passion for his home state of Arizona and the entrepreneurs that call it home, Mike has co-directed PHX Startup Week in 2019 and 2020, co-founded the startup-supporting non-profit Thrive PHX, serves on the board of Conscious Capitalism Arizona, and is a partner with Social Venture Partners Arizona.
In recognition of his work building Resound, supporting Arizona business communities, and sharing his expertise, Mike Jones was named by the Arizona Republic as one of the state’s top 35 entrepreneurs under 35 in 2014, and more recently by the Phoenix Business Journal as one of the city’s top 40 Under 40 business leaders in 2020. Resound has also been recognized for their work having won numerous awards including Tempe Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Award (2019), Clutch Top Branding Agencies Award (2018), EXPERTISE Best Content Marketing Agency in Phoenix (2019), and Ranking Arizona Top Advertising Agencies (with less than 15 employees) in 2021.
Mike lives in very sunny Mesa, Arizona with his wife and three kids. When he’s not doing all that stuff above, you can usually find him playing bass guitar (like the rock star he used to be), reading a good (and lengthy) history book, and, of course, sipping a cup of home-roasted coffee.