The ICMA? (Institute of Certified Management Accountants) Board of Regents, the body that oversees the CMA? (Certified Management Accountant) program, recently appointed a new chair for the 2017-2020 term, as well as five new members.
The new chair, effective July 1, 2017, is Paul E. Juras, CMA, CPA, Ph.D., currently the Vander Wolk Professor of Managerial Accounting and Operational Performance in the Accountancy and Law Division at Babson College. Previously, he was a professor of accountancy at Wake Forest University. He earned both his B.B.A. and M.B.A. at Pace University and his Ph.D. from Syracuse University. Juras has experience in strategic management accounting, has published numerous articles and cases in professional journals, and made numerous presentations at meetings of both the American Accounting Association (AAA) and IMA. He is a member of the IMA Global Board of Directors and has previously served on the Board of Regents. In addition, Juras served a three-year term as chair of the IMA Research Foundation and just completed a decade of service as an associate editor of the IMA Educational Case Journal.
The five new Regents, who will serve three-year terms through June 30, 2020, are:
- Loutfi K. Echhade, CMA, CFM ? Echhade currently serves as financial advisor to a private high net worth family based in Saudi Arabia. From 2002 to 2015, he was a senior partner with EY and served as the leader of the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) Family Business Sector, where he worked with multinational and major regional family business groups. Prior to that, Echhade managed major audit engagements and advisory projects pertaining to assurance, due diligence investigations, mergers, business valuations, and restructurings. A frequent speaker on topics such as risk, fraud, and corporate governance, Echhade served as a member of the IMA Global Board of Directors, on the IMA Planning and Development Committee, the IMA Governance Committee, and the Performance Oversight and Audit Board Committee. He also has been elected a member of IMA?s Advisory Committee to the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). Echhade serves as an independent audit committee member of five companies in Saudi Arabia.
- Gregory A. Jonas, CMA, Ph.D. ? Jonas is an associate professor of accountancy at Case Western Reserve University, where he has taught since 2007. He has also taught at Virginia Commonwealth University, Elon University, and Greensboro College. Jonas has published in a variety of academic and practitioner journals. Before beginning his academic career in 2002, Dr. Jonas was the president, CEO, and CFO of High Point Furniture Industries after being a finance manager at Haworth Inc., both office furniture manufacturers. He earned his B.B.A. and M.B.A. from Western Michigan University and his Ph.D. from Virginia Commonwealth University. He just finished serving as Chair of the IMA Research Foundation.
- Srikrishna Mankal, CMA ? Mankal is the business unit controller and FP&A manager at ITT Corporation. Prior to ITT, he served as a product sales manager and a senior financial analyst at Precision Castparts Corporation. Mankal earned his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from California State University, Northridge, and he is also a certified private pilot with an instrument rating. He previously served as the director of the IMA Research Foundation from 2010 - 2017.
- Natalia Maslova, CMA ? Maslova is a senior manager, advisory services, of EY United Kingdom and Ireland, where she is responsible for the delivery of complex finance transformation projects, development and growth of the Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) practice, and growth of technology innovations. She is also a blockchain advisory leader and currently leading a number of technology innovation initiatives. Prior to that, she served at Deloitte, in Canada, as a senior finance lead in strategy and operations consulting. She also has held senior positions at Coca-Cola and YUM! Brands, and worked with technology startups. Maslova earned her M.B.A. from the University of Toronto?s Rotman School of Management.
- Maria del Dado Alonso Sanchez, CMA ? Alonso Sanchez is the Director Global Finance of OLX Group, Amsterdam, one of the three biggest global online classifieds companies in the world, which belongs to Naspers Group, the South African global internet and entertainment group, and one of the largest technology investors in the world. With more than 18 years of professional experience, she has also held positions as CFO at C&A Netherlands in Amsterdam, director of business controlling at Booking.com in Amsterdam, director of finance at Amazon.com in Luxembourg, and financial manager at Siemens in Munich. Alonso Sanchez earned her M.Sc. in Information Technology & Management from Sheffield Hallam University in the U.K. and an M.A. in Business Administration and another M.A. in Law from Pontificia Comillas University.
For further information about these appointments or the activities of the Board of Regents, please contact Dennis Whitney, CMA, CAE, ICMA senior vice president, certifications, exams and content integration, at dwhitney@imanet.org.