The New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants Buffalo Chapter (NYSSCPA) held their annual Education Night Dinner last night, Tues, April 23, at Salvatore’s Italian Gardens in Depew, NY. This event is dedicated to recognizing the outstanding academic achievements of accounting students in Western New York. It also provides a great arena for networking with educators, students and practitioners.
The guest speaker at the event was Alexander Gress, President of 43 North, a startup competition in Buffalo, NY that invests $5 million each year in companies with a good viable product, strong team, and a desire to relocate to Buffalo for at least a year. They have invested in 44 companies since coming on the scene as part of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion initiative in 2014.
Niagara University is excited to announce the following Niagara accounting students that were recognized at the event: Matthew R. Lesinski, Amy E. Barg, Elizabeth A. Faxlanger and Cassandra R. Siwy.
The NYSSCPA Award of Honor is awarded to one graduating senior and one graduating graduate student from each school in recognition of outstanding achievements in accounting studies.
Matthew Lesinski received the graduate student award. He is currently interning at Rich Products in their Accounting Dept. He has accepted a full time position at Freed Maxick in their auditing dept. and will begin in November. He is also in the process of completing the CPA exam.
Niagara is pleased to recognize both Amy E. Barg and Elizabeth A. Faxlanger as the outstanding senior students, true examples of excellence.
Amy is a member of several honor societies including Beta Gamma Sigma, Vice President of Beta Alpha Psi, and a member of Delta Epsilon Sigma. She is active in the community volunteering with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA) and also Boy Scouts of America. She will be interning with Brock Schechter & Polakoff this summer. After she graduates in May, she will continue at Niagara focusing on a Master of Science in Finance.
Elizabeth is a senior in the honors program double majoring in Accounting and Actuarial Science. She is involved in the Accounting Society and the Commuter Advocacy Board on campus. She is a member of several honor societies including the President’s Honor Society Sigma Alpha Sigma, Delta Epsilon Sigma, Beta Alpha Psi and Beta Gamma Sigma. Last year, she was recognized as the top junior with the NYSSCPA John T. Kennedy Memorial award. She will be interning with Chiampou Travis Besaw & Kershner this summer.
Receiving the John T. Kennedy Memorial award for the junior accounting student is Cassandra Siwy. In addition to studying accounting, she is also minoring in fraud examination and economic crime and plans to obtain her MBA after she graduates next year. She has been interning at Arcara, Zucarelli, Lenda & Associates in the payroll audit dept. and will begin an internship at Citigroup this summer with their product control team. She is involved in three club sports on campus in addition to various volunteer activities.
Several members of the accounting faculty attended the event including Accounting Dept. Chair Prof. Vince Agnello, Dr. Lei Han, Dr. Kathy Ho, Prof. Joe Winter and Associate Dean, Dr. Ann Rensel. In addition four junior accounting students attended as guests, Alexis Bueme, Anthony Demaria, Lindsey Hoak and Adam Vars. Prof. Vince Agnello congratulated the Niagara students, “Niagara University is extremely proud of the high caliber of our accounting students and their academic achievements. Our students are actively involved in honor societies and volunteer activities, while also maintaining very high academic standards and performing internships with prestigious accounting firms.”