Joseph Farrenkopf has over 12 years of experience in public accounting. He specializes in audits of employee benefit plans and has assisted in developing the Firm’s streamlined approach to ensure efficient and effective employee benefit plan audits. Joseph attends and speaks at various employee benefit plan Firm audit training sessions each year. He also contributes articles to the Firm’s Thought Leadership series. As of 5/1/25

Marcus J. Aron, CPA, CGMA Senior Auditor Office of the Chief Accountant U.S. Department of Labor Mr. Aron has over twenty-five years of experience in working with audits of ERISA-covered plans. He is responsible for the day-to-day implementation of EBSA’s CPA Firm Inspection Program, providing technical assistance to plan filers and plan professionals, and providing ERISA-related accounting and auditing expertise within EBSA. Mr. Aron is a certified public accountant and holds a B.B.A. degree with a major in accounting from the College of William and Mary in Virginia.

Allison M. Henry, CPA, CGMA Vice President, Professional & Technical Standards | PICPA Allison, who has been with the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) since 2003, works to elevate CPA practice quality through advocacy, outreach, and education. She currently administers PICPA’s Joint Ethics Enforcement Program with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), oversees the administration of the AICPA’s Peer Review Program for Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania, and U.S. Virgin Island firms, monitors emerging global trends in the accounting profession, and serves as the PICPA technical liaison for several statewide committees and working groups that reach out to regulatory agencies in Pennsylvania on behalf of the profession. She frequently shares her expertise by speaking at PICPA events, hosting webinars on key topics, teaching ethics training, writing for the CPA Now blog, writing articles for the Pennsylvania CPA Journal, and fielding technical inquiries. Before joining the PICPA, Allison spent several years as a senior manager with a regional accounting firm and nine years at Deloitte & Touche LLP, where she worked in the assurance and advisory services group. Allison’s diverse client service experience has included many not‐for‐profit, health care, and world relief organizations, as well as small and large manufacturing, distribution, and service‐oriented entities. She has also served as the designated employee benefits specialist. Allison is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., and holds an accounting equivalency from the University of Arkansas in Little Rock. She spent four years in internal accounting positions, including the Department of Defense, while her husband served on active duty with the U.S. Army. Allison recently obtained AICPA’s Blockchain Fundamentals for Accounting and Finance Professionals Certificate. Allison is a member of the PICPA and AICPA. She volunteers for various local ministries and is a member of River of Live Church. She is a native of St. Louis, Mo. and is an avid runner.

Avery E. Neumark, CPA, JD, LL.M, is a Senior Consultant at Marks Paneth LLP. Mr. Neumark is an attorney with 40 years’ experience specializing in employee benefits and executive compensation, as well as ERISA, retirement and health and welfare planning, and compensation consulting. He has particular expertise in both for-profit and nonprofit sectors, and in serving high-net-worth individuals. His prior experience in professional services firms includes various leadership and management roles; he also specialized in executive compensation and employee benefits planning with a Big Four accounting firm and a national accounting firm. Mr. Neumark is a former Commissioner of the New York State Insurance Fund. From 1987-1994, he served as a Special Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor of the State of New York, Stan Lundine. In 1991, Governor Mario Cuomo appointed Mr. Neumark Chairman of the New York State Temporary Commission on Worker’s Compensation. He is a member of the American Bar Association’s Employee Benefits Committee and is the past chairman of the Fringe Benefits Sub-Committee. He has served on the Board of Directors of the New York State Society of CPAs (NYSSCPA) and is a member of its Employee Benefits Committee and Mediation and Arbitration Committee. Mr. Neumark has served on the Tax Executive Committee of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). He is a member of the New York State Bar Association’s Employee Benefits Committee and the Tax Management Compensation Planning Advisory Board. He is also a member of the Weill Cornell Medicine Professional Advisory Council. As of 5/1/25

Ellen Choi is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for driving innovation in the accounting profession. A Stanford Engineering alumna, she began her career at Google, where she automated finance processes and optimized business performance. Her experience with outdated software in the back office ignited her passion for creating delightful, frictionless, high-powered, fully secure, cutting-edge technology solutions that empowers the back-office staff. After earning her Harvard MBA, product leadership roles in Silicon Valley, and selling her b2b SaaS HR tech startup LarkApps, she co-founded Aiwyn, a technology company helping accounting firms streamline their practice management. Aiwyn has been recognized with Forbes 100 Rising Stars, Boomer Visionary Award, and AccountingToday's Award. Today, she is excited to lead Edgefield Group to further serve the accounting profession in all things technology, innovation, and business transformation. As of 5/1/25

Thomas J. DeMayo leads the Firm’s Cybersecurity and Privacy Advisory Group and is responsible for the implementation and design of cybersecurity and privacy related services, internal and external audit programs and testing procedures. He focuses on services relating to threat and vulnerability management, governance, privacy, incident response, business continuity, disaster recovery and computer forensics. He has 20 years of experience with securing and managing information risk across a wide range of industries including commercial entities, hospitality, not-for-profit, governmental, healthcare, private schools and higher education. He is also a computer forensic specialist and can assist with the acquisition and analysis of data in a forensically sound and legally-approved manner. Tom specializes in the areas of information threat and vulnerability management, PCI-DSS compliance, SOX 404 IT Controls, HIPAA, COBIT, and ISO 27001. He has helped many organizations achieve their compliance obligations through intensive and meaningful compliance gap analysis, cyber and information security risk assessments, privacy assessments and penetration tests. Tom has also made numerous presentations on cybersecurity before client and industry groups and has written extensively in this area. As of 5/1/25

Susan W. Hicks is an Associate Director, Employee Benefit Plan Audit & Accounting with the AICPA. She is responsible for all Employee Benefit Plan Audit Quality Center activities, including member recruitment and retention, member communications, technical support to the Center's Executive Committee, and serving as liaison to the DOL. She also staffs the AICPA Employee Benefit Plans Expert Panel. Prior to joining the AICPA, Ms. Hicks was a manager at Touche Ross & Co. She obtained her B.S. in Accounting at the University of Northern Colorado. As of 5/1/25

Cam joined the firm in 2021 and serves as an Executive Director and Head of OCIO Retirement & Government Solutions for Morgan Stanley. In this role, Cam manages a team of seasoned portfolio managers who collectively are responsible for delivering portfolio management, portfolio construction, and implementation solutions for the many of the firm’s institutional clients. Additionally, Cam serves as a voting member and chair of several of the firm’s internal governance committees focused on investment oversight for institutional clients. Prior to joining the firm, Cam spent over five years at Mercer Investments, most recently serving as a Portfolio Manager and member of the Defined Benefit and Target Date Fund Discretionary Governance Committees, driving asset allocation and portfolio construction across the firm’s institutional OCIO clients. Additionally, in his capacity as Fixed Income Portfolio Manager, Cam was responsible for the oversight and management of the firm’s suite of multimanager Mutual Fund and Collective Investment Trust products, with over $12 billion in assets under management. Cam holds a Bachelor of Science degree in finance from Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Franco Lofaro is an Executive Director of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management and is a Co-Head for the Retirement Plan Consulting business, within the Institutional Consulting Solutions group. Franco joined Morgan Stanley in 2009 and held various positions in the Operations division, including the support of institutional consulting clients during the joint venture with Smith Barney. Shortly after, he joined the Graystone Consulting management team in 2015. After joining, he led the platforms development and risk management initiatives prior to moving over to lead national business development for the franchise in 2018. He was responsible for both client development and new business acquisition for the practice group. In 2024, he took on the role as the Co-Head of Retirement, where he has oversight for both the 3(21) and 3(38) retirement plan consulting businesses. He also helps lead the Strategic Retirement practice group, which is comprised of teams that specialize in large and mega market retirement programs for both public and private companies. Franco graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University, where he earned a B.S. in Finance. He currently lives in Morris County, New Jersey and is an active volunteer in Morgan Stanley’s ScopeAthon – a business planning program led by the Taproot Foundation for 501(c) organizations. He enjoys traveling and spending time with both his wife and daughter.

Garrett T. Norof is a Vice President and Consulting Actuary in our New York office, in USI Consulting Group’s Defined Benefit department. He joined USI Consulting Group in 2009 and is a ten-time winner of the Annual Summit Award for excellent client service and performance. He is the plan actuary for small to mid-size clients providing complete actuarial support, as well as consulting and regulatory technical support. Currently, he supervises several members of the actuarial staff. His expertise encompasses all of the disciplines associated with actuarial and retirement services, including plan design, funding strategies, administrative procedures, governmental reporting and employee communications. Garrett has over 25 years of experience in the actuarial field. Garrett graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo with a BA degree in Mathematics and is an Enrolled Actuary and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries.

J. Grant Elman is a Vice President and Actuary in USI Consulting Group’s Defined Benefit department. He joined USI Consulting Group in 2002 and leads a team of actuaries responsible for defined benefit valuations, administration and consulting. Grant has 40+ years of experience in the retirement industry, provided consulting services for the retirement plans of Fortune 500 companies in the manufacturing and financial service industries, as well as several health care organizations. He has been involved in several merger and acquisitions situations and designed a number of cash balance pension plans. He leads an internal team responsible for plan design, financial forecasting, asset/liability modeling and pension de-risking strategies. Grant provides internal support to the practice on all legislative issues affecting defined benefit plans and writes many client bulletins and other USI publications on retirement plan matters. Grant graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology with a BS degree in Mathematics. He became an Associate of the Society of Actuaries in 1990, an Enrolled Actuary in 1991 and is a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries.