Bethesda, MD, January 3, 2021 – GRF CPAs & Advisors (GRF), a leading provider of audit, accounting, tax, and advisory services worldwide, is pleased to announce that it has promoted four accomplished members of the firm to Partner. The new partners are Lindsay Dean, CPA; Tricia Katebini, CPA, MBA; Max Manley, CPA; and Melissa Musser, CPA, CITP, CISA, effective January 1, 2022.

“Lindsay, Tricia, Max, and Melissa exemplify the best of GRF. We are thrilled to promote these leaders and recognize their achievements in performance excellence, client service, and in the community,” said GRF’s President and Managing Partner, Jackie Cardello, CPA. “These well-deserved appointments also underscore our commitment to cultivating leadership and fostering growth opportunities for all our staff at GRF.”

Lindsay Dean, CPA, started her career at GRF and has grown with the company over the past 17 years, establishing many valuable long-term relationships with audit clients. Ms. Dean works extensively with nonprofit organizations, particularly charitable organizations. She has an extensive base of international clients and frequently travels throughout Africa and Europe to perform field audits. Ms. Dean is recognized as one of the firm’s experts on compliance with Government Auditing Standards and Uniform Guidance specific to nonprofit organizations. She has taken on various leadership roles within the audit department, including training and mentoring of staff, and is also a founding member of Women on the Move, GRF’s women’s leadership initiative formalized in 2019.

Tricia Katebini, CPA, MBA, has served as a senior audit manager at GRF since 2019, managing nonprofit financial audits for associations, nonprofit healthcare, international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs), and arts and culture organizations. Ms. Katebini has more than 14 years in public accounting and is active in the CPA community, frequently speaking at industry and related conferences. She serves on GRF’s women’s leadership committee and is an in-house champion for the firm’s artificial intelligence (AI) auditing methodology. In 2021, Ms. Katebini was appointed to the AICPA’s Joint Trial Board, a well-respected position within the CPA community. She is currently the Board President for the Laurel Advocacy and Referral Services, a nonprofit that serves constituents within its local community. She is a champion for the Maryland Association of CPAs (MACPA) and has served on the Governmental and Not-for-Profit Conference Committee for the past several years. She was also named a 2021 Woman to Watch by the MACPA.

Max Manley, CPA, has been with GRF for more than 10 years. Over the course of his career, Mr. Manley has specialized in serving international humanitarian aid organizations and is one of the firm’s leading members of the INGO auditing practice. He has traveled to more than 20 countries in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East on behalf of clients to review field office operations, accounting, and internal controls, and provides ongoing advice regarding policy and procedure best practices to ensure compliance with USAID, U.S. Department of State, and international donor requirements and successful navigation of regulatory developments. Mr. Manley is part of the firm’s audit quality control committee and provides frequent internal trainings on audit and accounting standards and technical accounting topics.

Melissa Musser, CPA, CITP, CISA, joined GRF in 2018 to establish the firm’s risk and advisory services practice and has served as principal and director of the service line for the past three years. She leads a growing team that delivers comprehensive assessments to help organizations mitigate risks and identify opportunities related to strategy, finance, compliance, operations, and IT. Ms. Musser has more than two decades of experience and is a frequent speaker on internal audit and risk management topics. She is a distinguished recipient of the 2018 American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Information Management and Technology Assurance (IMTA) Standing Ovation award. She serves on the Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) CITP Task Force and is also president of the Washington, DC Chapter of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA).

About GRF CPAs & Advisors

Headquartered in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region with locations in New York, GRF CPAs & Advisors (GRF) is a full-service professional services firm providing clients with accounting, tax, and advisory solutions. For over 40 years, the firm has supported the financial and operational success of for-profit and tax-exempt organizations locally, nationally, and around the world.

GRF is one of the few privately held accounting firms that specializes in serving the nonprofit industry. Formed in 1981 through the merger of the practices of Michael C. Gelman and Jerrold Rosenberg, the firm expanded in 1988 with the addition of Michael A. Freedman and became Gelman, Rosenberg & Freedman CPAs. Now known as GRF CPAs & Advisors, the firm employs over 140 staff including partners, principals, and staff accountants as well as paraprofessional and administrative personnel. GRF is consistently recognized among Inside Public Accounting’s Top 200 Firms, Accounting Today’s Best Accounting Firms to Work For, and the Washington Business Journal’s Top 25 Accounting Firms. Accounting Today also honored the firm among their Firms to Watch and Top Firms in the Capital Region.

The firm is a member of CPAmerica, Inc., one of the largest associations of CPA firms in the United States. Our membership guarantees clients access to the expertise and resources of more than 4,000 accounting and advisory professionals at 78 member firms throughout the country. CPAmerica is a member of Crowe Global, providing our firm with access to the eighth largest accounting network in the world with over 200 independent firms in more than 130 countries.