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Meet Our Alumni Ambassadors

CAAP Alumni Ambassadors serve as mentors to CAAP students to provide guidance and support during their time in the program. They are also an invaluable resource to individuals still determining if CAAP is the right choice in fulfilling their educational and professional goals.

Join our network on LinkedIn

Connecting CAAP program alumni with each other, and to the SCU Business School Alumni. This is a private group for CAAP recipients only.

2016 Summer
Dominic Acorda

Dom earned his undergraduate degree in Marketing at De La Salle University prior to completing an MBA at St. Mary’s College. He joined the Summer CAAP Program in 2016. He then received his CPA license in October of 2019. Dom recently left his role as an Audit Associate with KPMG to join Republic Services as a Division Accountant.

 

 

 

 

 

2013 Weekend
Gaurav Agrawal

Gaurav earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering from IIT-Delhi, India, a Master's in Mechanical Engineering from Ohio State University and an MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business before joining the Weekend 2012-2013 Program. He was working in Finance at Apple both prior to and after CAAP. Gaurav is now a Senior Manager in Operations Finance at Apple. 

 

 

 

 

 

2014 Summer
Jessica Anderson

Jessica earned a BS in Management Science from UC San Diego before attending SCU’s School of Law where she received her JD. She returned to SCU to complete the CAAP Program in the 2014 Summer Program. After 4 years in Tax Services with EY, Jessica made the move to PwC and is now the Senior Manager of International Tax at Poly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2016 Summer
Kayla Byers

Kayla earned her undergraduate degree at UC Davis, in Apparel and Textile Science with an emphasis on Marketing and Economics in 2016, and immediately enrolled in the CAAP Program that summer. Upon completion of the CAAP Program, she started work at Frank Rimerman & CO, LLP, and now is a Tax Senior Associate. Kayla received her CPA license in 2019. 

 

 

 

2019 Weekend
Vanesa Calderon

Vanesa was born in Chihuahua Mexico and moved to the US at 24, when she got married. She earned a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Engineering in Software from the Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua. After working in accounting on AP in a small construction company for 2 years, she moved to Pfeiffer Electric Co., Inc. where she has been for the last 15 years. Vanesa is the Office Manager and is in charge of all the accounting areas of the company, including completing all the necessary tasks for month-end, quarter-end and year-end. She completed the CAAP Program to formalize her accounting education. Vanesa has 2 wonderful children and she loves concerts, skiing in Tahoe, and running. For the last 5 years she has run the ½ marathon in the San Jose Rock & Roll Marathon Series. 

 

 

 

2011 Weekend
Lisa Colton

Lisa graduated with a BA in Business Information Systems from the University of Dual Education in Germany. Prior to CAAP, she worked as a software developer at SW development and consulting company. After the program, Lisa became a Tax Associate in the Tax Compliance Practice at KPMG. She received her CPA license in 2013 and currently works at BPM as a Tax Director in their Specialized Tax Services Practice. 

 

 

 

 

2015 Weekend
Erica Dessenberger

Erica applied to the CAAP program while working as a financial consultant. She earned an undergraduate degree in English from UC Davis and had no formal education in business or accounting. She attended the CAAP program while continuing her financial consulting job, which allowed her to get a solid educational foundation while also putting some of her accounting knowledge into practice. After two busy years as an Audit Staff and Senior at Moss Adams LLP, Erica is currently the Controller for Preston Companies in Milpitas.

 

  

 

 

 

2016 Summer
Jessie Ellington

Jessie earned her BA in Biology at Reed College, in Portland, OR. Prior to enrolling in CAAP, she worked in the nonprofit industry. Upon completion of the CAAP Program, she started work at Standish Management, LLC, and now is a Fund Controller. Jessie received her CPA license in 2018.

 

 

 

2015 Weekend
Mo Elwany

Mo graduated from the University of Alabama with a B.A. in Mass Communications and MBA. Prior to enrolling in CAAP, he spent years in Finance, Accounting, and Internal Audit roles at several public companies. He attended the program during his time with Applied Materials, where he still continues to serve as Senior Director of Internal Audit. Mo joined the program to complete his foundational knowledge of accounting and also be eligible to sit on the CPA exam. He is currently studying for the CPA exam.

 

  

 

 

 

2013 Weekend
Gina Estrada

Gina has a BS in Business Administration from the University of South Carolina Upstate. Prior to CAAP, she worked as an accountant in the Food & Ag Industry for five years. During the Weekend 2013 Program, she worked full-time as an accountant. Upon graduating from CAAP, she started her career with EY as an Assurance Associate. She then transferred to a mid-size public accounting firm and is currently an Audit Manager at Armanino LLP. Gina received her CPA license in October 2016.

 

  

2011 Summer
Jaime Exley

Jaime graduated from the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester with a Bachelor of Music degree. Prior to CAAP, he worked as a General Manager for Julia Powers Landscape Services. Upon graduating from the program, Jaime began working as a Staff Accountant at Moss Adams, where he did rotations in tax and audit and obtained his CPA license in 2013. He is currently the CFO at Preston Pipelines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2015 Summer
Omar Hamide

Omar graduated from UC Berkeley in 2014 with a BS in Business Administration. Prior to entering the Summer 2015 program, Omar was a full time student. After graduating from CAAP, he earned his CPA license and started working at KPMG as an Audit Associate before being promoted to Senior Audit Associate. In 2020 Omar made the move from public accounting and is currently a Senior Accountant with Taylor Guitars.

 

 

  

 

 

2013 Summer
Jessie Ho

Jessie has a BS in Bioengineering from UC San Diego as well as a JD from SCU's School of Law. After practicing law for a few years, Jessie decided to change her career to tax law and enrolled in the Summer 2013 CAAP Program. Upon completion of the program, she took a position with PwC in the State and Local Tax Group. After about five years at PwC, Jessie left public accounting and made the move into industry by joining Google's tax group. She is currently a Tax Analyst in Google's Tax Team.

 

 

 

 

 

2009 Summer
Robert Hogan

Robert graduated from the University of Arizona with a BS in Business Administration and a concentration in Finance. Prior to CAAP, he was a Global Investing Specialist at Charles Schwab. After participating in CAAP's recruiting events, he was employed at Novogradac & Company as a Staff Accountant Intern. Robert has received his CPA license and currently works at Salesforce as a Senior Manager in Corporate Accounting.

 

 

  

2019 Summer
Wesley Hu

Wesley graduated from UC San Diego with a B.A. in Economics in 2018. Upon research for the best route to obtain the credits needed for the CPA exam, he chose to pursue the CAAP program. After a great experience with the program, Wesley started with EY in the assurance practice.

 

 

 

 

2013 Weekend
Katy Itani

Katy graduated from UC Irvine with a BA in Business Administration with an accounting specialization. Katy was unsure what she would do after graduation, so she decided to move back home to San Jose and enroll in the CAAP program while working part-time as a children’s dance instructor. Through CAAP’s extensive resources (recruiting events, lunch seminars, and experienced faculty), Katy was able to learn about the public accounting industry, connect with firms, and, upon graduation from the CAAP program, accept a job with BDO USA, LLP as an audit associate. Katy is now an audit manager, and since joining BDO over 6 years ago, Katy has gained valuable experience working on audit engagements for public and private companies in the technology and asset management industries, and she is also one of BDO’s Multicultural Alliance leaders. She received her California CPA license in 2016, and before the pandemic, she was able to continue teaching dance while working at BDO.

 

 

2018 Summer
Nandini Jain

Nandini studied Biotechnology as an undergrad at The Amity University and then did a master’s program at The University of Manchester prior to completing the 2018 Summer CAAP Program. Upon completion, Nandini accepted an Audit Associate position with KPMG where she successfully completed 2 busy seasons before leaving to work for Western Digital where she is currently a Cost Accountant in Finance and Corporate Strategy.

 

 

  

 

 

2015 Weekend
Rama Janardhanan

Rama earned a bachelor’s degree in Commerce specializing in Accounting from University of Mumbai, India. She did her Chartered Accountancy in India, an esteemed accountancy program in the field of Accounting and Finance. Rama continued her career in auditing by getting her CPA license and is currently a Senior Internal Auditor at NetApp Inc. She has a keen sense of interest in Data Analytics – Tools and Techniques and leverages her skills in identifying efficiencies through operational audits that she leads.

 

 

 

 

2017 Summer
Vishal Joseph

Vishal earned his undergraduate degree at UC Davis majoring in Economics and minoring in Communications. Soon after, he graduated from the Summer 2017 CAAP Program and started working at PricewaterhouseCoopers ("PwC") as a Tax Associate. In the 3 years working at PwC, Vishal has helped consult regarding R&D credits, transactions services (i.e., M&A), and 1031 ("like-kind") exchanges across a variety of industries including software, technology, semiconductor, real estate, biotechnology, and financial services. Vishal also serves as a Big Brother for the Big Brothers Big Sisters non-profit organization of the Bay Area and Leadership Coach at the Braven non-profit organization. He currently works as a Senior Tax Associate at PwC and has successfully completed his CPA licensure requirements.  

  

 

 

2014 Summer
David Kaplan

David is a risk advisory professional experienced in partnering with C-Suite management, internal and external auditors. Over the past eight years, David has served in a combination of external audit, internal audit, and advisory roles. To date, David has held positions at a number of public accounting firms including Armanino, Moss Adams, and PwC where he serviced over 20 public clients. He has recently joined Deloitte's Accounting and Reporting Advisory practice as a Senior Manager and is pursuing his MBA at NYU Stern.

2015 Weekend
Punit Kedia

Punit earned a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from RV College of Engineering, Bangalore. He completed his MBA with a concentration in Finance, Accounting and Strategy at the Simon School of Business. Punit received his CPA license and is currently a Director of Finance at Juniper Networks. He leads the company’s Corporate FP&A function where he is responsible for managing current quarter operations, financial systems, and implementation of the company’s operating plan.  

 

 

 

 

2014 Summer
Tina Liang

Tina graduated from UC Irvine with a BS in Public Health Science in 2011. Prior to CAAP, Tina worked in various roles at a neurology clinic, small tax firm, and as a sales associate. After CAAP, she worked as the Management Company Accountant at Francisco Partners. After, Tina worked in Audit and Assurance at Deloitte, where she primarily served clients within the asset management practice. Tina is currently a Fund Accountant at Hellman and Friedman, a private equity firm in San Francisco. 

 

 

 

2019 Summer
Tiffany Lin

Originally from Los Angeles, Tiffany graduated from UC Davis in 2018 with a degree in Economics. Prior to attending CAAP in the Summer of 2019, she worked as an accounting clerk at a Japanese manufacturing company in Los Angeles. After CAAP, she accepted an offer from KPMG as a Tax Associate in Global Mobility Services. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2014 Weekend
Jason Liu

Jason graduated with an undergraduate degree in Managerial Economics from UC Davis in 2014. Shortly after he attended the CAAP Weekend Program. While in the program, Jason worked as an AR/billing analyst at LinkedIn. After graduating, he switched careers and started working as an auditor at KPMG. While there, he obtained my CPA license. He made the move from public accounting to Slack as a Senior Revenue Accountant before transitioning to Google. 

 

 

 

2018 Summer
Louis Ma

Louis graduated from UC Davis in 2011 with a degree in Political Science. Before CAAP, he worked in educational consulting, assisting students/parents with educational planning and college admissions. After graduating from the 2018 Summer CAAP Program, he joined KPMG as an audit associate in the Technology, Media, and Telecom practice at the Silicon Valley office. Louis was recently featured in one of our CAAP Videos.

 

 

  

 

2017 Weekend
Laura Moreno

Laura graduated from Santa Clara University with a BSC in Finance in 2014. Upon graduation, she worked as an Accounts Payable Specialist at Tesla. After graduating from the 2018 Weekend CAAP program, Laura joined Deloitte as an Audit Associate in the Bay Area Tech Audit & Assurance Practice where she specializes in the Technology, Media and Telecom industry. She is currently pursuing her CPA. 

 

 

 

 

 

2018 Weekend
Omar Mousa

Omar graduated from UC Davis in 2011 with a BA in Political Science. Prior to CAAP, he spent 7 years running operations in a smaller Bay Area language translation company, which allowed him to learn some limited accounting functions that helped him consider a career in accounting. Omar graduated from the Weekend CAAP Program in June 2018 and has been working as an auditor at PwC. He is currently working on earning his CPA license. 

 

  

 

 

 

2015 Summer
Michelle Palma

Michelle started her educational career at UC Davis majoring in Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior and then transferred to Santa Clara University and graduated with a degree in Combined Sciences. She became an HIV Tester/Counselor working with populations in the Castro and the Tenderloin. Upon deciding to have a family she decided to turn to accounting and entered the Summer CAAP Program in 2015. Following CAAP graduation, she started at Deloitte in their Investment Management – Asset Management tax practice. Michelle is currently a Tax Senior out of the Deloitte Silicon Valley Office and expanding to service Real Estate clients. 

 

 

2013 Summer
Duncan Parsons

Duncan earned a BS in Biology, a PhD in Molecular Microbiology, and worked at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as a Post-Doctoral Fellow in their Biodefense Program before entering the Summer Program in 2013. Following his completion of the CAAP Program, Duncan accepted a role with BDO, LLP where he currently serves as an Audit Manager. 

  

 

 

 

2016 Weekend
Jagdeep Randhawa

Jag Randhawa, CPA is a Technology Executive, Venture Capital Advisor, Professional Speaker and award-winning author of the book “The Bright Idea Box.” Jag serves as the Vice President of Information Technology at CAMICO Mutual Insurance, a professional liability insurance company for CPAs. Prior to joining CAMICO, he worked as an IT consultant and engineer serving a broad range of industries. Jag has developed many innovative and award-winning software systems in his 20 years of technology tenure. Jag is a frequently invited speaker at prestigious conferences and universities on the topics of Innovation, Leadership and Employee Engagement. Jag’s academic diversity includes Electronics Engineering, Computer Science, Accounting, and strong appetite for reading books on behavioral psychology, neuroscience and humanities. 

 

 

 

2014 Weekend
Toufan Salari

Toufan graduated from UC Davis with a degree in Managerial Economics. Toufan had started his own consultancy firm focused on early stage startups and founders. After noticing the need for solid accounting and business structure, Toufan enrolled in CAAP and was able to continue working while in the program. After graduating, he worked at a local firm as a Staff Accountant. He is currently a Senior Accountant at a private equity startup where he leads the accounting team for the organization and its startup portfolios.  

 

 

 

2017 Weekend
Hunter Straine

Hunter graduated from SCU in 2016 with a degree in Political Science. Before CAAP, he worked in the Revenue Recognition group at Oracle, working more on the Data Technology side. After graduating from the 2017-2018 Weekend Program, he started working for PwC as a part of the DRS consulting practice, implementing and assessing Financial Security systems. This allowed him to combine his tech background with the financial principles he learned through the CAAP program.

 

 

 

 

2012 Weekend
Jaswant Tawdekar

Jaswant graduated from Portland State University in 2012 with a B.S. in Finance and Computer Science. Prior to CAAP, Jaswant was working full time as Software Engineer. Since graduating from CAAP in 2013, he has had experience working as a Financial Associate at EY, BDO, and PwC. Jaswant currently works as Senior Financial Analyst at LinkedIn in Infrastructure Business Engineering team.    

 

 

 

 

 

2016 Summer
Jonathan Tay

Jonathan graduated from Boston University with a B.S. in Hospitality Administration. Prior to enrolling in CAAP, he held multiple positions within the hotel industry. Upon graduating from the program, he began working at EY as an Assurance Staff. Jonathan is currently a Manager in Technical Accounting at Connor Group, and received his CPA license in 2019. 

 

 

 

 

2019 Summer
Kristen Torikian

Kristen earned a BS in Economics with a concentration in Decision Processes from The Wharton School. Prior to CAAP, Kristen held a variety of roles in operations and accounting in NY and LA. Kristen enrolled in the CAAP program to obtain the accounting credits needed to sit for the CPA exam. In the process, she gained a network of colleagues and mentors. Kristen was recruited from the CAAP program into a firm and a role aligned with her values and goals. As a Consultant with the Outsourced Finance and Accounting team at Moss Adams, Kristen is a trusted business advisor to small and mid-sized businesses. 

 

 

 

2019 Summer
Elisabeth Trambley

Elisabeth graduated with a Bachelor's in History from UC Santa Cruz in 2013, her teaching credential in 2015, and earned her Master's in Education in 2017. Prior to attending the CAAP Program, Elisabeth worked as an elementary school teacher in various districts throughout the Bay Area, finishing her teaching career in San Francisco Unified in 2019. After the CAAP program, Elisabeth joined KPMG in the Audit practice and is currently an Audit Associate in the San Francisco office. 

 

 

 

 

 

2020 Summer
Charlotte Watter

Charlotte holds a B.A. in Anthropology from UC Santa Cruz and a Masters degree in Medieval Archaeology from Oxford University. Prior to CAAP, she worked briefly as a medical social worker in Vermont and then as a research assistant working primarily on architectural history effects investigations. Charlotte was looking for a way to break into the accounting and finance fields when a friend and fellow CAAP alum told her about the program at Santa Clara University. Charlotte decided to take the leap and, through CAAP, was able to complete the required accounting credits to sit for the CPA exam. Charlotte was recruited out of the program by Frank, Rimerman + Co. LLP and currently works as an accounting associate in their North Bay office. 

 

2017 Summer
Michael Wong

Michael graduated from UC Davis with a BA in Economics in 2016. Prior to CAAP, Michael worked at Novogradac & Co. LLP as a staff accountant intern in San Francisco. After CAAP, he returned to Novogradac and became a senior tax consultant, specializing in the renewable energy field. Currently, he is employed by the Panattoni Development Company in Sacramento and helps with tax strategy and domestic real estate tax issues. 

 

 

 

 

 

2013 Summer
Alexander Wright

Alex graduated from Southern Oregon University with a bachelor's degree in Marketing. Immediately after graduation, Alex enrolled in the 2013 Summer CAAP Program which led him to join Deloitte in the Fall of 2014. He works in the Audit and Assurance practice within the Bay Area Tech group as an Audit Manager. Alex serves a wide variety of Technology clients ranging from pre-revenue Emerging Growth Companies to publicly traded companies throughout the Bay Area. 

 

 

 

 

 

2018 Weekend
Diana Yurchak

Diana earned her bachelor’s degree in Business and Economics from Donetsk National University in Ukraine and moved to the US after she was granted refugee status due to the war between Russia and Ukraine in 2015. After graduating from CAAP, she started her career in assurance with BDO USA, LLP, serving clients in both public and private sectors, specializing in SaaS, cyber security, public benefits, semiconductor and asset management. She’s currently completing her CPA and enjoys her role in public accounting.  

 

 

 

2013 Summer
Julie Zhu

Julie graduated from UC Berkeley with a BS in Environmental Economics & Policy in 2011. Julie is currently a manager at Oracle in Redwood Shores where she focuses on operational transfer pricing. She has extensive experience in transfer pricing, including assistance with country-by-country reporting, integration of post-merger strategies, calculation of quarterly forecasts, as well as management of tax controversy. 

 

 

 

2019 Weekend
Alan Zhu

Alan graduated from Shanghai University with a Bachelor in Economics and University of Maryland with a Master in Business Finance. Before CAAP, he worked as a financial journalist in Shanghai. After moving to the Bay Area, Alan joined the CAAP program and switched his career to public Accounting. Within the first 2 months of the program, Alan signed an offer with EY and is going to join them as a Tax associate. Alan is currently studying for his CPA exam.