Career moves

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., has temporarily stepped aside as chairman of the powerful tax-writing committee amid mounting calls for his resignation.

Thomson Reuters has elevated long-time executive Jon Baron to oversee the newly formed Americas Business Unit of Thomson Tax & Accounting.

Lyndon Group has appointed John Gantenbein as the firm’s loss prevention practice leader.

Influential accounting industry leader Stuart Kessler has joined J.H. Cohn as a director.

Freed Maxick & Battaglia has hired PR strategist and communications professional Emily Alexandria Burns as the firm’s e-marketing and communications specialist.

ConvergenceCoaching has brought on Jack G. Lee III as a new partner in the CPA firm leadership and marketing coaching group.

The Financial Accounting Foundation has selected Michael Granof, a professor at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, to serve as a member of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board.

United Nations climate chief Yvo De Boer plans to join KPMG in July as governments around the world face uncertainty over the prospects of establishing a global market for carbon credit trading.

IMGCAP(1)]Ten years ago, I was sitting in a training session at a Big Four accounting firm, thinking about my answer to a question on a self-evaluation form: “Where do you see yourself in 10 years?” I remember exactly what I wrote: to be a professional triathlete winning the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon.

John Geraci has joined LitmanGerson Associates as a principal, expanding the firm’s assurance services and employee benefit plan services.

ARIZONA

Sage Software developer and partner SWK Technologies recently added Andrew Nunez and Paul Frydman to its executive team as part of a strategy to increase its presence throughout the Northeast, as well as resell and consult on Sage X3 software.

Citrin Cooperman & Company has brought on Arnold J. Hermann as partner and practice leader of the firm’s Entertainment, Media and Family Office Group.

Craig Klein has been elected managing director of CBIZ Tofias.

Accounting firm Grassi & Co. is expanding its presence in New York and New Jersey, with the partners and staff of Soloway, Goldstein, Silverstein & Co. joining the firm in Manhattan.

The International Accounting Standards Board has named two new board members from Germany and South Africa to replace a pair of departing members.

Marks Paneth & Shron LLP has appointed Donald M. May, a valuation specialist with nearly 20 years of experience, as a director in the MP&S Litigation and Corporate Financial Advisory Services Group.

John R. Schnitzer has been elected to serve as the managing member of Smith Elliott Kearns.

Timothy L. Christen, chief executive of Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, has been appointed chairman of the American Institute of CPAs’ Major Firms Group.

Linda Stiff, a former IRS acting commissioner, has now joined PricewaterhouseCoopers, along with some other former agency officials.