The American Institute of CPAs announced the winners of the 2010 Elijah Watt Sells Awards, bestowed to candidates who obtained the 10 highest cumulative scores on all four sections of the computerized Uniform CPA Examination that year.
In 2010, several identical cumulative scores resulted in ties, increasing the number of winners to 19. Of the more than 103,000 candidates who sat for the exam in 2010, these 19 also passed each section on the first attempt.
The late Elijah Watt Sells was one of the country’s first CPAs under the provision of a New York State law enacted in 1896, active in establishing the AICPA and a founder of New York University’s School of Commerce, Accounts and Finance. The AICPA created the Sells Award in his honor in 1923.
The 2010 Sells Award winners, in alphabetical order and with their state board affiliation, education and present employer:
• Seth D. Albin (Kansas), a graduate of Fort Hays State University with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and a MBA, is currently employed with Exacta Aerospace, Inc. in Wichita, Kansas.
• Bryan T. Avery (Michigan), a graduate of Grand Valley State University with a BS in Accounting and Finance and a MS in Accounting, is presently employed with Bader Martin, in Seattle.
• Michael Berryman (Maryland), a graduate of the University of Maryland with a BS in Accounting and a BS in Supply Chain Managements, is currently employed with Ernst and Young in Baltimore.
• Kristen Adele Brands (Minnesota), a graduate of Dordt College with a BA in Accounting and a BA in Business Administration, is presently employed with Ernst and Young in Minnesota.
• Michael Robert Dean (Washington), a graduate of the University of Washington Foster School of Business with a degree in Business Administration and a Masters of Professional Accounting., is currently employed with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Seattle.
• Jeffrey D. Downs (Connecticut), a University of Connecticut graduate with a BS in Business Administration and a MS in Accounting, is presently employed with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Hartford, Connecticut.
• Shane C. Drake (Florida), a graduate of Florida Gulf Coast University with a BS in Accounting and a MS in Accounting and Taxation, is presently an employee of Wiltshire, Whitley, Richardson and English in Fort Meyers, Florida.
• Jaymie A. Farr (California), a graduate of Brigham Young University with a BS in Accounting and Master of Accountancy, is currently employed with Deloitte Tax in San Francisco.
• Trevor Steven Goss (Arizona), a University of Arizona graduate with a BS in Accounting and a Masters in Accounting with an emphasis on Tax, is currently employed with Ernst and Young in Phoenix.
• Eric Emil Hartel (Georgia), a graduate of Liberty University with a BS in Business Finance who holds an MBA from Lakeland College, is presently an employee of CCH Small Firm Services in Kennesaw, Georgia.
• William Thomas Jachym (Connecticut), a graduate of the University of Connecticut with a BS in Accounting, is currently an employee of McGladrey and Pullen in New Haven, Connecticut.
• David E. Johnson (Illinois), a graduate of University of Richmond with a BS in Economics, who holds an MBA from Loyola University in Chicago and a MS in Taxation from DePaul University, is presently an employee of KPMG in Chicago.
• Emily Kiser (Texas), a University of Texas at Austin graduate with a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Master of Professional Accounting, is currently employed with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Dallas.
• Zhi P. Liu (Michigan), a Michigan State University graduate with a BA and an MS in Accounting, is an employee of Plante Moran in Southfield, Michigan.
• Jenna K. Mehalic (Illinois), a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign with a BS in Accountancy and a Master of Accounting Science, is presently an employee of State Farm Insurance in Bloomington, Illinois.
• Heather Brilyn Saleeby (Georgia), a graduate of the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance, is currently an employee of PricewaterhouseCoopers in New York.
• Christopher Joseph Schoell (New York), a Lehigh University graduate with a BS in Business and Economics and a MS in Accounting and Information Analysis, is presently an employee of PricewaterhouseCoopers in New York.
• Christopher David Tkach (Missouri), a Saint Louis University graduate with a BA and a Masters of Accounting, is currently an employee of RubinBrown in St. Louis.
• Paul Zimbardo (New York), a graduate of Lehigh University with a BS in Accounting and Finance and a MS in Accounting and Finance, is presently an employee of Grant Thornton in New York.
