AICPA names winners of 2015 Elijah Watt Sells Award, awarded to top CPA Exam performances

The AICPA announced on Wednesday the winners of the 2015 Elijah Watt Sells Award, given to CPA candidates who earned an average score above 95.50 across all four sections of the Uniform CPA Examination, passed all four sections of the Examination on their first attempt, and completed testing in 2015.

93,742 test-takers sat for the Examination in 2015, 75 of which met the criteria to receive the Elijah Watt Sells Award.

“This year’s winners earned the Elijah Watt Sells Award for their truly extraordinary performance on the CPA Exam,” said Michael Decker, AICPA vice president of examinations, in a statement. “On behalf of the AICPA, I’d like to congratulate the winners on their accomplishment and wish them the best of luck throughout their careers in the profession.”

The Elijah Watt Sells Award program was first established by the AICPA in 1923 to recognize outstanding performances on the CPA. Sells, one of the very first CPAs in the U.S., was active in the establishment of the AICPA and played a key role advancing professional education within the profession.

Below are the 2015 Sells Award Winners, in alphabetical order, along with their present employer:

• Jason Ackerman, employed with Wagner, Ferber, Fine & Ackerman in Floral Park, N.Y.
• Eric Christopher Albee, employed with Dixon Hughes Goodman in Richmond, Va.
• Seyed Paul Arab, employed with Home Federal Bank of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn.
• Emily Nichole Baker, employed with EY in Dallas, Texas.
• Angela Katherine Bennion, employed with PricewaterhouseCoopers in San Jose, Calif.
• Christopher Biesboer, employed with KPMG in Chicago, Ill.
• Matthew Bishop, employed with HCA in Nashville, Tenn.
• George Bloomfield, employed with Plante Moran in Columbus, Ohio.
• James Arthur Boudreau II, employed with Austin, Gillman & Lovano, in Gainesville, Fla.
• Benjamin Bowers, employed with Bennett Thrasher in Atlanta, Ga.
• Paul Douglas Brown, employed with Gollob Morgan Peddy in Tyler, Texas.
• Trey Bruce, employed at the Phillips Harvey Group in Naples, Fla.
• Marcos Carreño, employed with Andersen Tax in Boston, Mass.
• Marcos Magnusson de Carvalho, employed with PricewaterhouseCoopers Auditores Independentes in São Paulo, Brazil.
• Chia-Jen Chang, employed with EY in New York, N.Y.
• Kathryn Claudy, employed with Grossman Yanak & Ford in Pittsburgh, Pa.
• Joel Gavin Cook, employed with Deloitte in Charlotte, N.C.
• Charles Coop, employed with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in New York, N.Y.
• Augustus Crimm, employed with Faske Lay & Co. in Georgetown, Texas.
• Samuel Crosby, employed with KPMG in Seattle, Wash.
• Trevor David, employed with EY in Denver, Colo.
• Kimberly Deyak, employed with Plante Moran in Clinton Township, Mich.
• Alex Engebretson, employed with Plante Moran in Ann Arbor, Mich.
• Brian Chad Erickson, employed with Eide Bailly in Greenwood Village, Colo.
• Derek Ettinger, employed with Grant Thornton in Charlotte, N.C.
• Grant Jonathan Eudy, employed with Beussink, Hey & Roe in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
• Nathan Andrew Evenson, employed with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Houston, Texas.
• Tyler Faught, employed with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Chicago, Ill.
• Thomas Fine, employed with KPMG in Minneapolis, Minn.
• Courtney Folgeman, employed with KPMG in Boston, Mass.
• Patrick Frey-Frankenfield, employed with EKS&H in Denver, Colo.
• Joshua Furmage,employed with EY in Cleveland, Ohio.
• Paloma Gante, employed with KPMG in San Antonio, Texas.
• Yu-Ting Huang, employed with PricewaterhouseCoopers in San Francisco, Calif.
• Erika Mary Jackson, employed with Deloitte in Parsippany, N.J.
• Nicole Lauren Jones, employed with Grant Thornton in Kansas City, Mo.
• Grant Joslin, employed with Deloitte in London, United Kingdom.
• Neerav Karia, employed with Deloitte, Haskins & Sells in Ahmedabad, India.
• Nicholas Kemmerle, employed with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Cleveland, Ohio.
• Maria Khrakovsky, employed with Financial Accounting Standards Board in Norwalk, Conn.
• David Michael Kinnan, employed with Carmel Stone Imports in Palo Alto, Calif.
• Andrew T. Lamers, employed with Deloitte in Milwaukee, Wis.
• Jennifer Lin, employed with Grant Thornton in New York, N.Y.
• Andre Liu, employed with Deloitte in Taiwan.
• Matthew LoCascio, employed with Deloitte in Los Angeles, Calif.
• Diana Lynn, employed with EY in Baltimore, Md.
• Alex Mannis, employed with the Arkansas Legislative Audit in Little Rock, Ark.
• Lisa Marchlewski, employed with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Detroit, Mich.
• Kyle McDougle, employed with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Boston, Mass.
• Philip Meek, employed with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Springdale, Ark.
• Gerard Don Padilla, employed with PricewaterhouseCoopers in San Francisco, Calif.
• Mark Bogdan Piorkowski, employed with PricewaterhouseCoopers in New York, N.Y.
• Mark Podeschi, employed with FTI Consulting in Chicago, Ill.
• Michael Rozman Proppe, employed with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Detroit, Mich.
• Lacey Puls, employed with Smith & Gesteland in Middleton, Wisc.
• Scott Radmall, employed with Goldman Sachs in Salt Lake City, Utah.
• Daniel Rakad (California), employed with EY in San Diego, Calif.
• Andrew Reyes, employed with EY in New York, N.Y.
• Daniel Paul Rost, employed with EY in Pittsburgh, Pa.
• Addison Nicole Deavers Scott, employed with EY in Rogers, Ark.
• Grant Michael Searcy, employed with EY in Salt Lake City, Utah.
• Grant Tyler Seuferer, employed with Deloitte Tax in Des Moines, Iowa.
• Emily Slaga, employed with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Detroit, Mich.
• Brent Smith, employed with Grant Thornton in Chicago, Ill.
• Amber Turner, employed with Koch Industries in Wichita, Kan.
• Christopher Vasile, employed with KPMG in New York, N.Y.
• Qiaoli Wang, employed with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Chicago, Ill.
• Michael Thomas Westendorf, employed with RSM US LLP in Moraine, Ohio.
• Grzegorz Wiktor, employed at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in Seattle, Wash.
• Liang-Han Wuu, employed with VPT, Inc. in Blacksburg, Va.
• Bei Ye, employed with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Phoenix, Ariz.
• Austin Zarbuck, employed with Grant Thornton in Chicago, Ill.
• Shanfang (Jennifer) Zheng, employed with Deloitte in San Francisco, Calif.

For a list of past winners, head to the AICPA's site here.