Leadership

Simon was elected CIMA President and Chair of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants on 11 June 2024. He first became a CIMA member in 2009 and was admitted to fellowship in 2016. Simon is an active ambassador and supporter of CIMA and the Association, currently serving on CIMA Council and the Association’s Board of Directors.

Simon is a business leader with experience in both private and public companies and in the US, UK, and Asian markets.

Today, Simon has a portfolio of advisory and non-executive roles for several technology businesses, investment funds, and charities. Simon’s business career includes working for 12 years in the financial analytics industry, a decade of which he spent as CEO of Metapraxis, a finance technology company based in London and New York with a global blue-chip customer base.

In the early stages of his career, Simon worked for technology and services firm Xchanging PLC, now part of CSC, where he qualified as an Associate Chartered Management Accountant and worked on the company’s highly successful IPO on the London Stock Exchange in 2007.

Simon holds an MA (Oxon) in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from Oxford University.

Simon first became a CIMA member in 2009 and was admitted to fellowship in 2016, he has been an active ambassador and supporter of CIMA over the last decade. He was a member of CIMA’s Audit and Finance Committee in 2016-17 before being co-opted to CIMA Council in 2018. In 2021, he was appointed to the Association’s Board of Directors and Audit and Finance Committee, and also served on CIMA’s Thought Leadership and Business Ethics Committee.

Alongside these voluntary positions, Simon has supported CIMA’s brand and profile-raising activities amongst large businesses through the Tomorrow’s CFO Programme, an initiative which delivers CFO-focused seminars, roundtable meetings, and thought leadership on the future of finance.

Carla McCall, CPA, CGMA, is the 2024-2025 is the Chair of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and Co-Chair of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (Association).

Throughout her career, McCall has served in several volunteer roles with the AICPA: AICPA Board of Directors, AICPA Investments Committee, AICPA Audit and Finance Committee, AICPA Political Action Committee, PCPS Executive Committee, and as a member and elected state representative of Council.

She is the Managing Partner at AAFCPAs, a 300-person CPA and consulting firm based in New England. In this role, she is responsible for firm vision and strategy and has been instrumental in driving the expansion of services for clients beyond the core audit and tax, such as client accounting service, wealth management, robotic process automation, IT & cyber security, system selection & implementation, and data analytics.

Throughout her almost three decades at AAFCPAs, McCall launched multiple professional growth and inclusion initiatives including: the Zip2CPA licensing accelerator program, E3 Intern Accelerator Program for underrepresented populations, the Women’s Opportunity Network (WON), Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, Innovation Lab, Changemaker Challenge and the firm’s Automation Initiative.

She was named one of the Most Powerful Women in the Accounting Profession (2020-2021 and 2022) by the AICPA and CPA Practice Advisor Magazine and appeared on the National Managing Partner Elite List by Accounting Today (2020).

Prior to joining AAFCPAs, she worked for West Hartford-based Filomeno & Co. PC, a CPA and business advisory firm.

McCall has a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Bentley University and received the inaugural Harry C. Bentley Alumni Achievement Award in 2017. She is former chair of the board at the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants and remains committed to serving as an ambassador of the CPA profession. McCall also commits a great deal of her personal time to mentoring young professionals and women. She has dedicated countless hours to community service serving on nonprofit boards, including SheGives Boston, The Jordan Porco Foundation, and Strong Women, Strong Girls.

Lexy Kessler, CPA, CGMA, is the 2024-2025 Vice Chair of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA).

She is also Chair of the National Pipeline Advisory Group, focused on developing an inclusive pipeline strategy for the accounting profession in the U.S.

Throughout her career, Kessler has served in several volunteer roles with the AICPA: AICPA Board of Directors, AICPA Audit and Finance Committee, PCPS Executive Committee, AICPA Investments Committee, and as a member and elected state representative of Council.

She is the Mid-Atlantic Regional Leader for Aprio, serves on its Board of Directors, and is the Chair of the firm’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Council. She previously led the firm’s Government Contracting segment. She has over 35 years of experience in public accounting in assurance, tax, and consulting—serving as a trusted advisor to business leaders and changemakers in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Kessler has won several awards, including AICPA’s Most Powerful Women in Accounting for three consecutive years, Maryland’s Top 100 Women as a Circle of Excellence member, and MACPA’s Most Powerful Women to Watch in Accounting. She was also named to the Washington Business Journal’s list of “Women Who Mean Business.”

Kessler earned her Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Maryland. She is a former Chairman of the board of the Maryland Association of CPAs and the Choral Arts Society of D.C. and is the Treasurer for the Professional Services Council. She also serves on the Board of Trustees at Marymount University.

John was elected CIMA Deputy President on 11 June 2024.

For the last sixteen years, John has worked mainly in the NHS in England and has worked for a range of NHS organisations, including the Department of Health and in Chief Finance Officer/Director of Finance roles.

John has significant experience of strategic and financial planning and leading the finance function, he has consistently ensured the delivery of high-quality financial management, financial services, and financial governance within the organisations he has worked for. John has a strong track record of collaborating with various stakeholders to align financial plans with service objectives, resulting in the achievement of both financial and operational targets.

John is a passionate supporter and advocate of CIMA and has championed CIMA in individual organisations and across the NHS.

John is committed to the personal and professional development of others and himself, he welcomes the opportunity of developing and empowering colleagues he works with and takes pride in seeing them develop and he is currently coaching several colleagues.

His current position is Chief Finance Officer – Tameside and Glossop IC NHS FT & Stockport NHS Foundation Trust and Deputy Chief Executive – Stockport NHS Foundation Trust.

John is a member of the (NHS) Healthcare Financial Management Association. He previously chaired and currently serves on the Healthcare Costing for Value Institute, engaging with organisations nationally and internationally. John is also a member of the NW NHS Finance Staff Development Board for all finance staff in the NW and uses this forum to advocate CIMA.

John was awarded his Fellowship in 2011 and has been actively involved as an ambassador and advocate for CIMA over the years. He has held various leadership positions, with an emphasis on promoting CIMA, member engagement, and events planning. John has previously served as a member and Chair of both the Lifelong Learning and Professional Standards Committees, and currently serves on the Membership Committee, the Exam Board, and the Appointments Committee. He previously chaired CIMA’s Northwest England and North Wales Area Board and still serves as a member of the Area Board.

Okorie L. Ramsey, CPA, CGMA, PMP, NACD.DC is the Immediate Past Chair of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (Association).

Throughout his career, Ramsey has served in several AICPA volunteer roles: the AICPA Board of Directors, the Association Board of Directors, the AICPA and Association Audit and Finance Committee Chair, the AICPA Investments Committee and AICPA Council.

In his current role as Vice President, Sarbanes/Oxley (SOX), Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, he oversees SOX and Model Audit Rule compliance, which includes strategy, testing and evaluating internal controls and assessing business risk to help ensure effective internal controls over financial reporting for the integrated health care enterprise.

Prior to this role, Ramsey served in various roles throughout his 15 years with Kaiser Permanente. Most recently, as Vice President, Finance Compliance Officer, he was responsible for establishing a finance compliance program to support compliance with regulatory and enforcement agencies as well as leading compliance investigations and co-developing remediation activities to address issues identified. He has also served as Interim Vice President of Tax and Interim Vice President of Operational Risk Management while also executing core Finance Compliance responsibilities.

Ramsey has also served as the Director and Managing Director of Sarbanes/Oxley and Financial Governance for the Northern California (NCAL) Region of Kaiser Permanente, where he was responsible for strengthening the internal control environment for the region and implemented a people development and management training program for the NCAL Region Controller’s Group.

Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente, Ramsey was an Advisory Senior Manager at Ernst & Young LLP. He also held management roles with Robert Half International, Andersen LLP and Coopers & Lybrand LLP.

He is a Lifetime member of the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA) and won NABA’s Inaugural Core Values award in 2022. He also previously held roles as Past President of the California Society of CPAs Education Foundation Board of Trustees and Past Chairman of the Accounting Career Awareness Program, San Francisco Bay Area and is also a former adjunct professor for San Francisco State University’s Master of Business Administration program.

Ramsey has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from San Francisco State University, and a Kaiser Permanente Executive Leadership Program Certificate from Harvard Business School.

Ramsey is married and has two children. His interests include family time, music, investing, and mentoring young people and professionals to support them in reaching their full potential.

Sarah Ghosh, FCMA, CGMA, was elected 90^th CIMA President and Co-Chair of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, representing AICPA & CIMA, on 13 June 2023. She was the second successive woman to be elected President of CIMA and Co-Chair of the Association, following on from Melanie J. Kanaka FCMA, CGMA.

Sarah first became a CIMA member in 1995 and obtained her fellowship in 2013. Over the past 15 years, she has held various leadership positions with an emphasis on member engagement and events planning. Sarah served as a member of CIMA’s U.K. Regional Board, and as Chair of CIMA’s Central Southern Board and the U.K. Network Panel. In 2017, Sarah joined CIMA Council, and a year later became a member of the Board of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants.

Sarah is a proven finance leader with expertise in digital transformation and experience gained in multinational organisations, SMEs, and start-ups. She currently works for the U.K. Civil Service, leading finance teams to enable the delivery of quality public services and support the Government Finance Function Strategy with a focus on sustainability and technology. Prior to this, Sarah held leadership positions across the finance, IT, and operations sectors, improving service provision and transforming processes using data analytics and machine learning.

In May 2023, Sarah was named among the 2023 Top 50 Women in Accounting in recognition of her work to raise the profile of women in leadership and commitment to driving diversity, equality, and including in accounting and finance.

Barry C. Melancon, CPA, CGMA

Susan Coffey, CPA, CGMA

Andrew Harding, FCMA, CGMA