Advisory Bootcamp

As a Principal Trainer at Thomson Reuters, Therese has more than 20 years of experience in empowering tax and accounting professionals to embrace change and improve their businesses' operations, profitability, and success.

As a lead presenter at various thought leadership events, including Partner Summit, Advisory Symposium, and Advisory Bootcamp, as well as the SYNERGY Users’ Conference and other professional events, Therese has helped thousands of practitioners in hundreds of firms across the country to better use technology and take advantage of integrated solutions.

Therese joined Thomson Reuters in 1999 as a product support representative for the tax product suite and later became the product lead for UltraTax/1040 and e-filing. She has been involved in product validation testing, on-demand training development, and content creation. In 2005, she joined the Professional Services team, where she provides training for UltraTax CS, Fixed Assets CS, and Planner CS.

Therese holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting with a minor in management from Western Michigan University and is a CompTIA CTT+ Certified Professional Trainer.

Brittany is managing partner of Lanphier LLP, a tax and advisory firm in Denver, CO, that she established with her husband, Dennis, in 2009. Over the past 15 years, they have developed their practice around a relationship-based, advisory-focused approach to client service.

Brittany and Dennis established their firm upon exiting Big 4 accounting with a vision for bringing big firm expertise to a boutique environment, serving small businesses and individuals with sophisticated tax needs. However, in their first six years in practice, they found themselves running up against the challenges that so many CPA firms face in their efforts to provide excellent service — tremendous workload, long hours, growing overhead, and difficulty capitalizing on the value they were delivering to their clients.

In 2016, they attended their first Partner Summit and were introduced to the concept of the Practice Forward™ advisory methodology. The message resonated deeply with the type of firm they wanted to be while addressing the obstacles that were currently preventing them from achieving it. Using the tools and consulting offered through Practice Forward, they have completely transformed their firm. In the past 8 years, they have significantly increased top-line revenue, bottom-line profit, and profitability by client. These changes have allowed them to grow their firm more strategically, increase cash flow for investing in new staff, and dramatically improve their quality of life as firm owners.

Brittany graduated Summa Cum Laude from Texas A&M University with a B.B.A. in Accounting and an M.S. in Finance. She was recruited by Deloitte to join their International Tax team in Denver, where she met her husband, Dennis. They now have 3 young daughters, Brooklyn, Addison, and Hallie, and make their home in South Denver.

Brittany and Dennis continue to invest in their practice using the Practice Forward™ advisory methodology to create systems that empower staff and allow them to step into a true leadership and growth role within the firm.

As the managing partner of Business Advisory and Accounting Partners (B.A.A.P.), a business advisory, tax and accounting firm based in Clearwater, FL, Mark Martukovich built a firm that focuses on being the trusted advisor for his clients.

Since joining the firm in 2009, Mark had been trying to build a business model that promoted the practice as an advisory firm. However, he struggled with a clear message and delivery method. In 2014 he attended his first Partner Summit, where he was introduced to the Breakthrough Firm concept — and he knew he’d found the model he needed to transform the firm.

He took the next step with the Thomson Reuters Practice Forward offering, becoming one of the first Practice Forward “graduates.” Since then, Mark has successfully transitioned his firm from a traditional tax practice to a business advisory and accounting firm.

Mark graduated from The University of Akron with a degree in accounting and is a licensed CPA in Florida and Ohio. He began his career as a staff accountant in Cleveland, Ohio, and transitioned into a business development role when he became the director of business development for the College Store Trade Association. He then spent 10 years as a commercial banker in the Tampa Bay area, working with small businesses to help them finance their capital needs, streamline their businesses, and plan for their eventual succession. Mark has more than 30 years of tax and accounting, business development and consulting experience with small and medium-sized businesses, and is the Managing Partner for B.A.A.P. He has successfully transitioned from operations into being the firm leader that focuses on business development and growing the advisory practice.

Since 1989, B.A.A.P. has been providing tax and accounting services and has significantly grown the firm’s revenues coming from offering advisory service engagements. The recurring revenue from advisory engagements has grown to 50% of overall revenue and exceeded the $1 million mark in 2022. As an advisory firm, B.A.A.P.’s clients view the firm as a professional board member that helps its clients view their business and the relationship with B.A.A.P. as an investment.

Any CPA firm can record history, B.A.A.P. can help you build a future.

Paul Miller, Owner/Founder Business by Design — For over 25 years, Paul Miller has been building his firm with a focus on meeting client needs beyond compliance work, and with a business consultancy mindset. When Paul became self-employed in 1993, he found resources for tax planning, business structure/entity optimization, and overall business coaching difficult to find. After founding Business by Design in Edina, MN, his goal was to help other entrepreneurs and small businesses be more tax-efficient and make smarter business decisions, in addition to providing traditional accounting firm services.

Paul has been the driving force to develop Business by Design into a firm that provides high-margin advisory services for small business entrepreneurs. By leading the client relationship with advisory services, a unique value proposition becomes evident for their clients. Business by Design specializes in business planning strategies that help clients with tax efficiency, business transitions, and/or equity-building strategies.

Business by Design also implements a unique “team” approach that pairs Paul’s entrepreneurial expertise with a highly trained and diverse staff that includes accountants, CPAs, enrolled agents, and a client success team to provide high-level, results-oriented services to their clients.

Paul and his firm hold a key strategic relationship with Thomson Reuters to build and shape our advisory services offerings. The combination of Paul’s experience in day-to-day operations of an advisory services firm with Thomson Reuters expertise in software and consulting has resulted in the creation and development of Practice Forward™.