AI Conference

Tea Gennaro

Téa Gennaro is a multi-award-winning nonprofit executive with more than two decades of progressive leadership across finance, operations, real estate, technology, and governance. She serves as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Operations at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), where she also holds the elected position of Secretary/Treasurer on the NAB Board of Directors.

At NAB, Gennaro provides executive oversight for Finance, Administration and Real Estate (1M Properties, LLC), Information Technology, and the organization’s newly established Data and AI Intelligence team. She leads the financial and operational infrastructure for NAB and its affiliates—NAB Leadership Foundation (NABLF), 1M Properties, LLC and NABPAC—and serves as strategic liaison to the Board’s Audit, Investment, and Real Estate Committees. She oversees a cross-functional team of 23 professionals, including the 1M staff, and manages more than 118,000 square feet of commercial real estate assets (1M Building).

Under Téa’s leadership, NAB has streamlined financial processes, navigated the financial and operational complexities of the COVID-19 pandemic, and achieved 96% leasing of its largest asset, the 1M building. She is also overseeing the launch of a unified enterprise data and AI strategy—transforming fragmented systems into a connected platform that powers automation, insight, and innovation. Her leadership is marked by a fusion of operational discipline and financial rigor, advancing NAB’s organizational growth, strategic direction, and long-term sustainability. Widely respected for her strategic clarity and decisive leadership, she is known for guiding her teams with vision, confidence, and operational excellence.

Prior to NAB, she served as EVP and CFO at Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), where she implemented a national financial framework across 69 chapters, modernized enterprise finance systems, led a 401(k) conversion to a MEP structure, and negotiated $1.7 million in lease savings. Earlier in her career, she held senior finance and controller roles at RSM (Tate & Tryon), AUVSI, and Chenega Technology Services Corporation. Gennaro holds an MBA from Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business and a BS in Accounting from Pensacola Christian College. She is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA), and holds a Commercial Real Estate Certificate from Cornell University. She is fluent in English and Albanian, with working knowledge of Italian and Turkish.

She has served on the Board of Governors of the Greater Washington Society of CPAs (GWSCPA), contributed to its Women’s Leadership Conference, and held a board role with Byte Back, Inc., a nonprofit advancing digital literacy and economic opportunity.

Neil Stechschulte

Neil Stechschulte has been an audit professional and technology enthusiast at Ernst & Young since January 2018. He has helped multiple clients and audit engagements use technology in order to develop more efficient processes and have better insights.

Angelique Scott

Angelique Scott is a Managing Director in BDO’s Advisory practice and leads the firm’s System Strategy, Assessment & Selection practice. She advises organizations on ERP strategy, business system assessments, and technology selections, including how emerging AI capabilities can support finance and operational priorities. Angelique helps leaders identify practical opportunities for automation and AI and align technology investments with their broader business objectives.

Jennifer Brearey

Jennifer Brearey is the Chief Financial & Operating Officer and the Executive Director of AdvaMed Advance and AdvaMed Women’s Executive Network. She was appointed chief financial officer of AdvaMed in March 2016, having previously served as the association’s vice president of finance and director of finance. Mrs. Brearey also serves as the Executive Director for AdvaMed’s inclusion diversity programs which includes the industry initiative AdvaMed Advance and AdvaMed’s Women’s Executive Network.

Prior to joining AdvaMed in June 2012, Ms. Brearey’s experience includes seven years at Ford’s Premier Automotive Group where she held management roles in profit analysis and vehicle pricing for Jaguar and Land Rover North America. She also led accounting for the US offices of a privately held legal-services firm, CPA Global. Ms. Brearey began her career in public accounting, and has more than 19 years of finance, accounting, managerial and organizational planning experience. She holds a B.B.A from James Madison University. Ms. Brearey recently served as chairwoman of the FAR Roundtable, a 300-member network of nonprofit executives.

Azunna Anyanwu

Azunna Anyanwu is the Founder of The Agile CIO, who helps small to medium businesses (SMB) quickly improve business outcomes by accelerating digital transformation. With 25+ years of experience in IT operations, technology strategy, cybersecurity, business process reengineering, agile methodologies, and more, Azunna brings a unique and diverse technical skill set that has proven invaluable to clients.

Azunna is a 3-time Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Top 100 accounting firms including a Top 25 firm, where he oversaw all IT Operations, Cybersecurity, Infrastructure, End User Services and Merger and Acquisition (M&A) technical integration activities. Azunna previously served as the Director of IT at a Federal Government contractor as well as 12+ years in Big 4 consulting delivering technology solutions for state and federal government clients.

Azunna is an accomplished writer and blogger whose writings have appeared in digital and print magazines as well as industry publications. He is also a frequent speaker on Cybersecurity and Technology topics at industry and vendor-sponsored events.

Azunna graduated from Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science; The John Hopkins University with a Master of Sciences in Computer Science; and the Quantic School of Business & Technology with an Executive Master of Business Administration (MBA). Azunna is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and Agile Practitioner (PMI-ACP).

Karl Spanbauer

Karl Spanbauer, CPA, brings a wealth of knowledge and hands-on experience to the forefront of accounting innovation, specializing in the nonprofit sector. With a solid foundation of five years in public accounting as a dedicated nonprofit auditor, Karl has developed a keen eye for the unique financial and operational challenges faced by nonprofit organizations. This experience laid the groundwork for his current role as Controller at the Capital Area Food Bank, an organization dedicated to fighting food insecurity in the Washington DC area. Beyond traditional accounting, Karl is a fervent advocate for the transformative power of technology in finance and accounting. He is an expert in process automation, leveraging cutting-edge Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and other techniques to streamline operations, enhance accuracy, and foster efficiency. Karl’s passion for technological innovation is matched by his commitment to sharing knowledge and empowering others in the field. He has successfully implemented advanced automation solutions in his role as Controller, significantly reducing manual workload and enabling a focus on strategic initiatives. He is also published in the journal of accountancy. As a fun fact, he used ChatGPT to help formulate this biography.

Kirstie Tiernan

Kirstie Tiernan is a National AI Leader and a member of BDO USA’s Board of Directors. For more than 20 years, she has helped organizations and large, complex teams navigate data, technology, and AI transformation with a focus on practical results, strong governance, and real-world adoption.

Kirstie is known for translating complicated technology into clear decisions that executives, boards, and frontline teams can act on. Her work centers on building AI programs that are transparent, reliable, and aligned with an organization’s mission, values, and operating realities. She believes AI should reduce friction, improve decision-making, and give people more capacity for the work that requires judgment, creativity, and human connection.

Across industries, Kirstie has supported organizations managing resource constraints, distributed operations, and demanding accountability standards. She has helped teams strengthen data integrity, improve visibility across field and headquarters operations, and design technology that works in challenging environments. Her experience with multi-country programs gives her a grounded understanding of what it takes to move from strategy to implementation while supporting the people responsible for delivering results.

Andy Newnham

Andy specializes in Innovation and AI strategy, human-AI teaming and behaviors, workflow automation, and business-focused AI to improve accuracy, efficiency, engagement and decision-making. His approach blends design thinking, systems thinking, and user-centered design to create technology that people actually adopt. Often working in a hands-on, workshop-style format, he helps Executives and their teams to free up strategic capacity with AI.

As Transformation Director, Andy leads firm-wide and client transformation projects focused on AI and generative AI. He shapes and executes technology roadmaps, guides consulting engagements, and manages cross-functional teams so that AI capabilities are secure, efficient, and scalable. Much of his work centers on ideation, discovery, and knowledge sharing, partnering with clients and internal teams to turn early-stage ideas into working technology and to help organizations realize value from their technology investments. Over his career he has developed and implemented technology for organizations ranging from start-ups to large multinationals, and was part of a team that led an AI and Data start-up from Series A funding to a successful exit.