Jennifer H. Elder is a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA), Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF), Certified Management Accountant (CMA), and Certified Internal Auditor (CIA). She works with finance professionals and organizations that want to ensure sustainable success by planning for the best and preparing for the worst.

As a consultant and keynote speaker, Jennifer is known for being energetic and enthusiastic. She has a natural talent for taking complicated topics and making them simple, practical, and immediately implementable. She has worked with the Fortune 500, US government, state CPA societies, and CPA firms in 48 states and 5 countries.

CPA Practice Advisor named Jennifer one of the “Top 25 Women in Accounting” in 2018. The AICPA and MACPA named her a “Woman to Watch” in 2015. She has been awarded Outstanding Educator by the AICPA five times.

In 2018, Jennifer earned the designation of Certified Speaking Professional (CSP). She is 1 of only 10 people worldwide who hold both the CPA and CSP designations.

Her experiences with disasters include “Snowmaggedon” when Washington, DC, received 77 inches of snow and was closed for over a week; a rare earthquake in Richmond, Virginia; a power outage from an ice storm in New Hampshire; industrial sabotage days before the sale of a business; a lightning strike that disabled a phone system and entire customer service department; and surviving 4 hurricanes in 13 weeks working for a home builder in Florida where more than 200 homes under construction were damaged multiple times.

Samuel F. Elder is a retired ship's captain who has worked and lived in over 54 countries. Operating ships, Captain Elder regularly encountered combinations of hurricane force winds, rogue waves, massive currents, excessive tides, and shipboard fires.

At sea, preparing for the worst is mandatory; the only resources you have to draw on are what you brought with you. The industrial working loads involved in running a ship, loading heavy cargo, and coping with the weather are so massive that merchant sailors must live in a world where training, situational awareness, and common sense are the only things separating them, their crew, and their passengers from life and death.