Albuquerque, N.M. and Phoenix, Ariz. – January 11, 2021 – REDW LLC, one of the Southwest’s 10 largest and fastest growing certified public accounting and business advisory firms, has promoted 28 professionals across multiple practice areas in its Albuquerque and Phoenix offices. (This announcement does not include six new Principals of the firm, who are highlighted in a separate news release.) REDW is recognized for regularly acknowledging and rewarding the professional achievements of its team members.
Steve Cogan, REDW’s Managing Principal said: “’Great vision without great people is irrelevant,’ according to author Jim Collins, and I couldn’t agree more. We have an amazing team, and I’m glad to reward their dedication to our profession and clients with well-deserved promotions. Hats off to this highly talented list of REDW professionals.†These high-performing individuals are listed below, by practice area and position.
Audit & Assurance
Kwok Leung (Albert) C
heung, CPA to Audit Senior Manager in Phoenix. Albert has more than 16 years of experience in public accounting, nearly half working with REDW, where he has specialized in serving Native American tribes, government, employee benefit plans, and the finance and construction industries. A CPA licensed to practice in Arizona, he holds Bachelor of Science degrees in both Accountancy and Business Administration from Arizona State University.
Michael Dierlam, CPA to Audit Senior Manager in Phoenix. Mike has more than 10 years of experience providing audit and consulting services to state and local governments, nonprofit organizations and commercial enterprises. A CPA licensed to practice in Arizona, he holds a Master of Accounting and Financial Management and Bachelor of Business Administration degrees from the University of Alaska, Anchorage.
Emily Wilson, CPA to Audit Manager in Albuquerque. Since joining REDW in 2017, Emily has specialized in performing financial statement audit and single audit engagements for public government clients. A CPA licensed to practice in New Mexico, she holds both a Master of Accounting and Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of New Mexico’s Anderson School of Management.
Denise Garduno to Senior Audit Associate II in Phoenix. With more than three years of experience in public accounting, Denise has focused primarily on completing audits for manufacturing and construction companies, as well as nonprofits and employee benefit plans. Bilingual in English and Spanish, she holds a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy from Northern Arizona University.
Justin Janssen, CPA to Senior Audit Associate II in Phoenix. Since joining REDW in late 2016, Justin has served on audit engagements primarily for tribal governments and enterprises, as well as commercial clients. A CPA licensed to practice in Arizona, he holds a Master of Accountancy and a Bachelor of Science with a concentration in Accounting, plus a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Arizona State University.
Ernesto Ramirez to Senior Audit Associate I in Phoenix. Since joining the firm in 2017, Ernesto has provided audit and consulting, agreed-upon procedures, and tax services for tribal, state and local governments, casinos, and a variety of commercial enterprises. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration with concentrations in Accounting and Finance from the University of New Mexico.
Xiangzi (Pauline) Tang, CPA to Senior Audit Associate II in Phoenix. Since joining REDW in 2015, Pauline has specialized in serving the firm’s tribal government and enterprise clients, including healthcare organizations. Bilingual in Mandarin Chinese and English, she holds a Bachelor of Accountancy from Beijing Technology and Business University and a Master of Accountancy from Arizona State University. She is also a CPA licensed to practice in California.
Mukhtar Almukhtar to Senior Audit Associate I in Phoenix. Mukhtar joined REDW’s Audit & Assurance team nearly a year ago after earning a Master of Accountancy from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. He also holds a Bachelor’s in Accounting from the University of Tripoli, Libya.
Alec Carbine to Senior Audit Associate I in Phoenix. Since joining REDW’s audit team, Alec has assisted with single and financial statement audits in a range of industries and for several tribal clients. Previously, he gained valuable experience as a financial planning and analysis intern at the National Bank of Arizona. A CPA licensed to practice in Arizona, Alec earned a Master of Accounting from the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management.
Valari Jinzo to Senior Audit Associate I in Albuquerque. After initially joining REDW as a State and Local Tax (SALT) Accountant, bringing broad public accounting experience, Valari transitioned to serving the firm’s commercial and employee benefit plan audit clients, where she continues to make valuable contributions. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from the University of New Mexico.
Tyne Nickel to Senior Audit Associate I in Phoenix. After a successful internship starting in mid-2018 as an audit intern, Tyne became a permanent member of the Audit & Assurance team. Since then, he has worked on financial statement audits for numerous tribal governments and enterprises. Tyne earned a Bachelor’s in Accounting and Management from the University of Kentucky.
Jorge Ortiz to Senior Audit Associate I in Albuquerque. Jorge joined the firm in late 2018, bringing three years of valuable non-profit experience performing quality assurance audits and assisting with program development and training, which informs his work with REDW’s audit clients. Jorge holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accountancy from the University of New Mexico.
Dominic Trinh to Senior Audit Associate I in Phoenix. Since joining REDW in March 2019, Dominic has applied his experience in the revenue audit department of a Las Vegas casino and resort in financial statement audits and single audits for tribal government clients, and financial and compliance audits for governmental clients. He holds a B.A. in Criminology, Law and Society, and a Masters in Professional Accountancy from the University of California, Irvine.
Ethan Loya to Audit Associate II in Albuquerque. Ethan joined REDW in May 2019 after earning a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and a Certificate of Completion in Personal Financial Planning from Eastern New Mexico University. Since that time, he has served primarily on financial statement and single audit engagement teams for tribal governments and employee benefit plans.
Jody Nguyen to Audit Associate II in Albuquerque. Jody returned to REDW as an Audit Associate in early 2020 after initially serving as an Audit Intern. Jody assists with financial statement audits for governmental and commercial clients. She has performed various single audits and work related to the Office of the State Auditor. She holds both an MBA and Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from UNM’s Anderson School of Management.
Graciela Rocha to Audit Associate II in Albuquerque. Since joining REDW in early 2020, Graciela has worked primarily on audit teams serving commercial and tribal government clients and has also assisted with single audits and employee benefit plans. She holds both a Bachelor of Business Administration and Master of Accounting from UNM’s Anderson School of Business, graduating summa cum laude.
Victoria Spragg to Audit Associate II in Albuquerque. Since joining REDW in 2019, Victoria has served on many financial and single audit engagements for government clients and provided consulting services to tribal governments and healthcare corporations. She holds both a Master of Accounting degree with a concentration in Information Assurance and a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from the University of New Mexico.
Natalie Zamora to Audit Associate II in Albuquerque. Natalie joined REDW in 2019, bringing past experience in public accounting, and has since served firm clients in tribal gaming and government. She holds both Master and Bachelor of Accounting degrees from Fairleigh Dickinson University, where she graduated with honors.
Management Advisory and Accounting Services (MAAS)
Christine Brunke to MAAS Senior Manager in Phoenix. Since joining the firm in 2013, Christine has provided broad financial and accounting services, as well as reviews and compilations, for a variety of tribal and public government, real estate, healthcare, and gaming clients. She is skilled at gaining an understanding of a client’s operations and identifying controls and risks associated with their operations. Christine holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Grand Canyon University.
Tammy Connin to Outsourced Controller in Phoenix. Tammy joined REDW in 2015, bringing over 21 years of experience in the construction industry as an estimator, contract manager and controller. This experience has proven valuable in her work with the firm’s construction clients in the gaming/hospitality arena, and was instrumental in helping to complete a major P.L. 93-638 tribal healthcare conversion project.
Lorena Herrera to MAAS Supervisor I in Albuquerque. Lorena originally joined REDW’s Tax team in 2012 as an Accounting Specialist, performing tax preparation, general ledger, payroll, financial reporting and account reconciliation. A certified Bookkeeper and Quickbooks Pro advisor, Lorena has since transferred her wide-ranging accounting skills to the MAAS team, where she will provide valuable oversight in a supervisory role.
Retirement Planning (Alliance Benefit Group Southwest, LLC)
Gwendelyn Joy “Wendy” Coleman, QKC, QKA, ACFC to Manager, Operations in Albuquerque. With more than 20 years of experience in employee benefit plan administration, Wendy participates in the design of benefit plans and manages their implementation, creating user-friendly enrollment materials and conducting informative presentations on benefit plan features. Wendy holds the designations of Qualified 401(k) Consultant and Administrator and has also earned Advanced Certification in Flexible Compensation (ACFC).
Julie O’Brien, QKA, TGPC to Manager, Compliance in Phoenix. Julie has more than 20 years of experience in defined contribution plan administration and recordkeeping and consults with clients on a broad range of matters involving complex administration and recordkeeping issues. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the University of Washington, as well as the Qualified 401(k) Administrator (QKA) designation and Tax-Exempt & Governmental Plan Consultant (TGPC) certification.
Tax
Daniel Foley, CPA to Tax Senior Manager in Phoenix. Daniel joined REDW in 2018 after nearly eight years of experience with a Big 4 public accounting firm. He specializes in tax compliance for private equity and hedge funds and enjoys working in the financial services and real estate practice areas. Daniel has experience with a variety of public and private clients across a multitude of industries, including technology, manufacturing and distribution, construction, asset management, real estate, hospitality, retail and gaming. A CPA licensed to practice in Arizona, Daniel  holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance and a Master of Science in Taxation from Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business.
Elizabeth Floyd to Tax Accountant in Phoenix. Shortly after joining REDW in 2018 as a Tax Intern, Elizabeth became a Tax Assistant and is now a fully-fledged Tax Accountant with the firm, primarily tasked with preparing tax returns. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy from Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business.
Brandon Korf to Tax Accountant in Albuquerque. Brandon initially joined REDW as a Tax Intern, then advanced to Tax Assistant before assuming his new role in the firm, which will primarily involve preparing tax returns. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting and a minor in Computer Science from the University of New Mexico, and is currently pursuing his CPA license.
People Operations & Administrative Services
Brittany Loera, SHRM-SCP to Human Resources Generalist in Albuquerque. Since joining REDW’s Human Resources (now “People Operations”) team in late 2014 as an HR Assistant, Brittany has steadily risen through the ranks, performing a variety of roles, including HR Coordinator, HR Analyst and Recruiter, and now HR Generalist. In addition to earning a Bachelor of Business Administration in Human Resource Management, Organizational Leadership and Entrepreneurial Studies from UNM’s Anderson School of Management, Brittany has already achieved the Society of Human Resources Management’s highest credential of Senior Certified Professional, which is designed for HR professionals who operate primarily in a strategic role.
Ashley Lopez to Administrative Assistant in Phoenix. Ashley originally joined REDW in early 2017 as the firm’s front-line representative in the role of Front Desk Administrator. Her strong interpersonal and general office skills have helped to foster a significant expansion of the Administrative Services function that has provided exceptional support to fellow team members during the pandemic.
