DGN adds new staff members
Dennis, Gartland & Niergarth (DGN), northern Michigan’s largest locally owned, full-service public accounting firm, recently announced the addition of new staff members.
Brittany McLellan, MBA has joined DGN as a Team Accountant. Brittany brings experience as a commercial credit analyst and staff accountant. She graduated from Grand Valley State University with a Bachelor’s of Business Administration concentration in Accounting and also holds a Masters of Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from Davenport University.
Jake Schierbeek, CPA has joined DGN as an Audit Supervisor, bringing seven years of experience in public accounting in progressively challenging roles with an audit focus. He recently performed auditing and consulting functions with a firm in Ann Arbor. Jake is a graduate of Northwood University.
Amy Cornell has joined DGN in an Administrative Support role within the Audit Department. Amy brings more than eight years of experience as an Accounts Payable/Accounts Receivable Assistant, Guest Service Representative and Database Coordinator in various service, multi-national database and hospitality industries. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications from University of Wisconsin.
Stephanie Morris has joined DGN as a Team Accountant in our business technology department, bringing five years as an assistant controller and three years of diverse, general accounting experience. Stephanie completed her Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting, Magna Cum Laude from Baker College.
Matthew Howard, CPA, MSA joined DGN as a Tax Manager after performing predominately tax services for 10 years with one, large sector public accounting firm based in the Detroit area. Matthew graduated from Michigan State University with a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in Finance and a Master’s of Science in Accounting, Specializing in Tax.
Alex MacKenzie, CPA, MSA has joined DGN as a Senior Tax Accountant bringing prior public accounting experience from a downstate firm and multiple years of controller experience. A northern Michigan native, Alex graduated from Michigan State University with a Bachelors and Masters of Science degrees, both in Accounting.
Sue Korson, MBA has DGN as a Team Accountant in our Business Technology department. She has more than 10 years of accounting and other financial analyst experience. She completed her MBA and BSBAM with University of Phoenix, and recently completed her Graduate Accounting Certificate with Kaplan University.
Kelli Silva has joined DGN in an Administrative Support role with a focus on tax duties. Kelli brings experience performing various office management, bookkeeping and administrative functions in a public accounting office as well as construction and service industries. She has a Bachelor’s Degree equivalent in Electronics from the Naval Electronics ‘A’ School in Great Lakes, Illinois.
Taylor Zeilenga, MSA has joined DGN as a Team Accountant in our Audit department. Taylor recently graduated from Grand Valley State University with a Bachelor in Business Administration concentration in Accounting and a Master’s of Science in Accounting. He has brought accounting experiences from an independent CPA office and in private industry. Taylor has successfully passed his CPA exam and is the process of fulfilling remaining requirements to fulfill his CPA license.
Joe Barrientoz, MBA has begun a new role with DGN Advisory as a Financial Analyst. He brings more than seven years of experience in complex financial analysis, planning and management capacities in the gaming and hospitality industries. Joe completed his Master’s in Business Administration with an emphasis in Management and Bachelor’s in Business Administration focusing in Finance both from Western Michigan University.
Dennis, Gartland & Niergarth is northern Michigan’s largest, locally owned, full-service public accounting firm. Founded in 1973, the firm is based in Traverse City, Michigan with nearly 50 experienced, highly trained staff dedicated to providing outstanding accounting, tax and consulting services to businesses and individuals throughout the state and beyond. DGN’s guiding principle is – Our clients’ success is our business.
The DGN team is led by several partners with broad expertise in public accounting and its many services:
- Thomas E. Gartland, MBA, Founding Partner
- Brad P. Niergarth, CPA
- James G. Shumate, CPA, MST
- Robert C. Thompson, CPA, CVA, MBA
- Michael D. Shaw, CPA
- Mary F. Krantz, CPA, CHBC
- Shelly K. Bedford, CPA, MST
- Heidi M. Wendel, CPA, CFE
- Shelly A. Ashmore, CPA, MST
- James M. Taylor, CPA, CFP®
- Trina B. Edwards, CPA, CGFM