Senior officials from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), City and County of Denver, and States of North Carolina, Utah and Wyoming on the following topics related to audits: (1) Root Cause Analysis, (2) Data Quality, (3) Affordable Housing and Homelessness, and (4) Operational Challenges.
FINAL AGENDA
Webinar Recording
CPE Certificates are only provided to participants that registered for this event.
Please send your confirmation email you received when you registered for this event to audiforums@gao.gov
Speaker Presentations Approved to Post
Session 1
Federal Spending Data Quality – Nina Rostro
Data Quality and Artificial Intelligence: Lessons from GAO Reports – Laura Holliday
Session 2
Identifying the Causes of Audit Findings – Kade Minchey, Brian Dean
Session 3
Auditing Affordable Housing & Encampment Response – Kharis Eppstein, Chris Wilson, Tyson Faussone
Featured Speakers
Jim Bolding
Audit Manager
Wyoming Department of Audit, Public Funds Division
Jim is currently serving as the Audit Manager for the School Finance Section. He leads an amazing team responsible for auditing various programs and data elements reported by school districts for use in the Wyoming Department of Education’s complex funding model. Jim has been with the Department of Audit for six years and brought with him over 25 years of accounting, operational, and small business administration experience. In his off time, Jim enjoys climbing, fly fishing, back country skiing, and spending time with his wife and two sons. He is a past PADI Divemaster and member of the Professional Ski Instructors of America.
Brian Dean
Deputy Auditor General
Office of the Utah Legislative Auditor General
Brian has worked for the Legislative Auditor General’s Office for over 24 years, and currently serves as the Deputy Auditor General. He was born and raised in Dearborn, Michigan and attended the University of Utah where he obtained bachelor degrees in both Political Science and Economics and a Masters Degree in Public Administration. Brian is both a Certified Internal Auditor and a Certified Fraud Examiner. Brian has served for a number of years with the Utah Association of Certified Fraud Examiners in positions such as Training Director and Association President. In his work with the Legislative Auditor General’s Office, Brian has worked on a number of audits that cover an extremely broad range of operations including homelessness, public safety, public and higher education, utility regulations, transportation, natural resources, and liquor control to name a few.
Kharis Eppstein
Audit Manager
City and County of Denver Auditor’s Office
Audit Manager Kharis Eppstein has been with the City and County of Denver Auditor’s Office since January 2017. Born in Northfield, Minnesota, and raised in Thousand Oaks, California, Kharis’ parents transplanted a family of seven to Colorado in 1995, making her “native-ish” to the Denver area. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a focus in neuroscience from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her work has included reviews of the city’s homeless encampment response, affordable housing, citywide safety and security of city facilities, and some of the city’s cultural centers like the Botanic Gardens and Museum of Nature & Science. When she’s not auditing, you can find Kharis outdoors either volunteering with the Alpine Rescue Team, backpacking or camping, or enjoying a concert at one of Colorado’s incredible outdoor venues.
Tyson Faussone
Lead Auditor
City and County of Denver Auditor’s Office
Tyson is a lead auditor with the City and County of Denver Auditor’s Office. Following a career in finance, mortgage, and small business ownership; Tyson joined the office in 2019 to apply his professional experience and skills in compliance, process improvement, and business optimization. Tyson holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration with an emphasis in marketing from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Tyson is a Certified Internal Auditor, and the lead on the 2022 Knighton exemplary award winning Solid Waste Recycling audit. Other notable audits reviewed citywide ethics, parks and recreation, and affordable housing.
Laura Holliday
Assistant Director, Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics
U.S. Government Accountability Office
Laura Holliday is an Assistant Director with the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics (STAA) team. She manages a diverse portfolio of work on a range of science and technology topics. She has overseen technology assessments on artificial intelligence (AI) in medical services, AI in natural hazard modeling, forensic attribution of chemical weapons, and blockchain. She has directed Science & Tech spotlights on topics such as at-home tools to diagnose neurodegenerative diseases, combating deepfakes, and COVID-19 modeling. She is currently overseeing work on wearable technologies in industrial workplaces, biosafety and biosecurity in G20 nations, and generative AI in health care. Prior to joining STAA, Ms. Holliday led studies on the acquisition of complex, technology-intensive systems. Prior to GAO, Ms. Holliday worked at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. She has an M.S. in Environmental Sciences and Policy from Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. in International Politics and French from Middlebury College.
Patty Lentini
Assistant Director, Field Operations
U.S. Government Accountability Office
Patty joined GAO in 1990 and currently serves as the Manager for the Norfolk and Denver Field Offices. In this position, Patty works with field and headquarters staff to complete various agency-wide business processes, ensure safe and secure offices, facilitate collaboration and connectedness, and recruit and hire new staff. As an Assistant Director in Field Operations, she also assists the Managing Director in coordinating Labor Management Relations and overseeing timekeeping-related functions and serves as Executive Committee Chair for the Mountain and Plains Intergovernmental Audit Forum. Prior to her position in Field Operations, Patty served as an Assistant Director in GAO’s Defense Capabilities and Management Team, where she managed evaluations across a wide range of defense issues and programs. Her most recent review topics included sustainment and readiness of missile defense and depot maintenance. Patty currently resides in Virginia Beach, Virginia with her husband. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with family, traveling, hiking, and biking.
AJ Melhus
Senior Engineer, Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics
U.S. Government Accountability Office
AJ Melhus is a Senior Engineer with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) with a background in I.T. systems and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence. He holds bachelor’s degrees in physics and chemistry and a masters degree of information technology. Prior to GAO, he worked for the Department of Defense helping to manage an enterprise system for hazardous materials data. At GAO, he has served as a senior specialist and stakeholder on multiple engagements, including technology assessments. Recently, he served as analyst-in-charge (project lead) for a report on immersive technology activity across the civilian federal government, which included a discussion of uses, benefits, and challenges of immersive technology data.
Kade Minchey
Auditor General
Office of the Utah Legislative Auditor General
Kade Minchey has been the Utah Legislative Auditor General and director of the Office of the Legislative Auditor General since 2018. He has worked with the office for over 20 years. Kade has a bachelor’s degree from Utah State University, a master’s degree from the University of Utah, and is both a Certified Internal Auditor and a Certified Fraud Examiner. He has worked on a broad range of performance audits in his career, including favoritism and nepotism within the Department of Corrections to a comprehensive effectiveness and efficiency review of the state’s 8.5 billion public education system. Kade is currently overseeing 20 audits ranging from the effectiveness of the state’s behavioral health system to a systemic review of the Attorney General’s Office. Further, Kade has worked with the Legislature to create two new divisions in the office: Government Excellence and Education Excellence. As part of these new initiatives, the office is doing increasingly more long-range strategic audits to position the State of Utah for continued success over the next 5, 10, 20 years. Kade has a passion for continuous improvement and firmly believes auditing is one of the most important functions that any entity performs.
Brent Packer
Performance Audit Supervisor
Office of the Utah Legislative Auditor General
Brent has worked for the Legislative Auditor General’s Office for 6 years. He currently serves as Performance Audit Supervisor in the Government Excellence Division. Brent has been recognized nationally for his work on criminal justice reform and government best practices.
Jungjin Park
Executive Director for Intergovernmental Audit Forums
Strategic Planning and External Liaison (SPEL)
U.S. Government Accountability Office
Jungjin is an Executive Director for Intergovernmental Audit Forums within the Strategic Planning and External Relations (SPEL) Office at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). She manages GAO’s domestic relations portfolio to connect with and maintain relationships with the federal, state, and local governments’ audit communities, with a particular focus on the Mountain and Plains, Pacific Northwest, and Western regions. Jungjin also oversees the meetings of advisory groups for the Comptroller General, such as the Domestic Working Group which consists of federal inspectors general, and state and local audit officials. Jungjin has 15 years of audit experience across GAO’s multiple mission teams and has worked on audits of the federal government’s budget and tax laws, defense acquisition systems, and data governance and management, as well as the agencywide High-Risk series in 2017 and 2019. Prior to working in the federal government, Jungjin worked on corporate alliance programs at UNICEF, conducted international economic research at the Samsung Global Research (formerly known as the Samsung Economic Research Institute), and served as the Auditor-in-Charge at the City and County of San Francisco. She holds a dual-B.A. in Political Science and Economics from the University of California at Berkeley, and a M.A. in International Affairs from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. Jungjin is a California native and currently resides in the bay area with her husband and son.
Nina M. Rostro
Assistant Director, Financial Management and Assurance
U.S. Government Accountability Office
Mrs. Rostro is an Assistant Director at the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s Financial Management and Assurance team. She has over 18 years of auditing experience and has worked on a variety of financial and performance audits aimed at strengthening internal control across a wide range of agencies and federal programs. Her most recent work includes assessing the completeness of data on USAspending.gov. Mrs. Rostro has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accounting from the University of Puerto Rico. She is a Certified Public Accountant.
Brian Wilson
Supervising Auditor
Wyoming Department of Audit, Public Funds Division
Brian is an audit professional with over 13 years of experience dedicated to ensuring accountability and transparency in the public sector. He conducts performance and compliance audits across a wide range of entities, including schools, towns, special districts, state agencies, and counties. Brian’s commitment to upholding the highest standards of fiscal responsibility is evident in his instrumental role in developing the Department of Audit’s Public Officer training program. This initiative, designed in response to recent legislation, ensures that public officers in Wyoming receive the necessary training to effectively manage public funds and adhere to ethical guidelines. In his off time, Brian is a true outdoorsman. He enjoys hunting, the thrill of motocross, and the challenge of a good round of golf.
Chris Wilson
Audit Analytics Manager
City and County of Denver Auditor’s Office
Chris Wilson is the Audit Analytics Manager for the City and County of Denver Auditor’s Office. He has been with the office for over six years. During this time, he has applied data analytics to support audit findings in both performance and compliance audits. Chris has been a part of three Knighton Award-winning audits, including the 2018 Affordable Housing Audit, the 2021 Airport Shuttle System Audit, and the 2023 Homeless Encampments Audit. He has experience using python, STATA, and Excel to analyze and visualize data in his professional and academic background. He received a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Colorado Denver in 2019 as well as a master’s in humanities in 2023.
|Dr. David Yokum
Chief Scientist
North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management
David Yokum, JD, PhD is North Carolina’s Chief Scientist in the Office of State Budget & Management and Professor of the Practice and Director of The Policy Lab at UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Data Science & Society. He works with governments across the country to help build capacity to generate and use evidence, while also pursuing a research agenda on the psychology of how people change their minds and make decisions, especially as related to the interpretation and use of data. David was previously Director of The Lab @ DC in the D.C. Mayor’s Office, a member of the White House’s Social & Behavioral Sciences Team, and Director of the U.S. Office of Evaluation Sciences. David’s work—from the world’s largest field experiment of a police body-worn camera program, to building algorithms that predict the location of rats, to a Form-a-Palooza initiative systematically re-designing all government forms—has been published in diverse outlets (e.g. Nature, PNAS, Health Affairs), received widespread media coverage (front-page New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, etc.), and impacted individuals and communities across the country. Over 125 field experiments have now been completed under The Policy Lab, The Lab @ DC, and the Office of Evaluation Science, and these ventures have inspired replications across the world.