From Startup to Scale-up: Financial Governance Essentials 

Register

Register

Speakers:

Paul Rava Robero

Paul Rava is an executive leader and entrepreneur who began his career at KPMG Los Angeles, leading audit engagements for pre-IPO and public companies in the tech and consumer sectors. After KPMG, Paul helped scale several private companies from early stage to global reach, most notably serving nearly a decade as Chief Financial Officer and Chief of Staff at a late-stage Silicon Valley FinTech, where he raised and managed over $200 million in capital and helped scale the business to profitability and more than $100 million in ARR. In 2024, Paul co-founded Roboro, a Raleigh-based AI company that empowers organizations to shape outcomes, influence policy, and achieve legislative goals through personalized insights. He is both a CPA and an MBA.

Jeremy Hinckley EvaGarland & Associates

As Vice President of Accounting & Compliance at EGC, Jeremy Hinckley leads the company’s accounting team in providing accounting and grants management expertise to hundreds of high-growth technology companies from their startup phase through commercialization.

With extensive expertise in GAAP, grant accounting, and advisory services, Mr. Hinckley brings tremendous value to clients as they grow. His passion for innovation and its positive impact on the world is shown by his commitment to ensuring all EGC clients receive the highest level of support. He is adept in leading EGC’s accounting team to support high growth companies with budgeting, reporting, risk mitigation, and system implementations.

Before joining EGC, Mr. Hinckley served as the Controller and Director of Strategic Finance at the Carolina Center for Autism Treatment. In this capacity, he oversaw financial operations and advised on strategies to advance the organization’s mission. Mr. Hinckley began his career as an auditor at a top-50 public accounting firm and was an Accounting Manager at First Citizens Bank.

Steven M. Beisser Founder, Academic Benchmarking Consortium

Steve is a successful entrepreneur and versatile leader with extensive higher education and healthcare sector experience. His background includes EdTech, Benchmarking, Teaching, Management Consulting, Product Management, Operations, Engineering, and Manufacturing.

Retired from full time work, he currently holds a part time faculty appointment at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School where he is a Professor of the Practice within the Consulting program. He is also an Entrepreneur in Residence at Launch Chapel Hill, an organization that was instrumental to the success of the Academic Benchmarking Consortium (ABC Insights), an EdTech company he founded in 2014 and sold in 2020.

Steve is also a Limited Partner with Cofounders Capital, a Triangle-based venture capital firm that invests primarily in B2B SaaS companies located in the Southeast.

Rodolphe Barrangou Distinguished Professor, NC State University; Editor in Chief at The CRISPR Journal

Rodolphe has worked on beneficial microbes, focusing on the occurrence and diversity of lactic acid bacteria in fermented foods and as probiotics. Using functional genomics, he has focused on uncovering the genetic basis for health-promoting traits, including the ability to uptake and catabolize non-digestible carbohydrates. He spent 9 years at Danisco-DuPont, characterizing probiotics and starter cultures, and established the functional role of CRISPR-Cas, as adaptive immune systems in bacteria. He has focused on establishing the molecular basis for their mechanism of action, as well as developing and applying CRISPR-based technologies for genotyping, building immunity and genome editing.

Moderator:

Meghan Zettlemoyer Ludwig Audit Managing Director, KPMG

Meghan is an Audit Managing Director based in Raleigh, NC with 15 years of experience serving public and private companies in a number of industries. She recently completed a rotation in KPMG's Department of Professional Practice, where she contributed to firm-wide audit quality initiatives and deepened her technical expertise. Meghan also serves as a co-sponsor of the firm’s national initiatives for private company delivery, helping drive strategic alignment and consistency across engagements.

In her leadership approach, Meghan champions inclusive practices and promotes the principles of compassionate candor. She builds and advises teams that are designed to work together with an innovative and strategic mindset, creating space for bold ideas and thoughtful execution that drive meaningful outcomes.

She has moderated panels on audit quality and professional risk, effective mentorship, team building, and digital transformation in accounting and finance functions. Meghan continues to be a visible advocate for culture transformation across the firm and in her local ecosystem, emphasizing the power of strategic collaboration and forward-thinking solutions.

Thank you to our Chapter Sponsors!

GOLD SPONSOR

---

BRONZE SPONSORS

Preserve formatting in description (only supported in some calendar applications)