Leaders
John Damon
Dr. John Damon, MS, PhD, is the CEO of Canopy Children’s Solutions, Mississippi’s largest and most comprehensive non-profit provider of children’s behavioral health, education, and family support solutions. John works with all three branches of government; business thought leaders and community stakeholders to develop public policy, clinical best practices, and catalytic partnerships aimed at helping every child and family reach their full potential. He has served as president of the National Association for Children’s Behavioral Health (NACBH), the Behavioral Health Society of the Mississippi Hospital Association, and the Mississippi Association of Child Caring Agencies. John continues to serve in Board leadership for NACBH and the Children’s Home Society of America. He is a member of the Mississippi Early Child Investment Council.
John is currently appointed by the Mississippi Legislature to serve on the Mississippi K-12 and Postsecondary Mental Health Task Force and by the Mississippi Supreme Court to serve on the Children’s Justice Commission.
Maura McDevitt
Maura is an assurance principal with BMSS, LLC with more than 25 years of combined public and corporate accounting experience. She manages assurance and related services for a wide range of privately held and non-profit entities as well as provides consulting services on various financial matters. Maura has in depth experience in the areas of budgeting, forecasting, analytical review and financial statement preparation. Maura has a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy from Clemson University and a Masters in Business Administration from The Citadel Graduate College. Maura is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Global Management Accountant and a Certified Nonprofit Accounting Professional. Maura and her husband Jeff live in Flowood, Mississippi and have four children and three grandchildren.
Steven Mulhollen
Steve Mulhollen,
While obtaining his B.A. in Christian studies, his M.B.A., and his Certificate in Accounting from Mississippi College, Mulhollen embarked on a diverse career. Steve began his career working in the Investor Relations mailroom at WorldCom and worked his way up as a Financial Analyst while completing his M.B.A. at Mississippi College. After a short stint at Georgia Pacific as a Wood and Fiber Procurement accountant, Steve entered public accounting to pursue his passion for serving Not-for-Profit organizations. After a successful tenure at HORNE, he left to serve his clients, Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society and Phi Theta Kappa Foundation as the chief financial officer. While serving as the finance committee chair, his home church, Broadmoor Baptist Church, asked him to serve as the Executive Pastor and Treasurer.
Mulhollen was first introduced to teaching adjunct at the collegiate level in the early 2000s at Mississippi College. His desire and joy for teaching have never left him. He is currently an Instructor of Accounting at Mississippi College, where he teaches principles, intermediate, and cost accounting. Steve, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Southern Mississippi, continues to serve the Not for Profit and Governmental community through his consulting services company Poiema L.L.C. Steve is a Certified Public Accountant and holds the SHRM-CP designation.
Kassi Rushing
Kassi Rushing builds places people want to work. She specializes in connecting the people, processes, and resources necessary to make culture a company’s competitive advantage. Since 2002, Kassi has been bridging the strategies between business and people, transforming workplace culture, building high performing teams, developing leaders and leadership pipelines with future ready skills, designing intentional employee experiences, improving talent experiences and pipelines, and crafting communication strategy to accelerate organizational success.
Kassi specializes in accounting firms and finance organizations. Clients ranging from small firms to the Big 4, and private and public companies, including those in the Fortune 500, have worked with Kassi to transform for the future of work.
Kassi previously served as the director of people growth and engagement for a Top 50 public accounting firm and as a corporate communicator at a large financial institution. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in communication from Mississippi State University and her Master of Science in corporate communication from Mississippi College. She holds her Certificate in Diversity & Inclusion from the Yale School of Management.
Kassi is a working mom and owner of Kassi Rushing Consulting. You can follow her on Instagram at @momsmakegreatleaders.
Lee Stringer
Lee Stringer is President and CEO of 5th Squad, a nonprofit organization comprised of combat veterans from various branches of service within the military. Its mission is to support the veterans in need, along with giving back to the community that has supported the military. The 5th Squad has created multiple events to raise funds and awareness for Veterans in need. Ruck for Rugrats, Ruck 2 Remember, Jacob Campbell Memorial Scramble and multiple other events. The R4R is a toy drive/7 mile ruck march to Children's of Mississippi Hospital done each December. Lee has a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice/Law Enforcement Administration from University of Arkansas Grantham. He is Sergeant Major in the Mississippi Army Guard.
Tanya Webber
Tanya G. Webber is the Assistant Secretary of State for the Charities Division of the Mississippi Secretary of State's Office, a position that she has held under two different Secretaries of State (one Democrat and one Republican). In this capacity, she has the responsibility of regulating non-profit organizations for compliance with the Mississippi Charities Act by performing routing financial examinations, investigating complaints and nonprofit embezzlement cases, as well as other violations of the Act. The Division also works with federal and state prosecuting authorities to criminally punish violators of these charity laws. Prior to joining the Mississippi Secretary of State's Office in 2001, Tanya worked with the Mississippi Legislative PEER Committee and the Mississippi Department of Transportation. A proud graduate of Okolona High School, Tanya graduated Valedictorian of her class before graduating Magna Cum Laude from Jackson State University with a BBA in Accounting. Tanya then went on to earn her Juris Doctor from the University Of Mississippi School Of Law in 1998. Selected as one of Mississippi's 50 Leading Business Women in 2016, the Board of Trustees & Deacon Wives Council at Gt. Mt. Calvary Baptist Church, and the illustrious Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. Tanya takes serious her service to mankind and commitment to making the world a better place one day at a time.
Brian Yacker
Brian, a tax partner in Baker Tilly's Orange County, California office, specializes in non-profit organizations. Brian received his Bachelor of Science, finance and marketing, at the University of Virginia (Charlottesville, Virginia) and his Juris Doctor from Indiana University School of Law (Bloomington, Indiana). Brian has nearly 30 years of experience providing tax, legal and accounting services and solutions to all types of non-profit organizations, including public charities, private foundations, university auxiliaries, social clubs, business leagues, labor organizations, social welfare organizations, water districts, athletic organizations, social services entities, hospitals, bids, veterans organizations. Brian provides reasonable compensation studies, lobbying studies, governance consulting, public support test consulting, unrelated business income studies, special events consulting, state charitable solicitation registration services and insider
transaction analyses. Brian is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), American Bar Association (ABA) Exempt Organizations Committee, Board of Directors for the TE/GE EO Council, AICPA EO Tax Technical Resource Panel, and AICPA Non-profit Advisory Committee.
