Leaders
Robert L. Braun
Robert L. (Bob) Braun, Ph. D., is the Phil K. Livingston Professor of Accounting and head of the Department of Accounting and Finance at Southeastern Louisiana University. He has published in Accounting Organizations and Society, Journal of Accountancy, and Issues in Accounting Education, among others. Research interests include the examination and advancement of ethics in the accounting profession, pedagogical inquiry, and auditing behavior. Teaching interests include ethics, auditing, and principles of accounting.
Sheelah S. Brewer
Sharee Brewer, CPA, CGFM, CFE was appointed as the Executive Director of the Mississippi State Board of Public Accountancy in January, 2024. Prior to this appointment, she served the Board as the Associate Director since June 30, 2017 where her primary duty was managing the Board's investigations. Sharee's background includes serving for 5 years as a Finance & Accounting Consultant with the University of Tennessee's Institute for Public Service. In this capacity, she provided technical assistance to Tennessee municipal governing bodies and financial staff related to standards of practice, governing regulations, Tennessee and Federal law as well as serving as an instructor for the state-mandated certification program designed specifically for local government financial personnel. Sharee has also taught classes on financial fraud and other training topics of a technical nature when assigned. Before working for the University of Tennessee, she was employed for more than 22 years as a Financial & Compliance Auditor with the Tennessee State Comptroller's Office of Local Government Audit where she conducted Yellow Book audits of county governments and their associated component units. Sharee graduated from Mississippi State University in 1987 with a Bachelor of Professional Accountancy degree and completed her MBA with a banking and finance emphasis with the University of Tennessee in 2016. In her personal time, Sharee enjoys cooking and traveling and has a list of European countries on her bucket list she is diligently working her way through. She makes her home in Brandon with a sassy little shih-tzu named Sasha.
Mark Edmonds
Mark A. Edmonds, Ph.D., CPA, is an assistant professor in the Department of Accounting and Finance at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He has taught principles and advanced accounting classes in face-to-face, flipped, and online formats. Dr. Edmonds began his career providing assurance services for the internationally recognized accounting firm Ernst & Young. At the conclusion of his professional service, he obtained his Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He serves as the education adviser on the board of the Institute of Internal Auditors Birmingham Chapter. Dr. Edmonds's research focuses on alternative learning strategies and auditor decision making.
Jan F. Lewis
As a tax member of BMSS Advisors and CPA's (formerly Haddox Reid Eubank Betts), Jan's responsibilities include income and estate tax planning, research, and compliance for individual and business clients. Her areas of practice include healthcare, oil & gas, construction, real estate, and high-net-worth individuals. An avid and well-respected speaker, she has taught continuing education classes throughout Mississippi and nationwide in the areas of income tax planning, business tax matters, and S corporation tax issues and has given presentations on financial literacy, current tax policy, and other tax issues to various groups across the state. Jan has also authored articles on tax matters for the Tax Adviser publication of the AICPA's Tax Division and has been interviewed by Fox Business News, NPR, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and the Detroit Free Press for her insight on various policy and practice matters affecting taxpayers.
Jan is active in the Mississippi Society of Certified Public Accountants (MSCPA), previously serving as president of the Society, and as an officer of the Society's Central Chapter, as well as a trustee of the Mississippi Tax Institute. Jan is a member of the Long Range Planning Committee and the Young CPAs Liaison Committee.
She is also an active member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and has held many leadership roles within the AICPA throughout her career. She has served as the MSCPA's elected representative to the AICPA Council and on the AICPA Life Insurance and Disability Plans Committee. She was a member and chair of the AICPA's Tax Practice and Procedures Committee and is currently the immediate past chair of the AICPA's Tax Executive Committee (TEC), having previously served as a member, vice chair and chair of that committee. The TEC is the senior committee overseeing the work of all Tax Division committees and technical resource panels of the AICPA, and her work with that committee has been especially rewarding both personally and professionally.
In May of 2023, Jan began a three-year term as one of 26 members of the Board of Directors of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (the Association), and one of 18 members of the AICPA's Board, while also serving on the AICPA Governing Council. In her role as a board member of both the Association and the AICPA, Jan is a part of the executive committee that directs the strategic vision of both organizations. The AICPA is the national professional organization for all CPAs, with over 420,000 members in the U.S. and worldwide. The Association is the global voice of the accounting and finance professional, with over 650,000 members globally, and was founded by the AICPA and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). It is a distinct honor to be in this position of leadership in the profession.
Shawn Mauldin
Shawn Mauldin (Mississippi State University)
Shawn Mauldin is the Director of the Adkerson School of Accountancy and Professor of Accounting at Mississippi State University. He received his BS and MBA degrees from Nicholls State University and his PhD from the University of Mississippi. He is a licensed CPA in Mississippi and holds the CMA, CFP, and CGMA designations. Prior to Mississippi State, he served as Dean of the College of Business and Chair of the Department of Accounting at Nicholls State University where he held the Cenac Chair in Accounting. He was named Dean Emeritus in 2024. Mauldin received the Distinguished Achievement in Accounting Education Award from the Society of Louisiana CPAs (LCPA) in 2006. He served on the LCPA's board, as President in 2012, and chaired the Accounting Education Issues Committee. Mauldin currently chairs the Awards, Education, and Scholarship Committee for the Mississippi Society of CPAs. He is actively involved in the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and has chaired business and accounting review teams for the past 20 years. His research focuses on behavioral and pedagogical accounting research and has published and presented over 100 academic and practitioner articles. Mauldin, and his wife Becky, reside in Starkville, MS. They have one daughter, Kandace, who is also a CPA and is the CFO for Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government.
Guy M. McClain
Guy McClain is an Associate Professor and Director of BBA in Accounting and Master of Accounting Programs in the Else School of Management at Millsaps College. He teaches courses in accounting, primarily focusing on auditing and financial statement analysis. He also teaches the accounting senior seminar which focuses on the globalization of accounting standards. He is also an affiliated visiting professor with the IESEG School of Management in France with campuses in Lille and Paris. He has also taught during the summer term with the East China Normal University in Shanghai, China.
Billy A. Morehead
William A. (Billy) Morehead, Ph.D., CGFM, CPA
Billy is a Professor of Accountancy at Mississippi College in Clinton, Mississippi where he teaches primarily Governmental and Advanced accounting classes at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Billy retired from the State of Mississippi in 2011 after 27 years of service in various roles, including Vice President for Finance and Administration, Interim Dean, Chair, and Associate Professor at Delta State University, auditor for the State Auditor's Office; GAAP Project Administrator for the State Department of Finance and Administration; and CFO within the State Department of Mental Health.
Billy has been a member of the Association of Government Accountants for more than 30 years and has served as both National President and National Treasurer. Billy has served in various other national and chapter roles including the Chair of the Editorial Board for the Journal of Government Financial Management and the Chair of the Higher Education Committee. Billy has also received several AGA national awards, including three National President's Awards, the Educator Award, and the Robert W. King Memorial Award. Billy is a member of the Mississippi Society of CPAs and the American Institute of CPAs. Billy is the 2024 MSCPA Outstanding Educator Award recipient.
Christa Payne
Christa Payne is the Chief Business Officer at SoPA, responsible for finances, operations, marketing, technology and facilities. Ms. Payne has twenty years of experience in management, operations, and development, including financial analysis and strategic consulting, non-profit management, development and communications, business development and account management, public-private partnership development, and community building and strategic planning. She is also an adjunct professor and course designer for the Business & Leadership Studies program at SoPA.
Christine Smith
Christine Smith is a professor of practice in the accounting department at Tulane University's A.B. Freeman School of Business. She has taught Principles of Accounting, Intermediate Accounting I, Intermediate Accounting II, Managerial Accounting and Auditing. Smith also serves as the assistant director of the Joint BSM-MACCT program for the Freeman School.
Blaise M. Sonnier
Dr. Blaise M. Sonnier has been the Director of the School of Accountancy and the Jerold P. Morgan Distinguished Professor of Accounting at the University of Southern Mississippi since 2022. A native of Louisiana, he earned a Juris Doctorate from Louisiana State University in 1985 graduating in the top 5% of his class. After graduating from LSU Law School, Dr. Sonnier served as a law clerk for two Louisiana Supreme Court justices. From 1986 through July 2007, Dr. Sonnier was engaged in the practice of law in Louisiana with a concentration in the areas of taxation, commercial transactions, estate planning, and corporate law. Dr. Sonnier was also awarded a Doctorate of Business Administration by Grenoble School of Management, Grenoble, in France. Switching to the field of education, Dr. Sonnier joined the faculty of Florida International University in 2007 and served as the Director of its Executive Masters in Taxation program. In 2012, he transferred to the University of Colorado where he was the Wilcox Endowed Professor of Accounting and Department Chair of Accounting and Finance. He has been a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the American Accounting Association, the American Taxation Association, the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Society of Louisiana Certified Public Accountants, the Louisiana Bar Association, and the Mississippi Society of CPAs.
Thomas G. Stephens
Tommy Stephens received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree (Major in Accounting) from Auburn University in 1985. In 1992, he earned a Master of Science degree (Major in Finance) from Georgia State University in Atlanta. Presently, Tommy is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Information Technology Professional, and a Chartered Global Management Accountant.
In 1995, Tommy began authoring and presenting continuing professional education courses to accounting and finance professionals. In 2003, he affiliated with K2 Enterprises, and in 2007, he joined the firm as a partner. Over the past twenty-seven years, Tommy has presented over 2,800 educational sessions to over 71,000 participants throughout the United States and Canada.
Tommy maintains professional memberships with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Georgia Society of Certified Public Accountants. Additionally, he is a past member of the Institute of Internal Auditors.