NEW YORK — Accounting firm Mazars announced that effective September 1, 2021, John Confrey, Rachel Efthemes, Timothy Evans, Melissa Gonzalez, Benjamin Hutterer, Samuel Pizzichillo, and Stephen Saluccio have been named Partners and Shiv Venkatraman has been named a Principal.
“Each of the individuals named Partner or Principal this year has demonstrated a commitment to living The Mazars Way – not only delivering exceptional client service and contributing to the ongoing growth of the firm, but also pushing new, innovative ideas, inspiring and motivating our people. Each member of this year’s Partner Class is a leader and a team builder, dedicated to developing the skills of others and creating a legacy of success. I look forward to seeing the great things I know they will do in the future,” said Mazars in the US Chairman and CEO Victor Wahba.
John Confrey has been with Mazars for eight years, focusing on business development, building client relationships and growing the capabilities of the Real Estate team through an apprenticeship model. His entrepreneurial mindset has led to increased profitability through enhanced efficiencies and process innovation. John provides attest and advisory services primarily in the real estate and financial services industries for both public and private companies.
Rachel Efthemes has been with Mazars for 11 years. A passionate mentor and teacher, she has significantly contributed to building the future leaders of the firm through staff recruiting and the training and development of tax department personnel. Rachel has generated substantial additional revenue through effective client outreach, and she is currently building a firmwide program that will better support a culture of business development at all levels. She delivers specialized personal income tax planning and consulting services to high net-worth individuals and their families.
Timothy Evans has been part of Mazars’ Tax Practice, focused on Financial Services, for over 8 years. He has a track record of delivering technical excellence, as well as building and growing local and international client relationships. As part of the Mazars Global Corporate Tax Committee, Tim has strengthened the firm’s worldwide tax network, ensuring that the Tax Practice is positioned for future growth and can serve an increasingly global client base. Tim’s current practice focuses heavily on implementation of the various international tax reform provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. He has extensive experience working with tax information reporting and withholding regimes, including the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard.
Melissa Gonzalez has been with the firm for over five years and has 23 years of public accounting experience. She has been the point person on many technical issues, which led to both increased revenue and an enhanced reputation for the Trust & Estate Practice. She also led the development of the firm’s Fiduciary, Estate and Gift Tax training program. Melissa is a member of the firm’s Private Client Service Department and runs the Trust & Estate Group for the Long Island office. She oversees the fiduciary, estate and gift tax returns for the office and delivers personal tax and estate planning, as well as compliance services, to high net-worth individuals. She is currently the youngest member to sit as President of the Board of the Estate Planning Council of Nassau County. Melissa was awarded the Accredited Estate Planner (AEP®) designation by the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils which recognizes estate planning professionals who meet special requirements of education, experience, knowledge, professional reputation, and character.
Benjamin Hutterer joined Mazars directly from college and has been with the firm for over a decade. He believes in the importance of teaching other professionals, and he has significantly contributed to various areas of the firm’s training curriculum. Benjamin was part of the firm’s ATLAS audit platform implementation team, a significant global enhancement to Mazars engagement technology. He is dedicated to building close, long-term client relationships. Benjamin focuses on delivering audits of employee benefit plans including defined contribution plans, defined benefit plans, employee stock ownership plans, and public filings. Ben is involved in teaching continuing professional education within the firm’s Employee Benefit Plans Practice.
Samuel Pizzichillo has grown at Mazars from intern to Partner over the past 13 years. He has built long-lasting and close relationships with C-suite individuals, leading to his being considered a trusted advisor by his clients and the financial services industry. This, combined with his cross-selling expertise, has led to the growth and expansion of many client engagements and a string of new business wins. Samuel’s practice encompasses diversified auditing, accounting, and tax areas. His industry expertise is focused on financial services and manufacturing and distribution.
Stephen Saluccio has built his career at Mazars over the past 14 years. His commitment to talent development has ensured top quality service, increasing the number of the firm’s international clients in manufacturing and distribution (“M&D”) and creating a foundation for long-term relationships. Steve provides accounting, audit, tax, and advisory services to clients in the M&D segment, including the food and beverage and consumer product sectors.
Shiv Venkatraman has enhanced Mazars’ West Coast Risk Consulting Practice by deepening relationships with existing clients, expanding the service offering through internal cross-collaboration, and modernizing the group’s delivery model and infrastructure to increase profitability. He leads governance, risk, compliance and technology transformation initiatives across the financial services and technology ecosystems. Shiv has over 18 years of experience leading and executing projects, including operational risk management, process transformation, controls modernization using robotic process automation, security and privacy assessments, compliance reporting, SOX readiness, SOC testing & reporting, data governance and ITGC assessments.
