Location: Nashville, Tennessee

Erica Hightower is a senior manager with the risk assurance and advisory services (RAAS) practice. She is responsible for planning, coordinating, and executing integrated internal audit engagements, consulting on internal controls, evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of business processes, and assisting in the audit risk assessment and audit plan development process.

Erica provides system and organization controls (SOC) attestation engagements for clients in a variety of industries, including healthcare, logistics, technology (managed IT and cloud services), and manufacturing/wholesale/distribution (MWD). She also provides HIPAA gap assessment and risk analysis consulting, as well as HITRUST Common Security Framework (CSF) validated assessment engagements for healthcare organizations.

She has additional experience providing internal audit, IT audit, Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) testing, HITRUST and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) engagements, and FFIEC IT regulatory audits for financial institutions.

Involvement

• American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
• Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants
• The Institute of Internal Auditors-Nashville, Treasurer
• ISACA, Nashville Chapter, Treasurer
• ISACA Nashville Digital Trust Conference Planning Committee
• KraftCPAs Practice Development Committee
• Member of Women in Technology of Tennessee (WiTT), Scholarship Committee, Outreach Committee, Mentor Program
• Nashville Technology Council, Emerging Leaders in Technology Program Graduate
• TBA Strategic Technology Conference Planning Committee
• Middle Tennessee Chapter of the Association of Legal Administrators Business Partner
• Registered SOC Peer Reviewer
• AICPA CPA Exam Item Development Consultant

Morganne Keel is a senior manager in the client accounting and advisory services (CAAS) group at KraftCPAs. She is responsible for planning and executing engagements, building and maintaining client relationships, and managing and reviewing the work of other team members.

Morganne has extensive experience with small to mid-sized closely held businesses, including physician practice groups, entertainers and entertainment companies, real estate entities, and nonprofit organizations. She provides a variety of services that include financial statement preparation, consulting, investment analysis, and compliance.

Morganne has more than 25 years of accounting experience and joined KraftCPAs in 2001.

Involvement

Current Involvement

• American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
• Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants
• Florida Society of Certified Public Accountants

Previous Involvement

• Tennessee Craft, Treasurer

Patrick Clark is a senior manager with the risk assurance and advisory services (RAAS) team at KraftCPAs. He is responsible for planning and executing integrated internal audit engagements, evaluating effectiveness and efficiency of clients’ business processes, building client relationships, and preparing and presenting reports to management and boards of directors.

Patrick primarily works with clients in the manufacturing/wholesale/distribution (MWD), utility, and governmental industries. In addition to internal audit and risk management consulting, he has extensive experience assisting clients in the design and implementation of Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance programs using the COSO 2013 Integrated Internal Controls Framework, as well as overseeing SOX testing, compliance, and reporting.

Patrick’s internal audit and SOX experience includes assessments of entity level controls, general controls over information technology, fraud risk assessments, and financial and operational business processes and controls.

He has 30 years of professional accounting and internal audit experience, including as senior manager of business risk services at a Big Four firm.

Involvement

• Institute of Internal Auditors, Past President-Nashville Chapter
• Friends of Nashville Opera, President, Former Vice President of Strategic Development/Finance

Matt Barnes is a senior manager at Kraft Analytics, LLC, with a specialization in fraud and forensic analysis, transaction advisory, litigation services, and business valuations. He serves clients across various industries including healthcare, pharmaceuticals, financial services, manufacturing, professional services, entertainment, transportation, software, life sciences, retail, construction, distribution, and real estate.

As a leader in the firm’s AI adaptation efforts, Matt tests products and integrates AI into practice. He has also developed and delivered training on the use of AI within both the litigation services sector and the accounting profession.

Matt possesses extensive forensic experience, having conducted internal investigations into financial irregularities and provided forensic services for both civil and criminal cases. His expertise encompasses handling Ponzi schemes, financial statement manipulation, check kiting, asset misappropriation, infringement claims, fraudulent disbursements, and wire fraud.

In the realm of valuation services, Matt has performed business valuations, assessed equity interests, debt instruments, intellectual property (patents, trademarks, copyrights), non-compete agreements, management agreements, and customer contracts. He is skilled in modeling complex equity structures, conducting waterfall analysis, and utilizing Monte Carlo simulations.

Matt’s transaction advisory experience includes valuations, fairness opinions, purchase price allocations, due diligence (buy-side and sell-side), and transaction structuring for acquisitions, mergers, joint ventures, divestitures, equity investments, lending transactions, and generational transfers. Additionally, he provides management consulting during acquisition phases, conducts industry and competitive analyses, identifies business strategies, performs compensation studies, and develops capital project analyses.

Prior to joining Kraft Analytics, Matt practiced law in Tennessee, providing services extensively in mergers and acquisitions, tax, contracts, and commercial litigation.

Involvement

• Tennessee Bar Association
• American Bar Association
• American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
• Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants, Forensic and Valuation Services Conference Planning Committee
• Nashville Conflict Resolution Center, Board of Directors

Jamie Braswell is a senior manager with the risk assurance and advisory services (RAAS) practice at KraftCPAs. She has more than 10 years of experience working with clients in multiple industries, including financial, manufacturing/wholesale/distribution, utility, governmental, and others.

Jamie is primarily responsible for planning, performing, and executing internal and external audits, risk assessments, Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) program implementations, SOX controls testing, and system and organization controls (SOC) attestation examinations, as well as enterprise risk management and other consulting engagements.

In addition, she regularly evaluates the effectiveness and efficiency of business processes, internal controls, and risk management strategies. Specifically for financial institutions, she performs internal audits, loan reviews, National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA) audits, trust department audits, and compliance audits.

Jamie has successfully managed projects for several of the firm’s largest clients, including all aspects for a public financial institution with more than $47 billion in assets; outsourced integrated internal audit and consulting projects for the 12th-largest public utility in the United States; and for a private food manufacturer with more than $1 billion in annual revenue. She also has international work experience in China and Singapore, where she performed SOC engagements.

Jamie began her career in public accounting with an internship at KraftCPAs in 2010 before becoming a full-time team member in 2011.

Professional Achievements

• KraftCPAs Practice Development Award

Involvement

• The Institute of Internal Auditors

Pam Baldridge is a senior manager with tax services department. She is responsible for building and maintaining client relationships, as well as managing and reviewing the work of other team members.

Pam provides tax research, consulting, planning and compliance services for a variety of clients, including individuals, small businesses, and financial institutions.

She has more than 35 years of public accounting experience and has been with Kraft since 1983.

Involvement

• American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
• Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants
• Community Care Fellowship, Board of Directors

Vic Alexander is a member with KraftCPAs PLLC, where he provides litigation support, valuation, and other business advisory services.

Vic has extensive experience providing litigation support and business valuation services. In this capacity, he has provided financial analysis and consultation and is regarded as an adroit negotiator and expert witness. Vic assists in evaluating financing alternatives and proposed purchases or sales of business interests. He has assisted start-up entities in the development of business plans and helped existing entities evaluate the feasibility and outcomes of proposed business transactions. He also provides specialized consulting services for the firm’s entrepreneurial clients. Vic has experience with clients in real estate, construction, printing, advertising, entertainment, and venture or mezzanine funds, among others.

Vic started his career with KraftCPAs in 1982 and was the firm’s chief manager from 1993 to 2024.

Involvement

Current Involvement

• American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
• Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants
• Saint Thomas Hospital, Finance Committee
• Nashville State Community College Foundation Board
• Belmont University, Accounting Advisory Board
• Legal Aid Society, Advisory Council Member
• Youth About Business National Advisory Board

Previous Involvement

• Lipscomb University Business School, Advisory Board
• Tennessee State Board of Accountancy, Board Chair
• Nashville Youth About Business, Advisory Board Chair, National Advisory Board Member
• Tennessee Justice Center, Board Treasurer
• Saint Thomas Health Services Fund, Board Chair
• Institute of Management Accountants Nashville Chapter, Board President
• ATHENAPowerLink, Governing Body Member
• Legal Aid Society, Advisory Council Chair
• Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, Small and Entrepreneurial Business Advisory Board
• Nashville City Club, Board President
• Center for Nonprofit Management, Board Treasurer
• TSCPA Nashville Chapter, Board of Directors
• Belmont University School of Undergraduate Business Administration, Board of Advisors
• Juvenile Diabetes Foundation Middle Tennessee Chapter, Board Treasurer
• Nashville Chamber of Commerce Metro School Improvement Task Force
• Delanie Walker Gives Back Foundation, Executive Board of Directors

Professional Achievements

• Most Admired CEO Lifetime Achievement Award, Nashville Business Journal
• Power Leader in Finance, Nashville Business Journal
• Power 100 Connector, Nashville Business Journal
• Leader with Purpose Award, Lipscomb University
• InCharge Healthcare, Nashville Medical News
• Accounting’s Finest, Nashville Post
• Tennessee’s Finest Accountants, BusinessTN Magazine
• 40 Under 40 Award, Nashville Business Journal
• Public Service Award, TSCPA
• Involved in formation of the Center for Family Business at Belmont University
• Seminar instructor for Tennessee Bar Association and TSCPA