ASCPA's Annual Meeting

Bruce Fryer is the Regional Finance Manager for the East Lime Division of Lhoist North America. In this role he is the primary financial business partner for a $400M revenue division of a $3B international group. Bruce is a CPA in the state of Alabama and has more than 25 years of manufacturing and mining experience with roles in controlling, financial reporting, forecasting and budgeting, developing financial training, and leading functional and cross-functional teams. He has his Bachelor’s degree in Commerce and Business Administration (Accounting) and his Master’sdegree in Accountancy from the University of Alabama.

Bruce is a past member of the Greater Shelby County Board of Directors and former head of Lhoist’s regional community action team. In 2013 Bruce was honored to receive the Lhoist North America Finance Department’s Integrity and Trust award.Along with transactional accuracy and reporting, Bruce is passionate about team developmentand collaboration with non-financial departments.

“Open communication and team development are an extension of successful financial business partnering.”

Outside of work, Bruce is an avid baseball fan and aBible study teacher at his church. Bruce and his wife Twyla have three adult age children.He isactive in supporting the University of Alabama and Shelby County High School athletic teams.

Dr. Florence Holland, Ed.D.

Dr. Florence Holland is an educator and diversity professional with over 19 years of experience firmly grounded in areas such as diversity, inclusion belonging, underrepresented minority recruitment and retention. She serves as the head of consulting for The Diversity Movement.

From February 2014 to September 2020, Florence served as the lead manager, pipeline initiatives – diversity and inclusion with the Association of International CPAs. There she managed the Diversity and Inclusion Pipeline Initiative through profession awareness, program development and implementation and research, analysis and reporting.

Her work revolved around a profession-wide and profession-funded initiative to improve the quantity and quality of underrepresented minorities in the accounting profession and ultimately securing their CPA licensure.

Florence holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics with a minor in psychology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), a Master’s of Arts in education in educational administration (K–12) from Ball State University, an Executive MBA from Auburn University and a Doctorate of Education in higher education administration from Argosy University, Sarasota where her research focused on the persistence of underrepresented minorities at predominately white institutions.

Prior to her work at the Association, Florence was the special assistant to the associate provost for diversity and multicultural affairs at Auburn University. There she managed and coordinated diversity, inclusion and equity programs related to students, faculty and staff. She was responsible for over $3 million dollars in National Science Foundation diversity related grants focused on increasing the representation of minorities in STEM fields. At Auburn, she coordinated diversity training programs, collaborated with campus offices related diversity events and strategic planning, and organized national, regional and local events and conferences focused on student and faculty recruitment and retention, persistence of STEM underrepresented minorities, and diversity strategic planning.

Florence is a certified mathematics middle grades teacher in Georgia where she taught middle and high school mathematics for five years. She also holds certifications in the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, the Wiley Everything DiSC and the National Coalition Building Institute. She is currently enrolled in the Cornell University Certified Diversity Professional/Advanced Practitioner program, on track for completion in November 2020. She also currently teaches in the Education and Business graduate degree programs for Southern New Hampshire University where she teaches courses in action research, nonprofit organizations and education factors of diversity.

Despite all her educational pursuits and professional career her main focus always remains her passion for children and their ability to find their calling and purpose through exposure and opportunity. Therefore, she is committed to giving back and serves in her community through her church (Greenwood Missionary Baptist Church) and youth ministry involvement, tutoring middle and high school students in mathematics and ACT preparation and serving as a Den Leader for Troop 170 of the Boys Scouts of America, Inc. in Tuskegee, Ala. She also serves as the church clerk and choir director at her church. She is a board member for the Alabama Prison Birth Project, member and officer of Jack and Jill of America, Inc. – Tuskegee Chapter, and during the 2020-2021 school year will serve as president of the Auburn Junior High School Parent Teacher Organization (PTO).

Her ultimate pride and joy are her three sons — Michael, Miles and Major — with whom she parents with her amazingly supportive husband, Michael.

Dr. Steve Robbins
S.L. Robbins and Associates

Often called a "diversity expert," Steve readily admits that he doesn't know if that's the right title. Steve considers himself more a life-long student of human behavior. For him, issues of inclusion and diversity are fundamentally issues of human behavior in a world filled with human differences.



His life experiences and academic background in communication science, social psychology and cognitive neuroscience create the foundation from which he crafts his talks and workshops. That science-based foundation guides his work and allows him multiple perspectives that he brings to bear on issues of inclusion, belonging and diversity.

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An inspirational speaker, he engages and captivates audiences all over the world (in-person and virtually) with his compelling stories and keen insight into human behavior. His presentation style is often described as a mix of Bill Nye the Science Guy, Saturday Night Live and The Big Bang Theory.

William (Bill) Pirolli, CPA/CFF/PFS, CGMA
Chair, AICPA
Partner, DiSanto Priest & Co., CPAs
Warwick, Rhode Island

William (Bill) Pirolli, CPA/CFF/PFS, CGMA, is the Chair of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA).

Over his 40-year career, Pirolli has served in several volunteer roles: the AICPA Board of Directors, the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (Association) Board of Directors, the AICPA MAP Committee, the AICPA Small Firm Advocacy Committee, AICPA Council, the Association Nominating Committee, the ENGAGE Planning Committee and the AICPA Relations with the Bar Association Committee. He is a Past Chair of the AICPA/PCPS Executive Committee, serving that committee for nine years.

Pirolli is a partner at DiSanto Priest & Co, CPAs, a multi-disciplinary accounting and financial services organization in Warwick, R.I. He maintains an active client base and focuses on trusted advisor services such as estate and succession planning, mergers and acquisitions, financing and litigation support, as well as traditional tax, accounting and advisory services.

He is past president of the Rhode Island Society of CPAs, where he served on numerous committees during 20 years of volunteer service. He was president of the Central R.I. Chamber of Commerce and served on the board of The Kent County Mental Health organization.

Pirolli earned a Bachelor of Arts in business with a concentration in accounting from Bryant University and recently received the AICPA Sustained Contribution Award for 20 years of continued volunteer service to the profession.

Nick Sellers, CEO
The World Games


Nick Sellers has deep roots in sports and service to the State of Alabama. And he brings that experience and passion to his position on loan from Alabama Power as CEO of The World Games 2022.

As former Chairman of the Alabama Sports Council, he led a board that oversaw the growth of several regional and national sporting events including the SEC Baseball Tournament, the Magic City Classic, and the Davis Cup Birmingham.

After beginning his career in sports marketing and as an advisor to the Governor of Alabama for economic development and policy, Nick joined Alabama Power in 2003 where he has held management positions both at Alabama Power and Southern Company including executive leadership of Business Origination, Project Management & Construction, Division Vice President, and Vice President of External & Regulatory Affairs.

In addition to the Alabama Sports Council, his other previous community involvement includes serving on the boards of the Bryant-Jordan Scholarship Foundation, Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex, and Board Emeritus member of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.

After earning his undergraduate from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, Sellers went on to earn his Juris Doctor from the Birmingham School of Law. He resides in Birmingham with his wife and three children.

Fran Allen Smitherman,CFA
Senior Vice President, Director of Equity Research
Regions Investment Management

Fran Allen Smitherman is the Director of Equity Research for Regions Investment Management. She manages a team of sector-specific equity analysts and oversees the management of multiple large cap equity portfolios, and she is also responsible for written publications for client distribution regarding equity strategy and performance. In the past few years public speaking engagements with clients and prospects throughout Regions' 16 state footprint have been a large part of her job, with a specialty in the outlook for the stock market as well as additional special topics such as the consumer outlook and the theme of women and investing. Ms. Smitherman has specialized in the Consumer Discretionary sector for many years, but has also covered the stocks in the Consumer Staples, Telecommunication Services, Industrials, Diversified Financials, and Healthcare sectors as well. She is a CFA charterholder and a former Board member of the CFA Society of Alabama.