SPEAKERS

Actor, David Wallace on “The Office”

After his initial shot at acting didn’t pan out, Andy Buckley was five years into his career as a Financial Advisor at Merrill Lynch, part of a team managing over $500 million in personal assets, when he received the luckiest phone call of his life—the offer to appear on the NBC comedy The Office. His financial advisory background proved to be the perfect foundation for his fictional role as David Wallace, CFO of Dunder Mifflin Paper Company.

Buckley remained at Merrill Lynch for six more years while continuing his role on The Office, which led to numerous additional acting opportunities. He currently has regular roles on the HBO comedy Avenue 5, opposite Hugh Laurie and Josh Gad, as well as the Netflix action-comedy series FUBAR, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Past regular or recurring roles have included HBO’s Veep and Silicon Valley, as well as Shameless, The Lying Game, Odd Mom Out, Casual, and Scorpion.

In film, Buckley has appeared alongside actors ranging from Will Ferrell, Michael Keaton, and Mark Wahlberg (The Other Guys), to Jeremy Renner (The House), as well as Chris Pratt and the T-Rex (Jurassic World), and Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy (The Heat). Other film credits include Lady Bird, Bridesmaids, Bombshell, and Most Guys Are Losers, opposite Mira Sorvino.

Andy Buckley emcees and speaks at corporate and charitable events across the country. The combination of his corporate experience and The Office persona brings a unique and entertaining element to his speaking engagements.

Born in Boston, Buckley also spent time growing up in St. Louis, Chicago, and South Florida. He attended Stanford University, where he played on the golf team during his first two years. He is married, has two sons, and resides in Los Angeles.

Principal & Cybersecurity Consultant, CLA

David is a Principal and Cybersecurity Consultant in the CLA National Digital group with a strong focus on Offensive Cybersecurity.  He has over 14 years of experience in the field, performing penetration testing, vulnerability assessments, and social engineering engagements.  David’s expertise also includes project management for cybersecurity engagements across a diverse range of industries

CEO & Founder, CD Bradshaw & Associates

Carrie D. Bradshaw, CPA, CCIFP, is the CEO and Founder of CD Bradshaw & Associates, P.C. and has spent more than 25 years working alongside contractors to help them understand their numbers and make better business decisions. As a Certified Construction Industry Financial Professional (CCIFP), Carrie brings deep experience in construction accounting, job costing, and financial strategy, grounded in real-world practice rather than theory. Her background includes years as a shareholder in a regional public accounting firm, where she led the construction industry practice group before founding her own firm to better serve clients in specialized niches. Carrie is passionate about teaching business owners how their financials tell the story of their business and how to use that story to build stability, profitability, and long-term success.

Partner, Wipfli Advisory LLC

Bill Hughes is a partner with over 30 years of public accounting experience. He works primarily with closely held private companies, with an emphasis on construction organizations ranging from small, specialty subcontractors to national general contractors. Bill is passionate about building long-term client relationships by providing the necessary services, knowledge, and resources to help meet their business objectives and maximize their profits.

Miter

John Laufer is an early GTM member of Miter, the leading modern operating system built for construction, helping contractors streamline payroll complexities, field operations & expenses. With years of experience in the industry, John has played a key role in optimizing financial and operational processes for construction businesses in all fifty states. John is an active member of the Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA) Austin Chapter, serving on the membership committee & staying engaged with industry trends and best practices.

Senior Vice President & South Division Lead, Wintrust Commercial Banking

Chris VanTassel is a Senior Vice President and South Division Lead for Wintrust’s Construction, Engineering & Architecture (CE&A) practice, where he has spent more than 12 years helping construction-related businesses achieve their financial goals. Wintrust’s CE&A team provides specialized banking solutions to more than 300 construction, engineering, and architecture firms nationwide, representing over $1.5 billion in committed capital. With more than 18 years of commercial banking experience focused exclusively on the construction industry, Chris partners with Middle Market CE&A firms across the southern United States. His deep understanding of the industry’s unique financial and operational challenges enables him to provide strategic guidance and customized financing solutions that help clients grow, work through ownership transitions, and navigate the day-to-day nuances of the industry including project delays, slow pay, challenging owners, and seasonality to name a few. Chris is an active member of the Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA), the Associated General Contractors of Texas (AGC), the American Subcontractors Association of North Texas (ASA), TEXO, and the Dallas Surety Association.

Founder, First Rule Contract Training

Eliot is a teacher and a national public speaker as well as being a seasoned (37 years and counting) and cynical construction lawyer. In 2018, he founded First Rule Contract Training because he realized that teaching construction professionals how to avoid problems was vastly preferable to profiting off those problems as a lawyer. In 2022, Eliot was engaged by Crowe, LLP, a national accounting, and consulting firm, to teach construction law to its proprietary AI which has now been relaunched as First Rule Contract Manager.

Co-Founder & CEO, Siteline

Claire Wilson is the co-founder and CEO of Siteline, a billing software for subcontractors. Previously, she was a project manager at Tishman Construction in New York City, where she worked on major projects like Hudson Yards and JP Morgan's Corporate Headquarters. She is a national board director of the American Subcontractor Association, is an active CFMA San Francisco member, and has spoken at numerous regional and national construction conferences. Claire holds a BS in Civil Engineering from Bucknell University.