NASBA president elect Daniel Dustin appoints four to key leadership

Daniel Dustin, president and CEO elect of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy, has appointed four to key leadership roles.

Kent Absec, Brenner “Brie” Allen, William “Bill” Emmer and Sedrik Newbern will join the leadership team effective Aug. 1, following the retirement of current NASBA president and CEO Ken Bishop.

“Kent, Brie, Bill and Sedrik each bring unique skill sets and a history of working directly with NASBA’s member Boards of Accountancy,” Dustin said in a statement. “NASBA is fortunate to attract these highly skilled individuals to carry out the important work of the organization and strengthen the NASBA culture as we transition into the future.”

Absec will serve as vice president of state board relations, a role previously held by Dustin since 2012. Absec will operate as an advocate for State Boards of Accountancy and provide support and services to NASBA’s board members. Absec previously served as executive officer for the Idaho State Board of Accountancy since 2012. He has also served six years on NASBA’s Computer Based Testing Administration Committee, five terms as a member of the Executive Directors Committee, and two years as the Executive Directors Committee chair and liaison to the NASBA Board of Directors.

Allen will serve as chief legal officer, overseeing all legal matters on behalf of NASBA. Allen’s background is in professional regulation, contracting and governance, with a focus on nonprofits engaged in innovative work. She recently served as legal counsel for a U.K.-based consulting firm’s U.S. and global offices. Previously, she practiced at a Raleigh, North Carolina-based law firm for a decade, working with NASBA, the Washington State Board of Accountancy and Texas State Board of Public Accountancy. She’s also worked and consulted for the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative.

Emmer will serve as vice president of operations and will oversee multiple operations at NASBA, including services related to the CPA examination, CPA licensing, the National Candidate Database, the National CPE Registry, information technology, and other products and services. He has previously acted as the enterprise program manager of the CPA exam in which he was responsible for day-to-day operations across the NASBA, American Institute of CPAs and Prometric enterprise. Emmer helped launch the continuous testing of the CPA exam and launched the exam in several international countries. 

Newbern will serve as president of the NASBA Center for the Public Trust and chief ethics officer. As CPT president, Newbern will manage nonprofit ethics and leadership organization’s day-to-day operations and the growing number of CPT programs. As chief ethics officer, he will oversee ethics compliance for the organization and will represent NASBA in ethics-related activities within the profession. Newbern has been at NASBA since 2019, first serving as CPT operations director before transitioning to a consultant for the CPT. Newbern’s prior experience lies in marketing and operations leadership roles across the insurance and nonprofit sectors. He has also taught as a professor at Western Kentucky University’s Department of Management for Gordon Ford College of Business.

President and CEO elect Dustin was appointed in April to succeed Bishop. He has been serving as NASBA’s vice president of state board relations since 2012. Prior to joining NASBA, he worked as executive secretary of the New York State Board for Public Accountancy. 

“Dan’s long history and expertise in accounting regulation makes him uniquely qualified to assume the role as president and CEO of NASBA,” NASBA chair Stephanie Saunders said in a previous statement. “I have had the distinct opportunity to collaborate with Dan over the years on key initiatives and programs including the Uniform Accountancy Act, CPA Evolution and Professional Licensure.”