Top Oracle accountant to headline ICAJ conference

Kimberly Ellison-Taylor, global accounting strategy director for Oracle Corporation, the California-based American multinational software and technology powerhouse, has been tapped to be keynote speaker for the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Jamaica (ICAJ) business conference 2018.

The conference will be held on Friday, October 5, at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in Kingston.

Ellison-Taylor, a certified professional accountant (CPA), served as both chair of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) board of directors and chair of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, the global accounting organisation formed as a joint venture between the AICPA and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants in the USA.

The distinguished accounting professional from Baltimore, Maryland, USA, who helps lead innovation at Oracle to keep the company ahead in a business where technology is always changing, is ideally suited to speak on the conference's theme: 'MegaTrends 3.0 - Changing Times ... Changing Strategies'.

CAREER HISTORY

Oracle is the global leader in cloud solutions and other technological innovations. Before Oracle, Ellison-Taylor held leadership positions in other prominent organisations, including NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre; the 90-year-old telecommunications multinational Motorola; and KPMG, the global tax, audit and corporate advisory services consultancy.

Ellison-Taylor earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Maryland - Baltimore County, a master of business administration at Loyola University, and a master's in information technology at Carnegie Mellon University.

Other speakers at the ICAJ conference will include Sree Ramaswamy, senior fellow at McKinsey Global Institute; Raymond Campbell, president of the ICAJ and partner at the professional services firm KPMG; and Leighton McKnight, member of the global accounting body, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, and territory leader for accounting services provider PricewaterhouseCoopers Jamaica. They will be joined by Odetta Rockhead-Kerr, vice-president and county head of business process outsourcing company, Sutherland Jamaica; John Gibson, senior IT security officer at information technology company Tech Limited; and Dr Aggrey Irons, consultant psychiatrist.

Conference topics include global economic trends and implications; governance and transparency in the digital age; business process outsourcing boom; data security; cryptocurrency; attracting talent in a changing environment; professional accountants - keeping relevant in the digital age; and coping with change; Is Jamaica ready for the end of single-use plastic items?