Canisius University Accounting Society Banquet To Be Held April 23

March 22, 2015

-BUFFALO, NY – Keith Stolzenburg, CPA, managing partner in the Buffalo office of Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP, will be honored as the Outstanding Accountant in Western New York at the 59th annual Canisius University Accounting Society Banquet on Thursday, April 23 at Salvatore’s Italian Gardens.  Cocktails are at 5:30 p.m., dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m. 

The Canisius University Accounting Society will also recognize Michael J. O’Leary ’95, CPA, partner, advisory, and global internal audit leader at Ernst & Young LLP, during the organization’s annual dinner. O’Leary will receive the Dr. Joseph R. Coppola ’40 Award, which recognizes the exceptional achievements of a Canisius University accounting alumnus.

C. Brian Fox, CPA, founder and president of Capital Confirmation Inc., will serve as the evening’s keynote speaker.

Stolzenburg is managing partner of the Buffalo office of Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC). He also serves as upstate New York market team leader for PwC’s Rochester assurance practice.  Stolzenburg focuses his practice on financial services clients in the Upstate New York area and nationwide.

Stolzenburg has more than three decades of experience in public accounting. During that time, his clients have included a variety of business sectors, both public and private. He specializes in compliance, mergers and acquisitions, financial statements, tax and other accounting issues. Stolzenburg began his career in the Buffalo office of PwC in 1981 after graduating from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He progressively worked his way up the ranks at PwC. After several years at the firm’s New York City office, Stolzenburg was promoted to partner in 1995. He was named managing partner of PwC’s Buffalo office in 2014.

Stolzenburg is generous with his time and talents in the community. He serves as the president of the board at the Martin House Restoration Corporation, and as a board member and treasurer for the United Way of Buffalo and Erie County. For the University at Buffalo Foundation, Stolzenburg is a trustee and serves as chair of the audit committee.

A 1995 graduate of Canisius University, O’Leary is partner, advisory, of the Chicago office of Ernst & Young, LLP, a title he has held since 2007. He also serves as the firm’s global internal audit leader. O’Leary is responsible for practice management, client service, innovation and growth for a global practice of approximately 4,800 individuals. O’Leary also is a member of Ernst & Young’s global advisory executive committee. He has experience with internal audit co-sourcing and outsourcing, internal control/Sarbanes-Oxley advisory, fraud prevention, and investigation and enterprise risk management. Throughout his two decades in public accounting, O’Leary’s clients have ranged from private equity start-ups to Fortune 500 companies.

Prior to his current post, he was the risk practice leader for Ernst & Young’s Midwest region, responsible for 11 states. O’Leary also previously served as managing partner for the firm’s Rochester and Syracuse, NY offices for three years.  He began his accounting career in the assurance practice of Ernst & Young in its Buffalo office and transitioned to the advisory practice in 2001.

In the community, O’Leary volunteers his time with various public and not-for profit organizations. He serves or has served on the boards of the Central New York Alzheimer’s Association, Hillside Children’s Charities in Rochester, NY and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. For alma mater, O’Leary mentors undergraduate students as a member of the Canisius University Council on Accountancy.

Tickets for the event are limited. For more information, call the Canisius University Department of Accounting at (716) 888-2870.

Canisius University is one of 28 Jesuit universities in the nation and the premier private university in Western New York.