Leadership Team

Newel Linford, CPA, CISA

Newel has over 14 years of internal control and audit, IT assurance and advisory, and accounting experience; 9 of those years were with a “Big Four” accounting firm.  During his career, he has been responsible for a significant number of SSAE 16/SOC 1 (formerly SAS 70) audits for companies spanning a variety of industries. Newel has developed SSAE 16/SOC 1 training content, led SSAE 16/SOC 1 training, and acted as the SSAE 16/SOC 1 quality leader for an entire “Big Four” region within the United States. He also guest lectures at several universities on various topics related to advancements in information technology accounting. He is a certified public accountant (CPA) in the state of Colorado, a certified information systems auditor (CISA), and a member of both the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Colorado Society of CPAs. Newel holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Information Systems degree from Brigham Young University.

 

Rob Pierce, CISA

Rob has over 9 years for information systems auditing experience. Prior to starting Linford & Company, Rob worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers in their Systems and Process Assurance group as well as for a variety of Public and Private companies. He has experience in service organization audits (ie SSAE 16), data analytics, industrial control and SCADA systems, and IT/Business process improvement.

Rob is a certified information systems auditor (CISA). He is also a member the Institute of Internal Auditors and the Information Systems Audit and Control Association. Rob received his Bachelor’s of Science degree in Organizational Leadership and Supervision from Purdue University and his Master’s of Science degree in Business Administration – Computer Information Systems from Colorado State University.

 

Nicole Hemmer, CISA

Nicole has over 10 years of experience in internal control-based audit, project management, attestation, and assurance services; 7 of those years were with a “Big Four” accounting firm. She has held responsibility for a significant number of SSAE 16/SOC 1 audits, internal control reviews, IT general control reviews, and Sarbanes-Oxley section 404 attestation engagements for large SEC accelerated filers. She is also a CISA and a member of the Information Systems and Control Association. Nicole holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Information Systems from Indiana University.