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Bridgewater

The Bridgewater team of Stephen James Associates is led by former Accounting Professionals. The Managing Partners have a combined 40+ years of experience in the recruiting profession and represent a portfolio of clients and positions unmatched in the tri-state area. On a retained or contingency basis across all industries, we serve a majority of local Fortune 500 companies and their subsidiaries along with smaller, privately-held companies. Whether your permanent or temporary staffing needs are in Finance, Accounting, Audit, Tax or Treasury, we have the resources and relationships to serve as an integral partner in your hiring process.

Joe Stauffer, CPA

Expertise

Joe has 20 years of experience in the staffing profession, and in the past 15 years, has launched, developed and directed three of New Jersey's largest, privately-held recruiting firms. His most recent firm, Stafford Paige LLC, specialized in Accounting and Finance and was acquired by Allegis Group in January 2009. Allegis Group is the largest staffing company in the United States and the parent company of Stephen James Associates. Prior to Stafford Paige, Joe also co-founded the Morgan Paige Group, an accounting and finance search firm acquired by Spherion Corporation in January 2002. Prior to Morgan Paige, Joe co-founded and managed Rylan Forbes Consulting Group, a 3-office, 25 employee staffing firm headquartered in Edison, NJ. Founded in 1992, Rylan Forbes eventually merged with several, large specialty search firms and became ACSYS Inc. In February 1998, ACSYS Inc., with sales exceeding $100 million, completed its IPO on NASDAQ (ACSY). ACSYS was subsequently acquired by Netherlands-based Vedior Corporation in the summer of 2000.

Professional Affiliations

A veteran of the United States Air Force, Joe is an honors graduate of The Pennsylvania State University where he majored in Accounting. He is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the New Jersey Society of CPA's.

Michelle Mulvihill McBurnie, CPA

Expertise

Michelle began her professional career in Accounting where she accumulated over 11 years of Audit and Accounting experience working for Deloitte & Touche, Salomon Brothers and Viacom. In 1998, she made the transition to professional staffing, joining the Princeton office of Rylan Forbes Consulting Group. In 2000, Michelle joined the Morgan Paige Group, and became a Principal in 2002. Morgan Paige was acquired by Spherion Corporation that same year, and Michelle remained on board to assist with expanding the Accounting & Finance practice in the NJ and NY markets, eventually becoming one of the top producers in the country. Next, Michelle co-founded Stafford Paige LLC, an Accounting & Finance specialty recruiting practice acquired in 2009 by Allegis Group, the parent company of Stephen James Associates.

Professional Affiliations

A graduate of The Pennsylvania State University and Cedar Crest College, Michelle is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive) and a member of the Pennsylvania Institute of CPA's.

Al DeRosa

Expertise

Al spent the first ten years of his professional career in various Accounting & Finance positions within two Fortune 500 Companies. He transitioned to Executive search in 1998, where he became an integral part of a team opening a North Jersey branch for Rylan Forbes, an Accounting & Finance search firm. In early 2000, Al co-founded the Morgan Paige Group, which was eventually acquired by Spherion Corp., a NYSE human capital conglomerate. Al then co-founded Stafford Paige LLC, an Accounting & Finance specialty recruiting practice acquired in 2009 by Allegis Group, the parent company of Stephen James Associates.

Professional Affiliations

Al is a graduate from Moravian College where he received a degree in Business with a concentration in Finance.

Karen Zubulake, CPA

Expertise

Karen began her professional career in Accounting where she accumulated 15 years of audit, accounting and finance experience working at Deloitte & Touche and AT&T. While at AT&T, she made the transition to Human Resources and began recruiting for the Finance organization. In 2006, she transitioned to Executive Search, joining the Bridgewater, NJ office of Stafford Paige LLC which was acquired by Stephen James Associates in 2009.

Professional Affiliations

Karen is a graduate from Adelphi University where she received a degree in Accounting and is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive).

Barrett Cummins, CPA/MST

Expertise

Barrett has spent 15+ years in the staffing industry, initially working for a national recruiting firm and the last ten years managing a NJ/NY regional staffing firm specializing in Accounting & Finance. Barrett began his professional career in Accounting and Tax with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Philips Electronics and PNC Bank.

Professional Affiliations

Barrett received his Bachelor's degree in Accounting from Lehigh University and Masters of Taxation from Farleigh Dickinson. He is Certified Public Accountant (inactive).

Drew Bargholz

Expertise

After graduating with an MBA in Finance from the University of Notre Dame, Drew began his career at Arthur Andersen within their audit group, focusing on financial services clients in the NYC metro area. He moved to the Andersen Consulting group soon afterwards, assisting clients going through merger and acquisition scenarios with due diligence, integration and process reengineering.

Drew left Andersen to join a division of Salomon Smith Barney that focused on middle market merger and acquisitions on both the buy and sell side. He assisted clients with deal analysis, valuations, due diligence, and overall management of the M&A transaction.

Drew was recruited out of Salomon to join one of the largest technology law firms in the world as their Director of Financial Strategy, where he assisted the company internally with traditional finance and accounting functions. He also worked closely with C-Level executives at the firm's clients to provide guidance with regards to financial strategy, company structure, and obtaining various forms of financing.

Drew joined Robert Half International (a $4 billion publicly traded staffing firm) in 2003 as part of their Management Resources division, which is positioned as an alternative to using the Big 4 for consulting services on the finance and accounting side. After a short stint in RHI's Woodbridge office, he was recognized for his success and asked to start the consulting operation in Central New Jersey. Within three years, Drew grew this practice to the 2nd largest on the East Coast (behind NYC) with over $7 million in revenue. He was recognized by RHI as top Division Director twice, and as one of the top 20 individual performers in the world three times as well.

In 2010, Drew joined the Stephen James Associates Bridgewater, NJ office as their Consulting Practice Director.

Professional Affiliations

Drew is a graduate from University of Notre Dame where he received an MBA in Finance. Drew is also an Honorably Discharged Veteran of the United States Army National Guard.

Brian Petroski

Expertise

Brian has been in the Staffing Industry for 14 years specializing in Corporate Accounting, Finance, Tax and Audit as well as Public Accounting Audit and Tax Placement his entire career. He started and spent most of his career at Clark Davis Associates, a local New Jersey based Accounting and Finance Recruiting firm. Brian started with Stephen James Associates in 2010.

Over the years, Brian has worked with numerous clients ranging from the Fortune 500 to local, privately-held companies. Additionally, he assisted Big-4 and Regional public accounting firms hire tax, audit, forensics and other professionals throughout the NY/NJ Metropolitan area.

Professional Affiliations

Brian received his Bachelor's degree from Montclair State Univserity.