Rizzo and Vaz appointed to advisory council

Rizzo

Two distinguished alumni have joined the UB School of Management’s Accounting Advisory Council: James A. Rizzo, BS ’90, assistant vice president at National Fuel Gas Distribution Corp., and Ryan N. Vaz, MBA ’02, MS ’03, partner, financial services at KPMG.

The Accounting Advisory Council assists the School of Management and its Accounting and Law Department by providing external perspective and advocacy for the department’s programs and strategic priorities.

Jim Rizzo, a CPA, leads the Tax Department at National Fuel Gas Distribution Corp. Previously, he spent six years as director of tax at Greatbatch Inc. (now Integer Holding Co.) and a decade at PwC. A leader in his profession, Rizzo represents the Buffalo Niagara chapter of the Tax Executives Institute on the national board of directors, and previously served as tax committee chair for the local chapter of the New York State Society of CPAs.

Vaz

A dedicated School of Management alumnus, Rizzo has been a guest lecturer in classes and volunteered for 10 years on the planning committee for the annual Tax Institute.

Ryan Vaz brings more than 15 years of experience providing integrated audit, financial statement audit and attestation services to his role as audit partner in the KPMG’s New York Financial Services practice. A CPA, Vaz joined the firm’s Buffalo office after graduating from the School of Management in 2003 and transferred to the New York office three years later.

In addition to being an on-campus recruiter for KPMG at UB, Vaz has participated in many networking events, including Meet the Professionals Night, Career Conversations and Network New York.