Internal Audit Biographies

James J. Rowan, Jr., CPA
Chief of Staff
Vice-President of Internal Audit and Investigations
Mr. Rowan is a senior level executive and a CPA, who is currently the Vice President of Internal Audit and Investigations at the nation’s largest university of health sciences, the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey.

Prior to this position, Mr. Rowan was the Chief of Staff to the former Interim President of the University before serving as the Interim Senior Vice President for Administration. He has led the Purchasing Review Team, Committee on Internal Controls Processes, and the Financial Relations Task Force.

Mr. Rowan came to UMDNJ following a thirty-two year career with the United States Postal Inspection Service. Starting in an entry level Postal Inspector position domiciled in New York City, he rose through the ranks to become the Deputy Chief Inspector for Headquarters Operations where he supervised a staff of 400 executives, managers, professional and administrative personnel. He retired holding a Top Secret /SCI clearance.

He has held numerous senior level headquarters executive positions in the Postal Inspection Service including Acting Chief Inspector and Deputy Chief Inspector for Security & Technology, and for Administration. He was responsible for field level operations as Inspector in Charge of the Washington, DC Division and earlier as the Assistant Regional Chief Inspector - Internal Audit in the Northeast Region.

Mr. Rowan also held a leadership role on the Postmaster General’s crisis committee dealing with the Postal Service response to 9/11 and the Anthrax mailings. He worked with senior level postal officers and executives on evolving national security, mail security, and emergency management initiatives.

At UMDNJ, Mr. Rowan has used his ten years experience leading internal audits focusing on financial integrity, internal controls, operations/performance, and management consulting in directing the activities in the Internal Audit Department. He has also relied on his experience in managing, evaluating, and conducting criminal and administrative investigations to direct compliance investigations at the University.

Mr. Rowan holds an MBA from St. John’s University in New York and a Bachelor of Science from Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania.

John W. Ras, CIA, CCSA - Director of HealthCare and Information Technology Audit
John has fifteen years experience in the healthcare and not-for-profit industry performing and managing financial, operational, compliance and integrated information technology audits. Prior to joining UMDNJ, John was the Director of Internal Audit at Catholic Health and Human Services where he was responsible for management of internal audit related activities. John also worked for five years at Bon Secours Health Care System in Internal Audit and four years with Empire Medicare Services conducting Medicare cost report audits. John holds credentials as a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) and Certification in Control Self-Assessment (CCSA). John is a member of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA), and Association of Healthcare Internal Auditors (AHIA). John has a B.S. in Accounting from Queens College, CUNY.

Frederick J. Cantz, Jr., CPA, CFE - Acting Director of Financial and Operational Audit
Fred Cantz is the Acting Director of Financial and Operational Audit at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and is based at the Stratford Campus. Fred’s internal audit experience includes a twenty-six year career with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, where as a Postal Inspector/Team Leader, he was responsible for management of internal audit related activities for the States of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Southern New Jersey. He also served as Director, Corporate Compliance at AlliedBarton Security Services, where he was responsible for internal audit, investigations and licensing and regulatory affairs. Fred is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), and received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from La Salle University.

Bruce Cavalier, B.S. - Internal Auditor I
Bruce has over twenty-eight years in audit experience in higher education and rail freight. Prior to joining UMDNJ, Bruce was a senior auditor at Princeton University, responsible for auditing university operations, including: budgeting, purchasing, payroll, A-133 government audits, fraud and investigations, corporate governance, and legal regulatory compliance. As a financial analyst for Consolidated Rail Freight, Bruce was responsible for monitoring the cost of freight operations and determining the reasons for variances between actual and budget. Bruce earned a B.S. in Accounting from Rutgers University and is a member of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) and the Association of College and University Auditors (ACUA).

Olga S. Grullon, CPA - Internal Auditor I
Olga has over seventeen years experience performing and managing financial, operational, and compliance audits for healthcare, government, and not-for-profit organizations. Prior to joining UMDNJ, Olga worked for two years at The Methodist Hospital System in Houston, Texas, and one year at Memorial Sloane-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, NY, as a senior internal auditor. In addition, she spent six years at the Bon Secours and Canterbury Partnership for Care in Jersey City, NJ as a senior internal auditor and was a Director of Special Projects in the Finance Department. Prior to joining Bon Secours, Olga worked for four years at KPMG performing financial statement audits, agreed-upon procedures, and A-133 audits. She worked for five years as a senior internal auditor for the Port Authority of NY and NJ. Olga is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a member of the New York State Society of CPAs.

Richard Felton, MBA - Internal Auditor I
Richard has over thirty years of internal audit experience in both the public and private sectors.  Prior to joining UMDNJ in June, 2004, Richard was the Audit Director at William Paterson University for seventeen years and three years as a Senior Staff Auditor at Rutgers University.  Richard has eleven years of additional internal auditing and compliance auditing experience in the food service, airline, and banking industries.  Richard is a graduate of Bloomfield College, Bloomfield, New Jersey with a B.A. in Business Administration. He also earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Manhattan College, Riverdale, New York. Richard is a member of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), Association of College and University Auditors (ACUA), and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE).

Lydia Gray, B.A. - Internal Auditor III
Lydia is a graduate of Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, earning a B.A. in Management and Employment Relations. She has also earned a Diploma in Computerized Accounting from the Cittone Institute. Lydia joined UMDNJ’s Logistical Services in November, 2006 and transferred into Internal Audit in September 2007. Prior to joining UMDNJ, Lydia worked at Rutgers University for six years as an Administrative Assistant maintaining journals, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and payroll and was a Mortgage Processing Associate at Summit Bank for four years. Lydia is a member of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA).

Alberto Quezada, CISA, CISM, OCP - IT Auditor I
Alberto joined the university with 15+ years of combined experience in corporate information technology, finance and IT Audits. He worked for various Fortune 500 Companies including Campbell Soup Co and Johnson & Johnson (J&J), where he was an IT Audit Manager and a Senior Lead Corporate IT Auditor respectively. He supervised teams performing audits, internal control and compliance reviews of information systems and processes worldwide. Prior to joining J&J, he worked in Puerto Rico, with Eli Lilly Pharmaceutical, for four years as a Senior IT Consultant/Project Manager and with Corning, Inc., for 12 years as Information Technology Administrator as part of the Corning Global Corporate IT organization.

Alberto earned an MS in Computer Science with Majors in IT Security and Database Management from Boston University (BU - Boston), B.S. Computer Science from Sacred Heart University (USC - Puerto Rico) and Bachelor in Accounting from Dominican World University (UMD - Dominican Republic). He holds the credentials of a Certified Information System Auditor (CISA), Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) and Oracle Certified Professional Database Administrator (OCP).

Adejoke Sanusi, CPA, FCA - Senior Audit Manager
Adejoke has twenty-one years working experience as an auditor in public accounting, with strong auditing skills and experience with Big Four and Mid-Size firms (US and Non-US). She has twenty years of providing auditing/attestation and business advisory services in Audits of Corporations and their Subsidiaries, financial services, manufacturing, and energy. She has extensive experience in developing operational, financial and compliance audit procedures in Non-Profit and Governmental Organizations. Adejoke is heavy on Single Audits including OMB Circular A-133 for Higher Education. Prior to joining UMDNJ, Adejoke was an Audit Manager with Mitchell &Titus, LLP (a member firm of Ernst & Young Global Limited). Adejoke recently completed the New Jersey Healthcare Financial Management Certification Series Course.

Thomas J. Scarantino - Internal Auditor I
Tom has twenty-seven years of healthcare finance experience including twenty-one years in various management positions. He has worked in Internal Audit for five years and has experience performing financial, operational and compliance audits in the acute care hospital setting. Prior to joining UMDNJ, Tom spent four years as Controller of 15W Pharmacy-Edison, Inc., a long term care pharmacy and spent the prior twenty-three years working in acute care hospitals including Saint Barnabas Healthcare System and Cathedral Health Care System where he held in various roles including two years as Corporate Manager of Internal Audit for the Saint Barnabas Health Care System and three years as Director of Internal Audit for Monmouth Medical Center.

Latha Sharma, MBA, PMP - IT Internal Auditor I
Latha has over fifteen years of IT experience in transportation services, consulting, and pharmaceuticals. Prior to joining UMDNJ in 2008, Latha was an internal auditor at United Parcel Services for one year and responsible for evaluating general IT application controls and operations, access security, physical security, and SOX. Her consulting experience includes: project leader for system development life cycles related to enterprise billing, contract chargeback systems, financial systems, trading pricing systems, manufacturing and sales systems, liaison between IT and the internal audit department, and re-engineering business processes. Latha earned an M.B.A from Centenary College, an M.S. in Computer Science and a B.S. in Physics, Mathematics, and Chemistry and holds the designation of Project Management Professional (PMP).

Eugene Simon, CPA - Internal Auditor II
Eugene started his career at a large national real estate and financial consulting firm. While there, he provided audit, attestation, and business advisory services for numerous entities. Prior to joining UMDNJ, Gene was a supervisor with Sobel & Co., where he conducted forensic investigations and provided litigation support. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), The New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA), and The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE).

Senh D. Thai, CPA, CISA, CITP, CISSP - IT Audit Senior Manager
Senh has over sixteen years of combined experience in corporate accounting, finance audit, and IT audit. Prior to joining UMDNJ, Senh was a senior IT auditor at both Cendant and Tyco. He also worked for Lucent Technologies as an IT audit manager. Senh holds credentials as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Information System Auditor (CISA), Certified Information Technology Professional (CITP), and Certified Information Security System Professional (CISSP). Senh was also a former Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA).

Ambrose Umali, CPA - Internal Auditor I
Ambrose has over eight years experience in public accounting, including three years as a senior internal auditor for a major utility company. His experience includes performing financial statements audits, A-133 audits, agreed-upon procedures audits, PCAOB/SOX compliance, and other types of audits (operational, compliance, performance, etc.). Ambrose is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in New Jersey and has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, major in Accounting. He is a member of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), and New Jersey Society of CPAs (NJCPA).

Ihor Y. Vynnytsky, MA - Internal Auditor II
Ihor has over twenty-five years experience in higher education developing, managing, evaluating, and securing funding for education and training improvement programs.  Prior to joining Internal Audit in 2007, Ihor was with UMDNJ's School of Nursing for one year focusing on grants and contracts in health sciences related education.  During the three years Ihor was at Rutgers University, he was responsible for securing funding for student academic support programs in the health sciences.  At Educational Testing Service in Princeton, he was responsible for developing, managing, and conducting quality assurance audits of higher education assessment and university admissions programs.  Ivy earned his M.A. in Developmental Psychology from Cornell University.

Yiya Yuan, M.S. - Senior Audit Manager
Yiya started her career with PricewaterhouseCoopers in the Audit and Assurance Service Division. Her auditing experience covers clients in various industries, including energy, transportation, manufacturing, and high technology. Prior to joining UMDNJ, she spent two years in the internal audit department of Tyco International and two years in the McGraw-Hill Companies internal audit department. Yiya earned a Master of Science degree in Accounting from Boston College and she is now working towards becoming a Certified Public Accountant.