Vineyard Group, LLC.

The primary Vineyard Group service team is made up of seasoned, talented financial and business professionals with well over 100 years of combined public accounting and executive and financial industrial management experience. Each team member is a Certified Public Accountant with a long and proven track record of excellence.

In the complex and complicated business and legal world that we live in, it is valuable and often necessary to be able to bring expert resources to bear to achieve desired results or solve a problem. General knowledge and experience, while providing a solid foundation, is no substitution for specialized training and experience.

Accordingly, each member of the Vineyard Group team has developed expertise and experience in a focused service area. Furthermore, the Vineyard Group and each member of its service team have made the long-term commitment of time and financial resources to complete an extensive certification process. As a result, they have each earned a professional designation that validates their unique and special knowledge, training, and commitment to excellence. Each designation required extensive training, testing, case study work, and mandates annual continuing education to maintain the credentials.

The Vineyard Group team has established close professional ties with the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts (NACVA) and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

Mr. Thomas P. Benson CPA, CFFA, the Managing Director of the Vineyard Group, has recently completed the certification process with NACVA to earn the designation of Certified Forensic Financial Analyst (CFFA). As a result, Mr. Benson joined an exclusive group of less than 100 experienced professionals worldwide who have achieved that level.

Joining Mr. Benson are John Whipple, Jr., CPA, CVA (Certified Valuation Analyst); Norma Lombardo, CPA, CVA; Scott Reed, CPA, CFD (Certified Fraud Deterrence Analyst); and Michael Staley, CPA, CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner). CFFA, CVA, CFD are designations of National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts and CFE is a designation of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

The Vineyard Group is an affiliate of Buffamante Whipple Buttafaro, P.C. (BWB), the largest certified public accounting firm in Southwestern New York with offices in Jamestown and Olean. Accordingly, the vast professional resources of BWB are available to supplement and enhance the primary Vineyard Group team on an as needed as desirable basis.