Mary-Joan Pelletier Potvin, CPA, CGMA, MSA, has over 30 years of experience in accounting, auditing, consulting, project management, course development, training, and higher education administration.

Before assuming her current position as Lecturer of Accounting at Merrimack College in September 2018, MJ taught for 13 years in the Master of Science in Accounting program at Suffolk University where she also served as the Associate Director of Graduate Accounting Programs.  She designed and taught graduate-level introductory and intermediate financial accounting courses in both online/flipped and traditional on-campus formats.

Prior to embarking on her teaching career, MJ spent 24 years in roles of increasing responsibility in accounting, auditing, and related fields.  Among other positions, she was an audit manager at Coopers & Lybrand (now, PricewaterhouseCoopers), a director of financial and SEC reporting for a healthcare management entity, and the controller of a publicly-held biotechnology company.

MJ is active in the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants where she serves on the board of directors of the Educational Foundation and as a member of both the Scholarship Committee and the Academic and Career Development Committee.

MJ earned her Master of Science in Accounting from Suffolk University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from Merrimack College.

Don Levis had over 35 years of experience in the Accounting profession prior to joining Merrimack College in 2013.  He started his professional career at Arthur Young & Company, where he earned his CPA while working on the audit staff.  Following his stint in public accounting, Don worked in Accounting and Finance for four corporations before retiring in 2012.  Among the companies he worked for were TASC ($600M service business) and Curtiss-Wright Corporation ($2B engineering and manufacturing business).  The roles that Don held in the private sector included Corporate Controller, Chief Accounting Officer and Director of Finance.

Don currently provides support to Notre Dame Education Center (NDEC) in Lawrence, MA, a not-for-profit organization that provides education, skills training, language and literacy development to low-income adults.  He serves as a member of NDEC’s Finance Committee.  Prior to joining Merrimack, Don was an adjunct professor of Accounting at UMass Lowell, North Shore Community College and Boston University.

Don earned his MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Colby College.

Michael Hyman
Professor of Accounting, Merrimack College

Michael has been a professor at Merrimack College for 3 years and has taught at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.  His coursework is focused on financial accounting, but also incorporates cost accounting and financial planning elements.  In addition, he has courses dedicated specifically to Microsoft Excel and the utilization of technologies in both understanding and working with financial information.  He received his BS and MS in Accounting from SUNY-Binghamton and his PhD from Syracuse University in 2016.  His research interests include how the accounting system is influenced by non-financial information transfer and how advertising influences investors’ abilities to properly price assets.

Dr. Zhao
Assistant Professor of Accounting, Merrimack College

Dr. Zhao is an Assistant Professor of Accounting at Girard School of Business. She earned her Ph.D. in Accounting from Florida International University, Master of Accounting from Indiana University and Master of Economics from University of Notre Dame. She has nine years teaching experience. She has taught Accounting for Business, Intermediate Accounting, Financial Reporting and Statement Analysis. Her research has focused on financial reporting issues, such as earnings management, earnings quality and disclosure. She is also interested in pedagogical research and has presented her innovative teaching methods at national and regional conferences. She is a member of the American Accounting Association and was recognized as a Doctoral Consortium Fellow at the AAA/Deloitte Foundation/J. Michael Cook 2013 Doctoral Consortium. Her research papers have been published in quality peer-reviewed journals.