Internal Audit Biographies

James J. Rowan, Jr., CPA
Vice-President of Internal Audit
Mr. Rowan is a senior level executive and a CPA, who is currently the Vice President of Internal Audit 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.

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 Research 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 - Director of Financial and Operational Audit
Fred Cantz is the 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.

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.

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).

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.

Latoya Bascom – Internal Auditor
Latoya has over six years experience in healthcare auditing. She started her career at Riverbend RGBA, conducting Medicare cost report audits for CMS. Prior to joining UMDNJ, Latoya worked for Bergen Regional Medical Center as a Senior Auditor, and then as an Audit Manager. Her experience includes developing operational and compliance audit procedures in the healthcare environment. Latoya has a B.S. in Accounting from William Paterson University, and a Masters in Business Administration. She is currently working toward the designation of Certified Internal Auditor.

Michael J. Egan, CPA - Internal Auditor I
Mr. Egan came to UMDNJ after a thirty-year career with the Philadelphia City Controller's Office. As a member of the Controller's management staff, Mr. Egan participated in opinion audits of the city and school district financial statements, compliance audits, internal control reviews, special investigations, and performance audits. Several of his performance-audit reports won national awards.

In addition to his work with the Controller's Office, Mr. Egan taught accounting and auditing at Arcadia University, St. Joseph's University, Temple University, Pierce College, and Philadelphia University. As a member of the Education Committee of the Association of Local Government Auditors (ALGA), Mr. Egan presented training courses on performance auditing and report writing around the country. He also authored a number of articles for ALGA's Local Government Auditing Quarterly and the IIA's GAP News.

Mr. Egan holds a master's degree in accounting from Catholic University, Washington, D.C., and a bachelor's degree from the University of the Arts, and is a former member of The President's Own, the United States Marine Band, Washington, D.C.

Lydia Gray, B.A. - Internal Auditor
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).

Stephanie Liu – Internal Auditor
Stephanie has four years of experience in internal audit. Prior to joining UMDNJ, Stephanie was a Senior Internal Auditor for Caesars Entertainment. Her experience includes conducting financial, operational, SOX revenue testing and compliance audits in the gaming industry as well as non-gaming financial and operational audits (hotel, food and beverage, etc.). She is a member of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) and earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.

Thomas J. Scarantino - Internal Auditor
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
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).

Ambrose Umali, CPA - Internal Auditor
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.