Team | Meet the Team by Solas Consulting, INC

Linda Donaldson Abazaj

The founder of Solas Consulting, Linda brings over 25 years of experience in the life science, technology and manufacturing industries in both operational and technical roles. Linda’s extensive experience and involvement in projects allows Solas to provide not just resources but experience. Companies, both public and private, seek out Linda’s expertise and advice. She has led a number of project teams in SEC and Financial Reporting, IPO and IPO-readiness support, technical accounting support, SOX and integration support. In any engagement, Linda is able to quickly assess the project at a high level, dissect it into detailed tasks, develop a timeline and identify potential hurdles. Linda’s experience includes over ten years of consulting working on IPOs, business combinations and providing technical accounting support. She started her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers where she was a senior audit manager in the technology practice and then spent five years in industry prior to starting Solas Consulting.

Linda is a CPA and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Contact Information:
Phone: 617-515-5058
Email: LDonaldson@SolasConsulting.com

Kathy Donaldson

Kathy brings over 25 years of experience to her clients, providing accounting, SEC reporting and internal control services to both public and private clients in the life science and technology industries. Clients look to Kathy as a reassuring presence who can calmly partner with them to handle whatever challenges arise. Kathy has led numerous engagements supporting IPOs, SOX design and providing complex technical accounting support in areas such as debt, equity, stock-based compensation, revenue recognition and lease accounting. Prior to joining Solas Consulting, Kathy spent over 15 years at Raytheon where she was responsible for SEC reporting, implementation of new accounting standards, debt and equity financings, stock-compensation and pension accounting as well as overseeing the financial reporting and analysis for a $1 billion business area. She started her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers where she was an audit manager in the technology practice.

Kathy is a CPA and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA.

Contact Information:
Phone: 617-512-7310
Email: KDonaldson@SolasConsulting.com

Brendan Kracke

Brendan brings more than five years of accounting and reporting experience to Solas Consulting. Since joining Solas Consulting, Brendan has supported a variety of SEC reporting projects including IPOs, 10Qs and 10Ks. Brendan has also worked in complex technical accounting areas such as stock-based compensation, equity transactions and lease accounting. He has performed SOX testing, provided integration support and has taken on leadership roles with his clients. Brendan has a great understanding of deadlines and priorities and clients can count on him to meet their deadlines. Prior to Solas Consulting, Brendan held various roles of increasing responsibility in the PricewaterhouseCoopers Assurance practice including a tour in the Sydney Australia office.

Brendan is a CPA and holds a Bachelor of Arts and History in History and German from Boston College and a Master of Science in Accounting/Master of Business Administration from Northeastern University, Graduate School of Accounting.

Contact Information:
Phone: 617-335-9094
Email: BKracke@SolasConsulting.com

Kelly Littlewood

Kelly brings over 12 years of experience to her clients along with high attention to detail and ability to quickly grasp and add value to the client. Kelly’s engagements have included financial diligence on acquisition clients, audit support, SEC reporting and SOX testing. Kelly brings her audit experience to her clients with her ability to review complex accounting areas and validate accuracy. Prior to consulting, Kelly has served in controllership roles in technology companies. Previously, she was an audit manager in the technology practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers, where her experience included a secondment to the UK offices.
Kelly is a CPA and holds a Bachelor of Science from Boston College.

Contact Information:
Phone: 617-470-0587
Email: KLittlewood@SolasConsulting.com

Steven McNamara

With almost 15 years of experience Steve is a hands-on manager who calmly tackles whatever project is thrown at him. Steve’s experience includes multi-year audit support, financial statement preparation, SOX testing and operational accounting roles. He works with his clients to implement best practices in the close process and has assisted his clients with their audit process by preparing white papers and supporting documentation. Prior to joining Solas Consulting, Steve was an audit manager at McGladrey LLP (RSM).

Steve is a CPA and holds a Bachelor of Science from Boston College and a Masters of Science from Boston College.

Contact Information:
Phone: 617-529-0092
Email: SMcNamara@SolasConsulting.com

Dorothy Mite

Dorothy (Dodie) brings over 35 years of experience to her clients, providing accounting and reporting and SOX compliance services to public and private clients in the life science, technology and retail industries. Dodie is known as the go-to person who “gets the job done” but with a sense of humor. Dodie enjoys making a difference to her clients and once she starts working with a client, they never want to let her go. Prior to joining Solas, Dorothy worked as an independent consultant and held senior accounting manager positions at various companies.

Dorothy holds a Bachelor of Accounting from Northeastern University and a Masters of Business Administration from Bentley College.

Contact Information:
Phone: 603-560-3663
Email: DMite@SolasConsulting.com

Richard Motschwiller

With almost ten years of experience and his start in the IT audit practice of Pricewaterhouse Coopers New York office, Richard (Ricky) brings a diverse knowledge base to his clients. Ricky’s project management approach to objectives allows him and the team he is working with to break down projects into achievable, measurable goals, significantly increasing the likelihood of achieving those objectives on-time. Ricky’s experience includes IPO support and IPO-readiness support including multi-year and quarterly audits; SOX design, implementation and testing; integration support and complex technical accounting support in areas such as debt, equity, stock-based compensation, revenue recognition and lease accounting. Prior to joining Solas Consulting, Ricky was an audit senior at PricewaterhouseCoopers in the technology practice.

Ricky is a CPA and holds a Bachelor of Science, Accounting from Lehigh University.

Contact Information:
Phone: 347-504-5136
Email: RMotschwiller@SolasConsulting.com

Colleen Rubbelke

With almost ten years of experience and a mix of public and private, Colleen is able to quickly assess a project to identify where she can add the most value. She takes pride in providing solutions to her clients in a timely and efficient manner. Colleen’s experience includes business combinations and integrations, IPO support and IPO-readiness support; SOX design, implementation and testing and complex technical accounting support in areas such as goodwill, debt, equity, stock-based compensation, revenue recognition and lease accounting. Prior to joining Solas Consulting, Colleen was a controller for a private tech company and prior to that was a senior auditor at Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP in Virginia.

Colleen is a CPA and holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in Accounting from University of Richmond.

Contact Information:
Phone: 774-269-6223
Email: CRubbelke@SolasConsulting.com

Pam Vandal

With 15 years of experience with both public and private companies, Pam brings experience and a broad knowledge base to her clients. Pam’s experience includes SEC reporting, XBRL tagging, SOX implementation and testing and complex technical accounting support in areas such as goodwill, debt, equity, stock-based compensation, revenue recognition and lease accounting. Pam has served as the CFO of a private retail group and a tech company. She started her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers as an auditor in the tech practice and spent five years at TJX Companies as an audit and accounting supervisor.

Pam is a CPA and holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in Accounting and Marketing from Northeastern University and a Masters in Business Administration from Northeastern University.

Contact Information:
Phone: 617-515-8186
Email: PVandal@SolasConsulting.com

Solas Consulting, Inc.

Meet Solas Consulting Team