Kristofer DePaolo, CPA      email
Shareholder/CEO

Kris is an experienced, qualified CPA with special regard for small businesses. He really enjoys the confidence of his clients and brings a lot of capability and insight to their accounting. In Kris’s own words, here is how it happened…

It all began for me in 1978. Jimmy Carter was president, Wilt Chamberlain was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame, and Ben and Jerry opened their first ice cream parlor in Vermont. Growing up, I didn’t particularly enjoy school. I was into baseball, basketball, reading, and sports card collecting. It was sports cards that got me interested in numbers.

Raised in the Lehigh Valley and educated at Bloomsburg University, I moved back to the Valley after college. Working for a regional accounting firm in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, I learned all the practical things that were left out of my tax and accounting courses. After five years in their small business department, I left to become a controller for a private company–and realized how much I missed working with small business owners. I reentered the classroom, passed the CPA exam, and started two businesses.

My entrepreneurial style has done no lasting harm to my wonderful wife, who has blessed me with two beautiful children. I am amazed at all of the practical life lessons the children teach me. I enjoy navigating our clients through the tax waters and building relationships along the way.

Josh Panto, CPA      email
Shareholder/COO

Josh Panto is a Pennsylvania licensed Certified Public Accountant and member of the Pennsylvania Institute of CPAs. He has been with the firm since January of 2011, and offers a broad spectrum of abilities when it comes to business and individual taxes. His experience includes tax preparation and planning of personal, C and S corporations, partnerships, trusts, and gift taxes. Josh is also proficient with Quickbooks setup and bookkeeping. He earned his Bachelor degree in Accounting from West Chester University.

Josh grew up in the Lehigh Valley, and after college he returned and now lives in Allentown, Pennsylvania with his bulldog Coop. He is an avid sports fan and enjoys spending time with his family and friends, playing sports, and being outdoors. Public accounting and tax planning has always been a passion of his because of the ability to put a plan together and watch it all fall into place, and getting the opportunity to work with a wide variety of clients.

Keith Bowman, CPA      email
Shareholder/CFO

Keith Bowman is a CPA with over 20 years of accounting, finance and tax experience working in both public and corporate accounting. His experience includes tax preparation and planning for individuals, partnerships and corporations.  He is also skilled in financial statement preparation, financial projections, forecasting, budgeting and business consulting.  He graduated from Alvernia University in Reading, Pennsylvania in 1998.

Keith says this about his life and priorities: “While attending college and playing baseball I worked in the accounting department of a large public industrial company. I worked full time and played a lot of ball in the summer months.  I started my professional career at a regional accounting firm in the Reading area after graduating. After six years of public accounting I took an opportunity with an aggressively growing private company which helped me gain broader financial, accounting and operational experience in addition to a new perspective on accounting information.

“I am now back in the public accounting world, working with great people and helping clients satisfy their accounting, financial and taxation needs. My experience working with both small and large entities can help companies and individuals learn to use the information we create to help them make better decisions both personally and professionally.

“I have always had a strong work ethic but believe strongly in work-life balance, now more than ever with two young ones at home. My wife and I are huge sports fans and we enjoy watching, playing and teaching sports to our kids. I also love golfing with friends, playing cards with my wife and spending valuable time with family.”

Andrew J. Werner, CPA      email
Founder

Since his years at Muhlenberg College and Lehigh University (MBA), Andy has been a small business person at heart. His earliest accounting experience was gained working on small businesses for a local CPA firm. After about three years, he moved to Mack Truck, where he learned the application of cost accounting in manufacturing and distributing complex products, budgeting and forecasting, and competitor studies. But he always kept in mind how techniques and concepts would relate to shop owners and service providers.

In 1988, he founded Werner & Co., partly in the interest of his family. “I loved having milk and cookies with my daughters after school. I thought if I owned my own business I could work half days. I soon learned that I could even pick which 12 hours it was!” Now moving into its second generation, the firm is well positioned for the future. “I am very fortunate to have Kris and Josh follow me in the business. They are trustworthy, quality-oriented and very sharp. I really like them both as peers and as people.”

For years, Andy has been a board member of organizations devoted to children, among them KidsPeace and Swain School. His tenure there has guided his focus into strategic consulting, now a big part of his contribution to Werner & Co. His own family includes his wife, Maggie, and the bright lights of their life—their six grandchildren. About his family, Andy observes, “Forty-plus years of marriage teach a great deal about the depth of relationships, and I enjoy learning those lessons every day.”

Elizabeth Lischner, CPA      email
CPA

Elizabeth is an accounting late bloomer. After obtaining her degree in physics and working as a systems analyst and programmer for a number of years, she took a break to raise a family. During that time, she fell in love with preparing tax returns. After the birth of her last child, with encouragement from her family, she returned to school to complete her accounting degree and obtain her CPA license. During those years she kept an index card on their fridge with a timeline, at the end of which was owning and running her own accounting practice. She accomplished that goal in 1998.

Fourteen years later, the increasing administrative tasks were keeping her from what she most enjoyed—preparing tax returns. So she decided to cut back. A series of conversations with Andy Werner, whom she had met many years before, led to the merger of their firms at the end of 2012. Elizabeth is delighted to have brought her years of experience with small business and individual taxes to Werner  & Co. and to be working with this wonderful group of people.

Elizabeth lives in Salisbury Township with her husband. She loves to spend time with their family (especially their four grandchildren), play Scrabble, read, and take advantage of the rich cultural life of the Lehigh Valley.

Ellen Mocarsky      email
Paraprofessional

Ellen joined the firm in the summer of 2000. Many of our complex individual tax returns cross Ellen’s desk during tax season. She enjoys the challenges that come from working through income tax issues, although she will admit that the highlight of tax season is catching up with everyone each year.

Ellen grew up in Philadelphia and moved to the Lehigh Valley in 2004, but never lost her passion for Philadelphia baseball. She enjoys spending time with her family, reading, cooking, music, time at the beach, and, of course, watching her Phillies.

Kelly Bruno      email
Senior Accountant

Kelly handles many of our more complex individual and tax clients. She works on federal, state, and local income tax returns, as well as payroll taxes, local business privilege taxes and procedural issues that arise when clients run into problems with QuickBooks^©. She has been with the firm since our incorporation in 1996 and has become very knowledgeable, especially in the area of state credits in designated areas like Keystone Improvement Zones.

A lifelong resident of western Lehigh County, Kelly graduated from the excellent accounting program at Susquehanna University. She enjoys spending time with family and friends, sharing her children’s activities, and watching her son play baseball for Parkland High School.

Kaitlin Soller, CPA      email
Senior Accountant

Kaitlin joined the firm in 2019 and became a full-time staff accountant here in 2020. She works with small businesses in managing their bookkeeping and preparing their tax returns, along with preparing individual income tax preparation. A Maryland native, she loves watching the Orioles and Washington football. She moved to the Lehigh Valley with her husband, and they enjoy watching sports, playing games, and spending time together.

Anthony Buczek      email
Supervisor

After beginning his career in the late 1980s with a National Big Four accounting firm, Tony worked for over 20 years at two large local Lehigh Valley accounting firms specializing in financial reporting, auditing, forensic accounting, tax planning and tax preparation. He then spent over seven years working with two public accounting clients in Controller and CFO roles and assisted each company in achieving significant strategic goals.

Tony enjoys developing and sharing his professional knowledge. He has been a speaker for Wilkes University and other continuing education providers for over 20 years. In his free time Tony enjoys sports, reading, and spending time with his family.

Steve Kaunitz, CPA      email
CPA

Steve has over 40 years of experience in taxation and accounting. He is a graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting (cum laude). Steve entered public accounting with Touché Ross & Co. (a “Big Eight” accounting firm at the time) in the Newark, New Jersey office. Born and raised in Allentown, he was pleased to accept a position with Hess’s Department Stores as the Assistant Treasurer. In 1979, Steve returned to public accounting as a staff accountant with Cohen & Rogozinski, CPAs. In 1980, Steve directed his own accounting firm, Kaunitz & Company, CPAs, until recently, when he joined forces with Werner & Co.

When not working, he enjoys playing golf and being with friends and his family.

Michael A. Kaunitz      email
Senior Accountant

Mike joined the firm in November 2023. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Penn State and graduated with distinction. After college, Mike worked for Deloitte & Touché (a “Big Four” accounting firm) in the Philadelphia office where he was part of the Investment Management team auditing mutual funds and hedge funds. Since 2008, Mike had been a CPA at Kaunitz & Company, CPAs, then at Werner & Co., working with individuals and small businesses.

He is a lifelong resident of the Lehigh Valley and resides in Macungie with his wife, Amy, and his two children, Ryan and Kira.

Matthew Makos      email
Staff Accountant

Since joining the firm in November 2023 through the merger with Kaunitz & Company, CPAs, Matt works with small businesses preparing their LLC, Partnership and Corporation income tax returns, and expertly assists clients as a QuickBooks ProAdvisor.

Matt was raised in Hellertown until joining the U.S. Army stationed in Anchorage, Alaska. He lived in Alaska for 24 years before returning to Bethlehem in July 2013. He loves the outdoors, fishing, camping, hockey, and homebrewing.

Liz Miller      email
Administrative Assistant

Liz joined the firm as an administrative assistant in March 2021. She is learning the tax business and discovering that she loves it, finding that there is much to learn. Prior to that she worked as a book binder and in various office positions at Ingram. In 2000 she helped her husband launch a successful wedding photography business after dramatically booking 50 weddings at a single show. She has helped husband Tim operate the business for over twenty years, sometimes photographing as well.

She has lived in the Lehigh Valley all her life. She currently lives in Allentown with her husband and two dogs (Angel and Chimi). She loves dogs, the beach, and being home with her family.

Michelle Doster      email
Administrative Supervisor

Michelle joined the firm in January 2023 as an administrative assistant. She graduated from Liberty University with a Master’s in Accounting. Prior to the firm, Michelle committed her time to directing a sports ministry and is a PIAA certified basketball referee.

Michelle moved to Pennsylvania in 2013 and lives with her husband Jeff, their two daughters and three dogs. She loves being a dance mom and playing golf in her spare time.

Linda DePaolo      email
Admin Support

After owning her own business for eleven years and staying at home with the children for seven, Linda was happy to have joined the firm in August 2018. You will normally catch her up front when entering the building but she assists everyone at the firm with various tasks.

Linda currently lives in Macungie and enjoys spending time catering to Carter and Ava.