O’Dell, who was a trustee of the Financial Accounting Foundation, which oversees both FASB and GASB, serves as a principal and CFO of a family-owned enterprise specializing in real estate development and construction, and of a hotel and restaurant business.

O’Dell also operates her own business valuation and litigation support practice. She was formerly managing shareholder of a Pennsylvania-based accounting firm.

Meanwhile, the AICPA awarded its first Tax Public Service Award to Ernst & Young LLP for the firm’s work in the aftermath of the hurricanes. Tom Purcell, immediate past chair of the Institute’s Tax Executive Committee, presented the award to Chuck Kowal, CPA, partner and director of personal financial services at Ernst & Young, at the Federal Tax Conference and Fall Tax Division Meeting. The committee created the award to further the Tax Division’s goal of serving the public and enhancing pro bono opportunities for AICPA members.

Brackens will provide support and strategic direction for the AICPA’s peer review programs and for the Employee Benefit Plan and Governmental Audit Quality Centers.

Brackens comes to the position from his own accounting practice, which served closely held businesses and nonprofit organizations in Virginia. He has performed more than 300 peer reviews of small accounting firms since 1990.

The award, presented by AICPA Vice-Chair Randy Fletchall, recognizes Hoffman’s contributions to the development of XBRL, a mark-up language that facilitates the preparation, analysis and communication of business information.

Hoffman is credited with conceiving the idea of using XML to structure financial statements and with developing the initial XBRL prototype. He is the director of innovative solutions at UBmatrix, a software company based in Kirkland, Wash.