CORE STAFF


Christine Marez
CIG, EE, LEED AP
Inspector General

Professional Certifications
Certified Inspector General (CIG)
LEED AP (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)

Experience
Ms. Marez has 25 years of experience in public sector construction, including public works contracting, construction policy and procedure development, process improvement and re‐engineering, and State regulatory compliance audits and internal management reviews. Her experience includes seven years with LAUSD as the Director of Policies and the Deputy Director of Project Management, developing policies and procedures and performing management reviews and internal process audits for compliance to approved policies and procedures. She was liaison to the Office of the Inspector General for audit response, review and coordination. Prior experience also includes fifteen years as a public sector senior construction manager and engineer, for such agencies as LAUSD, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, and the City of Los Angeles.

Bachelor of Science, Electrical Engineering, California State University, Los Angeles
Masters Degree Studies at University of Southern California

John Tonsick
CFE, CPA
Chief Investigator

Professional Certifications & Affiliations
Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE)
President of the Beach Cities Chapter of the Institute of Internal Auditors

Experience
He has more than 30 years of experience in fraud investigation, litigation support, internal auditing, and financial management. His public accounting and consulting experience includes more than 4 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers and its predecessor firm, Coopers & Lybrand. Industry experience includes oil & gas, financial services, real estate, transportation, health care, manufacturing, retail and non-profit organizations.

Bachelor of Science degree, Accounting from Robert Morris University, Pittsburgh, PA.

Sam Qiu
CPA
Senior Audit Manager

Professional Certifications & Affiliations
Certified Public Accountant (CPA)
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
California Society of Certified Public Accountants
Asian Business Center, Board Member and Chief Financial Officer
Asian Business Association, Past President

Experience
Mr. Qiu has over 20 years of private and public accounting experience, specializing in accounting, auditing and consulting of governmental entities and nonprofit organizations. He obtained his audit training with KPMG Peat Marwick and several national and local firms. He has extensive experience in performing financial and governmental related independent audits for public agencies such as City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Unified School District, and Metropolitan Transportation Authority, to name a few. He is frequently engaged to perform public construction and related engagements and is considered an expert in the applications of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), OMB A-87, A-21 and other local, state and federal guidelines as part of his audit work.

Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Major in Accounting, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, California.

Dulce Kapuno
CPA
Audit Manager

Professional Certifications & Affiliations
Certified Public Accountant (CPA)
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants

Experience
Ms. Kapuno has over 21 years of private and public accounting and auditing experience. Although Ms. Kapuno specializes in accounting and auditing of governmental entities and nonprofit organizations, she also has extensive experience in real estate, manufacturing and health care. During her professional career, she has managed and conducted many financial and compliance audits in accordance with Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS) and Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS), and is very well versed in OMB Circulars A‐133, A‐122, A‐110, A-21, A-87 and Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).

Bachelor of Science in Accounting, University of Southern California

Sonia Luna
CIA, CPA
Senior Audit Manager 

Professional Certifications & Affiliations
Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Certified Internal Auditor (CIA)
Institute of Internal Auditors, ISACA
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
California Society of Certified Public Accountants

Experience
Ms. Luna launched her career at Arthur Andersen LLP, where she acquired an extensive amount of Corporate Governance, Internal Audit and Regulatory Compliance consulting experience. Sonia honed this experience further as a Manager at Ernst & Young LLP and as a Senior Consultant at SingerLewak, a Los Angeles-based Certified Professional Accounting firm. Throughout her collective 12-year tenure in these organizations, Sonia worked with a variety of clients in multiple industries that included Entertainment, Bio Technology, Consumer Products, Hospitality, Manufacturing, Software Development, Professional Business Services, Oil and World Wide Web-based merchants, either as a leader or member of the audit engagement team. Sonia earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting from the California State University at Northridge, California.

Bachelor of Science degree, Accounting from California State University at Northridge, CA.

Clifford Dewey
LEED AP
Senior Program Manager

Education
Bachelor of Science, Industrial Management, University of Arizona

Experience
Mr. Dewey has 40 years of experience in the fields of facility planning, industrial engineering and project management, with public agencies in California and Arizona including LAUSD, the Port of Los Angeles, and the County of Los Angeles. For the past five years, Mr. Dewey was worked on the LAUSD $28 Billion school construction and renovation program, as Policies manager, conducting internal management reviews of programs, projects and operations. He was responsible to write District operational policies and procedures for managing projects, conducting internal management reviews on programs, projects and operations, training project managers and staff on policies and procedures, revising the District’s General Conditions and Administrative Specifications and “trouble shooting” problem projects.