Knowledge Center
About us
Leadership Team Bios
David S. Landau, President & CEO
Phil Ramacca, Senior Managing Director, Internal Audit & Forensics
Alan E. Scholnick, Managing Director, Financial Services & Real Estate
Keith Snyder, Managing Director, Risk Management
Jennifer Lin, Managing Director, Compliance
Wayne Parker, Managing Director, Internal Audit & Forensics
Emmet Austin, Managing Director, Internal Audit & Forensics
Michael Sullivan, Managing Director, Real Estate
David S. Landau, President & CEO
David Landau is the founder of DLA, and serves as the firm’s President & CEO. David is a recognized expert in the area of internal control, internal audit and Section 404. David founded the firm in 2001 based on his identification of an absence in the market of a firm that could serve as an independent and objective resource for companies, their accounting firms and Audit Committees, which often had audit engagement or tax advisory conflicts of interest with their service providers. David’s background is in Real Estate, Insurance and Private Equity.
David works directly with the Audit Committees of DLA's clients on financial, operational and compliance risk matters. David also serves as a subject matter expert on many internal audit topics, including construction audit, forensic matters and internal control over financial reporting.
David is also the founder of the Gift of Camp charity, which raises money for the Children’s Cancer Center and Morristown Memorial Hospital.
Prior to forming DLA, David worked for Pricewaterhouse Coopers, LLC in the Mergers & Acquisition Advisory Services department serving a variety of industries. Responsibilities included performing advisory due diligence for buy-side LBO and strategic clients ranging from $10 million to $4 billion. In addition to the Mergers & Acquisition Advisory Services experience, David worked for Ernst & Young LLP, performing financial audits of Blue Cross Blue Shield, Fortis, Health First, Multi –Plan, Robert Plan, Eagle Insurance, NCIC, American Express (Europe), Lehman Brothers, Bankers Trust and McGraw Hill.
David was also the founder of Alumnipride, Inc., a successful Internet venture, which provided software and marketing services to affinity groups. Alumnipride was sold to a strategic buyer in September 2000, where David served as the CFO and EVP of Corporate Development. While at Alumnipride, David was responsible for the Company’s strategy, raising venture capital financing, sales and product development.
Education and Affiliations
- Pennsylvania State University – BS in Accounting
- Certified Public Accountant
- Member of the Real Estate Advisory Board at the Pennsylvania State University
- Member of the Young Presidents’ Organization
Phil Ramacca, Senior Managing Director, Internal Audit & Accounting Advisory
Phil Ramacca is a Senior Managing Director with DLA, LLC. Phil has over 20 years of broad business experience, both as a Controller and in public accounting. Phil held several positions at Newsday, one of the largest metropolitan newspapers in the United States, including Controller and Director of Circulation. His responsibilities included developing and writing the company strategic plan; creating operating budgets; planning and managing the implementation of an ERP system; oversight for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance; managing all financial functions of Newsday; and developing and implementing accounting control procedures. Phil began his career with Ernst & Young LLP where, for 10 years, he provided a full range of financial and accounting services. Phil worked closely with senior management in various industries. His responsibilities included coordinating client engagements; post-engagement discussions with client executives; recognizing, researching, and resolving technical accounting and auditing issues; consulting on business combinations; assisting clients negotiating debt agreements; and writing and editing financial statement footnotes and SEC filings.
Education and Affiliations
- Long Island University, CW Post - BS degree in Accounting
- Certified Public Accountant
- Member of the American Institute of CPAs
- Member of the New York State Society of CPAs
Alan E. Scholnick, Managing Director, Financial Services & Real Estate
Alan is a Managing Director at DLA where he oversees DLA’s Financial Services and Real Estate verticals. He also spearheads DLA’s Compliance practice, which was launched to meet the securities regulatory needs of registered and unregistered investment advisors and broker-dealers in response to the Dodd-Frank Act.
Alan is a successful entrepreneur with over 20 years of finance, real estate and aviation experience. Prior to joining DLA, Alan had been a Senior Advisor at Greenwich-based investment bank SkyWorks Capital LLC. During his four years at SkyWorks, Alan was active in deal origination and advising clients on financial strategy, aircraft financing, business planning, capital raising and corporate finance.
He is regarded as a pioneer in aviation, particularly in Asia, having been a Co-Founder and Board Director of Metrojet Ltd, Asia’s leading full service business aviation company and Hong Kong’s third passenger airline. Alan utilized his financial, operational and execution skills to guide Metrojet’s evolution from conception to reality. His ability to penetrate this highly regulated industry was a testament to Alan’s strategic direction, as well as his entrepreneurial acumen and innovative thinking.
Alan is well connected in the private equity and hedge fund communities having formerly been with Commonwealth Associates, LP where he was involved in building its alternative investment business in addition to financing and private placements for both small-cap public and selective private companies. Prior to that, he was a Managing Partner at Brio Capital LLC, a New York Private Equity firm, providing venture capital and strategic resources to early-stage companies. Alan was responsible for fund raising, deal sourcing, financial structuring, transaction due diligence and negotiation, investment decisions and portfolio management.
Alan began his career in the real estate business and has a wealth of knowledge from developing, acquiring and managing commercial real estate for several prominent Michigan and California firms. He most recently led the financing efforts for a Chicago-based real estate investor’s successful acquisition of a large private REIT with a national office portfolio.
Alan actively supports several civic and philanthropic organizations both locally and nationally.
Education and Affiliations
- University of Michigan - Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations and Foreign Trade, specializing in Asia (China and Japan)
Keith Snyder, Managing Director, Risk Management
Keith is a Managing Director within Risk Management group. Keith has over 20 years of experience, which includes cost reduction, process improvement and optimization, auditing, business management, system selection and implementation, and management consulting. His experience in various industries includes Financial Services and Professional Services, Manufacturing and Distribution. This experience addresses organizational and process optimization in accounting and operational business functions, strategic cost management, and analysis of both financial and management reporting needs. Keith has also been a practicing attorney.
Keith has assisted companies manage SG&A spend, including third-party expenses such as professional fees and Travel and Entertainment expenses. Additionally, Keith has also assisted clients with the evaluation and comparison of their current business processes to leading practices and with the design and implementation of “to-be” processes, including: organization structure and staffing; policies, procedures and systems; supporting technology; and internal controls.
Professional Focus
- Process and Organization Optimization
- Strategic Cost Management
- Technology Optimization
- Project Management
- Internal Control Processes
- Litigation Support Services
Education and Affiliations
- Brooklyn Law School – Juris Doctorate
- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor – Bachelor of General Studies in Accounting
Jennifer Lin, Managing Director, Compliance
Jennifer Lin is a Managing Director at DLA and heads the firm’s Compliance practice. Jennifer has over 11 years of compliance experience in the securities industry. Prior to joining DLA, she was a Vice President at Deutsche Bank where she most recently worked as a Fixed Income Compliance Advisor. Her responsibilities included providing daily sales and trading compliance support, assessing and advising on new business initiatives and products, and liaising between the front office and other control functions. Prior to being a Compliance Advisor, Jennifer was a Compliance Officer where she co-developed an institutional compliance program and conducted reviews and inspections across all business areas, including broker-dealers, investment advisors and bank regulatory activities.
Jennifer began her career at the Macquarie Group where she specialized in sales and trading compliance for Institutional Equities, Research, Futures, Commodities and Investment Advisory. During her tenure at Macquarie, Jennifer established several compliance programs for various entities, orchestrated the implementation of the front office OMS trading system, developed synergies amongst Macquarie’s global affiliates and actively participated in global compliance initiatives. Jennifer’s broad securities compliance experience provides extensive expertise in securities regulation and the execution, analysis, testing and evaluation of the supervisory and internal controls of a compliance program.
Jennifer is an advocate for corporate responsibility and is excited to continue her philanthropic efforts through DLA’s Gift of Camp. While at Deutsche Bank, Jennifer volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, building houses in the Bronx, painting murals and planting trees in Brooklyn. She also participated in a DJ workshop for underprivileged children as a part of Free Arts NYC. Additionally, Jennifer was a member of Deutsche Bank’s Legal Risk and Capital Diversity Council. At Macquarie, Jennifer raised money for City Harvest’s Skip Lunch Fight Hunger initiative in coordination with the Macquarie Foundation.
Education and Affliliations
- State University of New York, at Stony Brook - Bachelor of Arts in Economics
Wayne Parker, Managing Director, Internal Audit & Forensics
Wayne Parker is a Managing Director in DLA’s Internal Audit and Forensics Group and has over 25 years of professional auditing and accounting experience. Wayne manages the relationship with many of DLA’s largest financial service and real estate clients to ensure efficient and seamless service delivery. He provides Sarbanes-Oxley 404 compliance services as well as financial service and real estate specific internal audits.
Prior to joining DLA, Wayne held several positions at Presstek, Inc., including Principal Accounting Officer and Director of Internal Audit. His responsibilities included overseeing daily accounting and finance activities, managing the preparation of SEC Forms 10-Q, 10-K, the Annual Report and directing their worldwide internal audit activities. Wayne also held internal audit and control positions with Eastman Kodak Company, HarborView Partners LLC, Axel Johnson Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and BDO Seidman LLP. He has worked extensively with Fortune 500 Companies developing SOX frameworks and providing training on various software programs for SOX compliance. Wayne is a Certified Public Accountant with a professional focus on Section 404 Compliance and Outsourced and Co-Sourced Internal Audit. Wayne also has extensive experience in the manufacturing, distribution and service industries.
Education and Affiliations
- State University of New York at Buffalo – BS in Accounting; MBA in Finance
- Certified Public Accountant (New York)
- Member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
- Member of the Institute of Internal Auditors
Emmet Austin, Managing Director, Internal Audit & Forensics
Emmet Austin is an experienced real estate and finance executive and is currently Managing Director at DLA. Emmet has over 15 years of broad business experience in both real estate and finance. His responsibilities at DLA include: performing detailed audits on joint venture partnerships; performing in-depth acquisition due diligence; performing detailed NOI and asset performance analyses; and, identifying operational and financial inefficiencies. Prior to DLA, Emmet was Chief Investment Officer for Stonemar Properties; a real estate investment and management firm where he was involved in over $750MM worth of real estate transactions. He was also responsible for overseeing Stonemar’s 1.5MM sft portfolio of assets and managing its management and leasing arm. Prior to Stonemar, Emmet started his career at Goldman Sachs in the investment banking group before moving onto Vitol Capital, a Boston-based hedge fund where he was responsible for managing a variety of cross-currency financial assets.
Education and Affiliations
- Calesa Foundation Scholar and a Kohn Fellow at Columbia University and the London School of Economics
- Dean's Graduate Fellow and Graduate Scholar in Real Estate at New York University
- Qualifications: Series 3, 7, 63 and 65
Michael Sullivan, Managing Director, Real Estate
Michael Sullivan is a Managing Director with David Landau & Associates, LLC. He has more than 20 years of professional auditing/accounting and operational experience primarily in the hospitality industry. Prior to joing DLA, he was the Managing Director, Head of Hospitality for Gemini Real Estate Advisors, Vice President at Starhotels International Corporation, Vice President Asset Management for Sunstone Hotel Investors and Vice President at Colony Capital, LLC. Michael started his career at PriceWaterhouse before moving to become Manager - Internal Audit at ITT Sheraton Hotel Corporation, leading the worldwide internal audit function there including when the role was outsourced to Arthur Andersen LP ("AALP").
Michael has vast experience in the real estate industry and is able to combine an audit mindset with a real world view to the operational aspects of real estate.
Education and Affiliations
- Boston College - Bachelor of Science in Accounting