Staff
Infrastructure
Skylar Bensheimer
Editorial Assistant
Skylar joined the UK Internal Audit team in 2022. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Berea College. His professional experience is in the publishing industry. His responsibilities include editing reports, presentations, and other internal and external documents.
Julie Hoover-Ernst
Communications Manager
(859)218-5858
Julie joined UK's Internal Audit staff in 2017. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Advertising from Iowa State University. Julie's professional experience includes communications, public relations, marketing and event planning in both the public and private sectors. Her responsibilities are creating the audit reports, blogs, website content and other communication tools used by UKIA.
Mel Jackson
Editorial Assistant
Mel.Jackson@uky.edu
Mel joined the UK internal audit team in 2022. She holds a BA in English from Harvard University. Her professional experience includes editorial copy, newsletter and blog content writing, public relations, marketing and web design.
Tashira Oladapo
Business Liaison Administrator
(859) 257-3126
Tashira joined UK’s Internal Audit Staff in August 2021. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in General Studies from Eastern Kentucky University. Her professional experience is in health care and administrative services. Her responsibilities include managing the daily financial and business operations, HR, payroll and administrative duties.
Joe Reed, MBA, CFE, CIA
Chief Accountability Officer and Audit Executive
(859) 257-9734
Joe Reed joined UK's Internal Audit staff in March 2004. He has a Mechanical Engineering degree and a Master of Business Administration from the University of New Haven and maintains CIA and CFE certifications. Joe’s professional experience includes finance, project management and operational management as well as leading workshops. His responsibilities include operations and strategy for the division.
Finance and Business Operations
Curtis Barnhart, MBA
Senior Financial and Business Operations Auditor
(859) 218-1674
Curtis joined UK’s Internal Audit Staff in February 2018. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Capital University, as well as a Master of Business Administration from Franklin University. His professional experience includes financial and compliance audits for state and local governments, auditing Medicaid providers for compliance with rules and regulations, and project management. His audit responsibilities include comprehensive reviews and repetitive audits.
Melissa Feddes
Audit Assistant
(859) 218-5863
Melissa joined UK’s Internal Audit staff in February 2020. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Cornerstone University. Melissa’s professional experience includes health insurance processing and administrative services. Her responsibilities include conducting repetitive audits, assisting in investigations, comprehensive reviews and administrative duties.
Lindsay Hancock, CPA
Auditor
(859) 257-6208
Lindsay joined UK’s Internal Audit staff in September 2021. She holds Bachelor of Business Administration and Master of Accountancy degrees from East Tennessee State University. Her professional experience includes public accounting with an emphasis in income tax preparation. Her responsibilities include assisting with audits and investigations.
Rose Stewart, CPA
Financial and Business Operations Manager
(859) 218-5854
Rose joined UK Internal Audit in July 2016. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and maintains a CPA certification. Her professional experience includes public accounting with an emphasis in financial audits and compliance, along with income tax preparation. Her responsibilities include conducting comprehensive audits and repetitive audits, data mining, and investigations.
Jason Turco, MBA
Senior Financial and Business Operations Auditor
(859) 218-5859
Jason joined UK’s Internal Audit Staff in September 2018. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Kentucky. In addition he has a Master of Business Administration from the University of Kentucky. His professional experience spans 18 years at UK and includes being the Division Administrator for Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine and a Senior Accountant for UK Healthcare Accounting. His responsibilities include conducting comprehensive reviews and repetitive audits.
Information Technology
Chris Canjar
Principal IT Auditor
(859) 257-2434
Chris joined the University of Kentucky Internal Audit staff in August 2021. He has a degree in Computer Information Systems and attended the University of Kentucky, studying Political Science. His professional experience spans 20 years of information technology support, systems administration, and project management roles at the University of Kentucky. He previously served as the IT Manager for Strategic Planning and Projects, as well as New Technologies Director for the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment’s Agriculture Communications Services unit. His responsibilities include IT reviews, IT components of comprehensive reviews, and IT infrastructure support.
Jared Hicks, MS
IT Auditor
(859) 218-5855
Jared joined UK Internal Audit in September 2018. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Information Communication Technology (ICT) and a master's degree in ICT. His previous professional experience includes serving as an IT audit intern with UK Internal Audit. His current responsibilities include IT reviews, IT components of comprehensive reviews and IT infrastructure support.
Wes Justice, MS
IT Audit Manager
(859)218-5856
Wes joined UK’s Internal Audit staff in July 2018. He holds a Master of Science in Computer Information Technology from Regis University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Motion Picture, Television, & Recording Arts from Florida State University. His professional experience includes serving as a Data Center Operations Supervisor for Vanderbilt University Medical Center as well as the Director of Information Technology for the UK College of Law. Wes also served as a Systems Administrator for the UK College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment. His responsibilities include IT reviews, IT components of comprehensive reviews, and IT infrastructure support.
Analytics
Marc Blevins, MS
Audit Manager Analytics
(859) 218-2242
Marc joined the University of Kentucky Internal Audit staff in October 2016. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of Kentucky and a Master of Science in Management Information Systems from Morehead State University. His professional experience includes information technology, business and financial operations, and higher education administration. Previous work experience includes serving as an IT Manager, Director of Business Operations, and Interim Director of Financial Services at the College of Public Health. His current responsibilities include managing the Analytics and Investigations team. He also performs data mining and analytics, information technology and system reviews, and Internal Audit IT infrastructure support.
Brennan Sidor
Analytics and Investigations Auditor
(859) 562-0860
Brennan joined UK's Internal Audit staff in November 2020. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Eastern Kentucky University. His professional experience includes accounting, data mining, and audit with an emphasis in higher education. His responsibilities include data analytics, and assisting with audits and investigations.
Investigations
Lee Walker, Jr.
Senior Investigations Auditor
(859) 257-2335
Lee joined UK's Internal Audit staff in June 2012. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in education from the University of Kentucky. Lee's professional experience includes teaching and administrative services, part of which has been with UK Healthcare and College of Education. His responsibilities include conducting repetitive audits, data mining and investigations.
Amanda Witt, MS, CIA
Principal Auditor
(859) 218-5857
Amanda joined UK’s Internal Audit Staff in July 2019. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Kentucky, as well as a Master of Science in Administration from Central Michigan University. Her professional experience includes accounting, enterprise resource planning (ERP) system implementation and auditing with the Department of Defense. Her audit responsibilities include comprehensive reviews and repetitive audits.
Consulting
Jeff Owens, CPA
Consulting Manager
Jeff joined the UK Internal Audit team in July 2022. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of Kentucky and a Master of Business Administration degree from Liberty University. He also maintains a CPA license. He previously served as a Hospital Finance Senior Specialist at University of Kentucky Healthcare. His professional experience includes financial planning and analysis as well as public accounting and auditing.