Our Team

Teresa R. Ryland, CPA, CFE
President
Terri Ryland is the founder and president of Ryland Strategic Business Consulting. Since the mid-80s, Terri has worked with and held positions in numerous public school districts as Internal Auditor, Director of Budget, Director of Finance, and Associate Superintendent of Business/CBO. Prior to establishing the firm in 2004, she had been personally involved, while at the school districts as chief business officer, in working with outside third party consultants on the planning of numerous borrowings, including certificates of participation, Mello-Roos bonds, and general obligation bonds. Terri also has experience in long-range facilities master planning, developer fee studies, internal control reviews, training of staff and boards, and audits.

Terri received her bachelor's degree from Claremont McKenna College and earned her certified public accountant certificate while working for Ernst & Whinney. She is a member of the California Society of Certified Public Accountants, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, and the California Association of School Business Officials where she is an active contributor to project development, writing articles and making presentations at workshops. Terri sits on the Board of Directors of her local fire district.
Cathy Dominico
Financial Consultant
Cathy Dominico has almost 25 years of experience related to public agency finance, including work with school and college districts, cities, counties, and special districts. Cathy has advised over 200 public agencies with financial and facility planning, comprehensive analytic reports, and communication strategies. Cathy is an expert in tax base demographic analysis, financial modeling, agency reorganization, and development mitigation strategies. She is known for managing complex financial projects while understanding both technical details and high-level political strategies. An important part of her consulting expertise relates to communicating complex financial matters to governing boards and community members to best ensure that public agency staff is well-supported in obtaining direction and decisions on projects.

Ms. Dominico holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of California, Davis, and Municipal Advisor Representative (Series 50) and Municipal Advisor Principal (Series 54) licenses.
Douglas Crancer, CPA
Financial Consultant
Mr. Crancer has over 15 years of experience related to school finance and business operations. Prior to joining Ryland SBC in 2013, Mr. Crancer held the position of chief business official at various northern California school districts. As chief business official, Mr. Crancer was responsible for providing reliable enrollment, financial and cash flow projections, increasing operating efficiency, and serving on the Superintendent's Cabinet, helping to ensure financial resources were maximized to improve student achievement. Prior to becoming a chief business official, Douglas served as a Director of Fiscal Services and as a Supervisor of Fiscal Services / Internal Auditor. As director and supervisor, Mr. Crancer was responsible for directly preparing & monitoring district budgets, working with State departments to ensure reports were filed accurately, and completing all GASB 34 conversion entries to ensure that the accrual financial statements were presented per proper accounting standards.

Mr. Crancer entered school finance as an auditor for Goodell, Porter, & Fredericks, where he was responsible for conducting and supervising audits of Local Educational Agencies and various non-profit entities. Douglas received his Certified Public Accounting license in 2001, and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). Douglas received his Bachelor of Arts in Accounting and Criminal Justice from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Rebekah Chase
Financial Consultant
Ms. Chase has more than a decade of experience related to school business, fiscal analysis and accounting. Prior to joining Ryland SBC part-time in 2014, she served as Director of Accounting and Interim Chief Business Official for a 17-site, 13,000-student school district in Northern California. In this role, Rebekah advised the school board and the Superintendent's cabinet on all finance-related issues and was responsible for long-term fiscal planning, accounts payable/receivable, payroll, employee benefit programs and other fiscal operations. During her tenure, Rebekah produced creative solutions to keep the district solvent under difficult budget conditions. Her school finance experience also includes managing internal audits, interim reporting, ADA projections, GASB 34 conversion entries, cash flow projections and charter oversight at various school districts. Ms. Chase began her career working as an auditor, conducting audits of non-profit organizations and governmental agencies, for a CPA firm in Sacramento.

Ms. Chase received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration, with a concentration in Accounting, from California State University, Sacramento. Since 2008, she has been a member of the California Association of School Business Officials.
Lowell Shira, Ph.D.
Financial Consultant
Dr. Lowell Shira is a recently retired Chief Business Official (CBO) with over 30 years experience as a CBO. Dr. Shira has been CBO for elementary, unified, and high school districts ranging in size from 2,000 to 30,000 students. As CBO, Dr.Shira was responsible for all aspects of school business, including finance, facilities, and other operations. In addition, Dr. Shira has had multiple successful school bond elections and related debt financing experiences. He has also been chief negotiator in collective bargaining with both certificated and classified bargaining groups. Prior to becoming a CBO, Dr. Shira served as Director of Special Education.

Dr. Shira earned his Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology from Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California. He earned the CBO Certification from the California Association of School Business Officials. Dr. Shira has also served on the boards of several Joint Powers Authorities.

Since 2015, Lowell has worked as a consultant for Ryland Strategic Business Consulting. Specific engagements have included interim CBO assignments and charter school facilities consulting, among numerous other assignments.
Cyndy Spano, MBA
Financial Consultant
Ms. Spano came to work for Ryland Strategic Business Consulting in 2012 and immediately was in high demand. Every client with whom she has worked has asked her to stay on and be their permanent fill-in-the-blank. While at Ryland SBC, she has been the Interim Director of Business Services, the Interim CFO of a JPA, the Interim CBO of a large Charter School organization, and has worked on dozens of smaller project-based assignments including: training programs, fraud investigations, book closing, budget development, audit reviews, and her specialty - Categorical program management. Currently she assists with internal projects and bookkeeping; still a valued member of the team. Prior to joining the firm, Cyndy was the Director of Business Services at Tahoe-Truckee USD and at Ontario-Montclair School District. And before jumping into public education, Cyndy worked 20+ years in private industry including the areas of private education, entertainment, clinical pharmacy, manufacturing, and computer software development.

Cyndy earned her Master's Degree in Organizational Leadership and Development from BIOLA University, and her Accounting Bachelor's Degree from California State University at Fullerton. She is actively "retired", is an engaged member of her local church and enjoys living near her son, daughter-in-law and new granddaughter.
Ormides Trujillo
Financial Consultant
Ormides started working for school districts as a part-time clerk over 25 years ago at a junior high school, helping the EL Coordinators. She moved into an office manager role at her children's elementary school, and during this period she went back to school for her Bachelor's degree in Business. She stayed in the business of schools, moving from an accounting technician, to an analyst position, to a director of categorical programs. After successfully completing the USC CBO program, she trained her replacement and moved up as the Supervisor of Business Services and Audit. After spending some years as the Director in Natomas USD where she was in charge of purchasing, analysts, accounts payable, and payroll staff, she came to work for Ryland SBC in late 2016. Ormides has been a valuable member of the team, assisting with budgets, closing the books, providing interim services and acting as a resource for categorical programs.