ELEVATED ADVISORY & ACCOUNTING
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Sarah Gould

CEO/Founder
​sarah@elevatedaccounting.com
​406-800-1008 Ext 1
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Raised in Whitefish, Sarah Gould ventured to Oregon and Idaho for her college education. She supported herself through college by interning as an auditor with a local CPA firm and cramming through the higher accounting classes at night. She was offered a job at that same firm immediately upon graduation. 

Despite the incredible opportunities available to her, Sarah missed the Whitefish vibe, her family, and the endless outdoor adventures. Sarah moved back to the Flathead Valley and began putting down roots and furthering her career experience in accounting and finance — gaining valuable tax, auditing, nonprofit, corporate, and small-business expertise. 

She also garnered experience in business, leading nonprofit boards, working as both a CFO and a senior accountant with multiple large corporations.

After 10 years in the field, she felt a calling to do things differently.
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As an auditor there were many experiences where Sarah walked into a business and noticed the look of fear and failure on her client’s faces before she even said hello. She reveled in the opportunity to meet clients, help them feel comfortable and confident in their accounting experience. She had (and continues to have) a genuine desire to help. 

Sarah says, "People often open business to share with the world their gifts; the chef, the graphic designer, the landscaper. However, there is a whole other part of sharing that craft with the world — the business side of things." Sarah noticed this stressful paradigm especially during tax time. 

Observations like this began compounding, and ultimately fueled Sarah's drive to open Elevated Accounting— a friendly firm putting people and their passions first, supporting business owners by solving problems and creating systems that work for people, for their business, and for their employees.  

"Business owners want to do what they love, not sit in a tiny office and crunch numbers," Sarah says. "That's how it should be, and that's how we manage our client-centered approach with businesses large and small."

Krista Putnam

​Staff Accountant 
krista@elevatedaccounting.com
​406-800-1008 Ext 2
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After 16 years of living in and loving all parts of Montana, Krista moved back to her home state of Minnesota for a new adventure. She graduated from MSU Bozeman with a degree in Sociology, and then decided to go after bookkeeping, and earned a degree in Accounting. Accounting resonated with her because the concepts flowed easily, and she honed in a true passion for setting up a company's financials so they are streamlined with a consistent flow.

Lucky for business owners with little time to have their nose in the details, Krista's favorite task is dealing with account discrepancies. She loves the organization and satisfaction of cleaning up a set of books so that the owner can see the health of their company.  For her, it's not frustrating... it's like solving a puzzle! Krista likes taking the burden off EAA's clients and putting them at ease, knowing the financial health of their business is being cared for by professionals.

When not crunching numbers and solving puzzles, Krista spends most of her time raising her two boys and renovating an old log cabin off of Lake superior.

Sheena Hyland

Business Advisor Associate
sheena@elevatedaccounting.com
​406-800-1008 x4
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Bio coming soon!​

Stephanie Rodriguez

Accounting Specialist
stephanie@elevatedaccounting.com
​406-800-1008 x5
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​Stephanie grew up in small town Laurel, MT. Her career began as a receptionist and quickly advanced when she learned the ropes of the Corporate world. She has excelled in Payroll and has worked with over 31 restaurants to take care of employer & employee needs. She has specialized in employee/employer specific legalities.  To complete the experience package, she has small business experience as a dance studio owner, teacher, & bookkeeper due to her time in Billings, MT.

In 2014 Stephanie and her husband decided to uproot their lives and plant themselves in the Valley with their two dogs.  She is a certified Yoga instructor on the side and has specialized in Aerial Silk Yoga.

Math and problem solving have always come easy to Stephanie and she shines whenever she can effectively work through a difficult number puzzle.  She has a welcoming presence and a helpful persona.  


Joanna Ahlin

Office Manager
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joanna@elevatedaccounting.com
​406-800-1008 Ext 3
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 Joanna Ahlin was raised in Kalispell, graduated from Flathead High School, and then decided to journey away to Illinois for a new adventure. She spent the next 14 years there and soon found herself married with two amazing kids. She worked for 10 years in multiple management positions and achieved proficiency in human resources, financials statements, creating procedures, critical thinking, organization, and attention to detail. She has always enjoyed dealing with numbers and making sure all the details are taken care of to fulfill the customers expectations.

After a successful career in Illinois, Joanna and her husband packed up both kids, 3 dogs, 1 cat, and 1 turtle to move back to Kalispell to be closer to her family.  She is currently enjoying all that Big Sky Country has to offer.  When she is not working she enjoys going to the lake, playing with her kids and watching good movies. She also enjoys going for long drives to take in the beautiful scenery in and around the Flathead Valley.

Joanna enjoys the family-like feel of Elevated Accounting and is more than happy to help any client or staff member with anything they need. Her main goal each day is to strive to make everyone’s day better than it was the day before.

Jesse Beason

Accounting Specialist
jesse@elevatedaccounting.com
​406-800-1008 Ext 6
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​Jesse grew up in Santa Barbara, CA and moved to Whitefish in Fall of 2019.  She came here with her partner and children to be closer to family and enjoy all that Northwest Montana has to offer.  She enjoys going to the lake, family get-togethers and working on her property and home during her free time.

After getting a degree in Computer Information Systems in college, she quickly learned that accounting was her passion.  She spent several years in office management and bookkeeping for restaurants, before moving into higher education.  During her time working for the local University, she continued her education in Accounting, and worked in various Accounting and Payroll processing positions within her department. 

Jesse thrives on being challenged in new areas and working quickly and efficiently to respond to client's needs.  She enjoys month-end reconciliations when she can have meaningful dialogue with clients regarding their accounts.  At the end of each day, her goal is to have made the client and her colleague's day, a bit easier.

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Liz Eck

Accounting Specialist
liz@elevatedaccounting.com
​406-800-1008 Ext 701
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Liz grew up in beautiful northern Minnesota where she cultivated a love for the outdoors, nature and animals. Hearing the call of the mountains, she moved west in 2016 and has lived in both the Coeur d’Alene, ID and Kalispell, MT areas.

​These passions 
have also directed her professional life. She has worked at a high end pet supply store as well as Crown Enterprises (Sportsman’s and Ski Haus and Tristate Outfitters) where she first became acquainted with accounting, working in their accounts payable department.

Liz finds the process of accounting to be the most interesting and fulfilling as everything has a rule and balances out in the end. She is meticulously detail oriented, efficient and organized.

Liz joins our team from Coeur d’Alene, where she spends her free time with friends, hiking, and kayaking with her 3 dogs and 2 cats.


Mychaela Baker

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Accounting Specialist
Mychaela@elevatedaccounting.com
​406-800-1008 Ext 702
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​After living in multiple states, traveling to well over half of the states by 10 years old or the fifth grade, Mychaela has found her home in Montana where she plans to spend the rest of her life. She has 4 cats and a dog of her own along with an adopted cat and dog through her other half. She has plans to add to her little farm down the road with maybe a mini cow, an alpaca or two, and other animals. Safe to say she’s an animal lover? 


With the constant change in her life growing up and the environment she grew up in, Mychaela found it hard to figure out what she wanted to do with her life or who she was. All she knew was she didn’t want to follow in her parent's footsteps. She’s worked in a few different industries, from being a waitress to a CNA, to a staff accountant at Meadow Lake Resort in Columbia Falls, MT. 


Mychaela entered the accounting world through Crown Enterprises DBA Sportsman & Ski Haus and Tri-State Outfitters as an AP Clerk. This is where she decided that the accounting world was for her. 


Every person trying to grow a business or trying to achieve that lifelong dream deserves the chance to enjoy their hard work, the time, and the emotion that they have put into growing their business. Mychaela has always been about helping people and is more than happy to give her time to help her clients, to help make their business, just, that more successful, and to give them more time to enjoy the little things.


Audrey Bowman

Client Support Supervisor
audrey@elevatedaccounting.com
406-800-1008 Ext 
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Audrey grew up in a small town in Southwest Missouri. Her first adventure to the Northwest United States changed everything; she knew that was the part of the US where she wanted to make her home. One summer of seasonal work in Yellowstone National Park was her transition out of Missouri. Seasonal jobs quickly led to full-time positions and, by 2016, a permanent move to Montana. Her passions include world travel, playing music, camping and exploring the outdoors, spending time with her beloved animals,  and everything artistic or creative.

A jack of all trades, Audrey came to Elevated with the experience to take Client Support Services to the next level. Working in many different industries and positions has earned her credibility in the workforce. From Banking, Retail Management, Human Resources, and Risk Management, to Trainer and Coach, she has embraced every role with a mindset of personal growth and development. She is ready to take on anything that comes her way through her leadership, training, customer service, communication, creativity, process development, problem-solving, and organizational skills. As a person that thrives on personal growth and finding ways to "work smarter, not harder," Audrey has found her niche at EAA.

LocationS

14 W. 2nd Street, Suite 2
​Whitefish, MT 59937

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126 1st Ave West
Kalispell, MT 59901


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