WeiserMazars' New CEO Plans Further M&A Deals

WeiserMazars’ new CEO, Victor Wahba, told Accounting Today that he plans to do more mergers and acquisitions as part of the firm’s strategic plan.

Wahba was named as the new CEO on Tuesday, succeeding Douglas Phillips, starting April 1 (see WeiserMazars Appoints Wahba as CEO). Wahba has previously overseen several M&A deals at WeiserMazars. Last August, for example, the firm acquired pmpm Consulting Group, a Sacramento-based health care consulting firm, and earlier in the year, it acquired ICS Consulting Partners, a boutique internal audit and consulting firm in New York that caters to the banking industry.

Wahba plans to keep expanding the firm through such deals across the country. “Our strategic plan is a national expansion, and we’ve focused on a couple of key geographic locations that would enhance many of the industries and some of the specialties and specializations that we developed over the last several years,” he said in an interview Tuesday.

While he did not name specific states or cities, he said those key areas would be the West Coast, the Heartland, the Midwest and the Southwest. Among the specializations he is targeting are health care, financial services, real estate, manufacturing and distribution.

Wahba also plans to continue to expand the firm internationally through its association with the European firm Mazars Group. Weiser joined Mazars in 2010 under Phillips, who will remain chairman of WeiserMazars.

“Because of our connection on the international level with Mazars, it is to continue to reach on a global basis and expand our reach not only for clients that we have grown with but also to capture new growth-oriented organizations as well, all of course while still maintaining the ability to provide service at an authentically local level,” said Wahba.

He noted that Mazars continues to expand on a global basis, and WeiserMazars is the exclusive organization for the growth and development of the U.S. as an independent member firm.

As part of the expansion plan, he also intends to hire more accountants. “That would be part of our growth plan is to continue our talent development,” said Wahba. “Expansion would be predicated on attracting the best and the brightest, and recognizing the talent wars as they continue to heat up. What will be a key differentiator is our strategy and our approach on a national expansion as well as with the specialties and specializations that we have, and also reaching on an international and global level.”

Wahba added that he is “looking forward to the opportunity to take a great firm with a long legacy to the next chapter.”