The 2021 Top 100 People: Career crossroads

December 22, 2021 9:00 AM

For all the success achieved by accounting’s most influential were the numerous job opportunities, mentorships and career-defining decisions they experienced along the way.

We asked the Top 100 People, “Have you had a pivotal moment in your career? What made it pivotal, and did you know its significance at the time?”

For many of this year’s class, accepting a certain job position marked the most significant milestone in their careers, while for others a certain teacher or mentor left a lasting impression. And for some of the T100, the most impactful moment of their professional lives is happening right now.

(To see the full responses of all the candidates for the Top 100, click here.)

It was before I even got into the career. I was inspired into the profession by a teacher in community college. Without that conversation … I would not be here.

— William Pirolli, chair, AICPA; co-chair, Association of International Certified Professional Accountants

In the early 1990s, I facilitated the sale of a small accounting firm. At the closing of the deal, the seller said thanks for helping him get paid for his years of sweat equity and putting his clients in good hands and the buyer thanked me for helping him make more money and putting his kids through college. It filled me with such pride and joy it has kept me doing what I do for 30 years.

— Joel Sinkin, president, Transition Advisors LLC

I was fortunate enough to be selected to serve on the Internal Revenue Advisory Council and was its chairman for two years. The ability to see the tax administration system from a different perspective gave me a perspective I would never have had if not for this service. It also allowed me to meet people I have continued to call on for counsel and support.

— Roger Harris, president, Padgett Business Services

I think the past two years have been a pivotal moment. This is a moment in time that we always will look back on. We played a defining role in enabling the firms to deliver on their trusted advisor role for millions of businesses.

— Erik Asgeirsson, president and CEO, CPA.com

As a “seasoned” executive, I have experienced episodes and relationships that have certainly impacted my career. However, the impact of COVID-19 is the first event that has had a ‘pivotal’ impact on my career. I did not initially think of the impact as significant but more of a challenge. Now, I have converted all our staff to a virtual work option, delayed retirement plans to ride out the pandemic (at my board of directors’ request) and have radically changed my stance on how effective a business/organization can be in a remote environment.

— Ken Bishop, president and CEO, NASBA

Jennifer Wilson

Yes, I have had several. I survived a toxic leader in a very big job. After the board removed him, his misdeeds were uncovered and my many concerns about him validated. He gave me the context for “bad boss” and the courage and skills to address bad behavior at work. I use both often to help firm leaders address their own leadership behavior issues.

— Jennifer Wilson, co-founder and partner, ConvergenceCoaching LLC

I had two pivotal moments: Not being accepted to medical school and deciding to take a different path launching my CPA career; and selling my firm to BDO and losing control over my future.

— Gary Shamis, CEO, Winding River Consulting

Edward Karl

Photographer: Alex Kroke

After the 1983 tax season, I had lunch with a friend who had left the firm I was with for another one. When he asked how I was, I “made a face” as it was April 16 and I was tired. He said he knew of an open position with the AICPA. It was advocacy work and people typically go in for 2 or 3 years and then go back to public accounting. I said I liked public accounting and wasn’t looking to leave. After a week, I called him and he arranged for an interview; I was offered a position and here I am 38 years later. I did not know at the time that I was accepting a role where I could make a difference in making the tax system work more effectively. I love what I do and kept extending those “2 or 3 years.”

— Edward Karl, vice president, tax policy and advocacy, AICPA

I was a programmer and had developed multiple large systems. The management thought that programming skill was not that valuable. I took my skills to another company and changed direction for writing, consulting, and teaching. This job change led to opportunities with many significant technology companies and my involvement with the accounting profession.

— Randy Johnston, CEO and founder, EVP, NMGI and K2 Enterprises

I have to identify two pivotal moments in my career. The first occurred in 1981 when I was a financial analyst at Zenith Electronics. I had prepared an analysis based on information received from a manufacturing facility but, in all honesty, provided little if any insight. My director said, “Todd, I know that you’re better than this.” It was a pivotal moment because, from that day forward, I learned the importance of asking “why.” I believe that my analytical skills are at the core of being able to identify where the profession will be going. This singular experience has stayed with me for forty years. The second pivotal moment was becoming the president and CEO of the Illinois CPA Society. Becoming CEO gave me the platform to utilize my analytical and strategic thinking skills to, hopefully, impact the profession by helping to ensure we are prepared for an ever-changing future.

— Todd Shapiro, president and CEO, Illinois CPA Society

Transitioning from being a partner in a CPA firm to a consultant to the profession. After my first son was born, I wanted better control of my schedule which consulting allowed me to prioritize family life first. While there was a lot of uncertainty starting out, I felt that focusing on information technology and firm automation were going to be the future of the accounting profession.

— Roman Kepczyk, director, firm technology strategy, Right Networks

Allan Koltin

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Without a doubt, the remote workforce and the world moving from bricks and mortar to virtual was the single biggest impacting item of my career. What used to be 250,000 annual air miles has been reduced to 50,000 annual air miles and my “production” (ability to serve clients) has 2x’d or 3x’d over the last 18 months. In the old days, I would get on a plane on Monday to go to the West Coast, have a meeting on Tuesday, and then fly back Wednesday morning. Now using time zones, I can meet every day of the week - early in the morning with an East Coast firm, mid-day with a Midwest firm and late in the day with a firm in the Mountain or Pacific time zone. The end result is that everything is moving faster, but more importantly, things are getting accomplished at an exponential rate compared to the old days. At first, I felt guilty, almost as if I was on sabbatical, but after a dose of reality and taking a step back, I could only look to the heavens and say to the gods of accounting, “thank you for extending my useful life as a consultant to the accounting profession.”

— Allan Koltin, CEO, Koltin Consulting Group Inc.

Leaving traditional finance for a startup in the crypto industry. When I was introduced to the crypto industry and did some initial research, it was clear that global commerce could benefit from this technology, and when I learned that Lukka was building products with institutional standards and a focus on managing risk, I knew I wanted to join their team.

— Robert Materazzi, CEO, Lukka

I was fired from my first job after seven weeks. I deserved to be fired because I was terrible. This forced a lot of introspection and caused me to identify my bad traits of not listening carefully to my boss’ instructions and my wanting to impress him with rushing to complete each assignment. This self-examination provided a template that I used, from that moment forward, to not only be clear about what I had to do and to work deliberately and carefully, but the necessity of teaching these best practice work habits to staff that I was instructing. I believe getting fired contributed significantly to my later success of leveraging everything that I had to do to get client work completed timely, accurately, efficiently and effectively. When something unpleasant occurs one never views this positively but the better work habits I later developed because of this made this a highly beneficial moment in my career. My good fortune was that it occurred at the very start of my career and that I was not stupid enough to blame my boss and smart enough to recognize my own short comings.

— Ed Mendlowitz, emeritus partner, WithumSmith+Brown

Ariege Misherghi

There was a time early in my career where I disagreed with a piece of feedback I received from my manager. My manager told me I was great at my job, but also that I was arrogant. I received the feedback respectfully and pondered it deeply, trying to find truth in it...and then, I rejected it. I am competent. I am smart. If people take that as arrogance, it says more about them than me. Ironically, this moment is now one of my proudest, and also proved to be extremely pivotal.

— Ariege Misherghi, VP expert segment leader, small business self-employed group, Intuit

It was the birth of my first child (and then twins 11 months later) and the realization that to continue on at KPMG to the level of partner would require a commitment that I was not willing to make. I have enormous respect for the firm and loved my time there but decided to leave and ultimately start The Marks Group so that I could have more control over my life and impact with my clients.

— Gene Marks, president, The Marks Group

When I learned that using my writing skills educate people and influence them. This began at my first job as a staff accountant at Ernst & Young while in my mid-20s and has served me well for 50 years in every position I have ever had. All of this culminated with writing 16 books on CPA firm management; no one else in the history of the CPA profession has published as many books on CPA firm practice management as I have, a very satisfying feeling. Did I know the significance of this at the time? Yes! I knew this because of the positive feedback that I have received over the years, initially from superiors and later, from clients and customers of our books.

— Marc Rosenberg, president, The Rosenberg Associates

Enoch Gonzalez - Enoch Photograp

Yes, when I became CEO of IMA in 2008 under very challenging business conditions. I was not necessarily trained to become a CEO in a traditional sense, but I know how to lead and make a difference, and in our turnaround, I put equal emphasis on “cash” (strategy, tactics, people and process to fund the mission) and “culture” (core values for volunteers, staff and partners). The ability to make a difference for thousands of members, volunteers and staff around the world is challenging, but as a leader, it is my duty and obligation to serve.

— Jeff Thomson, president and CEO, Institute of Management Accountants