My Story

At the Start

I was born in Tupelo, Mississippi and attended the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), graduating in 1997 with a Bachelor of Accountancy and in 1998 with a Master of Accountancy. I finished the CPA exam in 2001 and currently hold a CPA license in the State of Washington (WA CPA #27457).

After graduate school, I worked in banking for a year in Memphis, TN; after that year I relocated to Atlanta, GA and started a job at a large, local CPA firm working with high net worth clients and large family-owned/privately held businesses for six years. After the CPA firm (Windham Brannon), I took a job in corporate tax with a specialty insurance company (Assurant, Inc.) for three years.

Moving On

After a couple of visits to the PNW, I was looking for a change and since Atlanta was an adopted home, I decided to look into relocating to Seattle. A couple of Seattle recruiters reached out, and 6 months later I had a job offer, packed up my things (and my little dog too), and arrived in Seattle in July 2008.

My first job in Seattle was with a large, local CPA firm working on similar clients to those in Atlanta. After that, I worked for a mid-sized financial management firm that had a tax group for its clients. There I worked closely with financial advisors to devise strategies to help clients accumulate and preserve wealth to leave for future generations in the most tax efficient manner possible.

On My Own

While I was there, I realized there were too many layers of people between me and the client, so I never really knew exactly what a client’s goals were or their level of understanding around things we proposed or executed. I really wanted to get back to more direct contact with clients, and I thought what better way than to work on my own.

In 2017 I left that firm and started my own practice to focus on providing very personalized service to clients to help them understand and manage their taxes as well as understand what their goals were and help make sure they were on track.

My Work with My Clients

Today, as a CPA with more than 23 years’ experience, specialties include preparation of the complex tax returns typical of high net worth individuals and families with accumulated wealth, including complex individual income tax returns, federal and multi-state returns for closely-held businesses (C and S corporations, limited partnerships, LLCs), and other self-employed individuals in a variety of fields such as medicine, technology, law, real estate management/investment and realty services, and other professional services with an emphasis on quality personalized service.

These days tax compliance is much more automated than ever, but that plays a very small role in the overall partnership I have with my clients. I focus on adding value to my clients’ lives by being a year-round resource to them and helping with other areas such as managing their business efficiently or making sure they are prepared for what they might owe to the IRS come tax time or making sure they are aware of tax savings opportunities that may not be obvious at first. I don’t believe in talking with a client once a year when they drop off their tax information and then sending them a bill only to speak with them a year later.

My past experience has been so varied, and I’ve had the opportunity to work with so many types of financial professionals, that I’ve gained the ability to take a much wider view of my clients’ overall financial picture and how taxes affect retirement planning, college savings, and the ultimate success of a new business.

And with my growing network of other professionals, I’ve also been able to connect my clients to other resources that I have gotten to know and can comfortably introduce my own clients to, such as estate planning attorneys and financial planners. I can even provide connections for non-financial things like window washing and lawn/garden services, bookkeeping, and chiropractors.