SCHNEIDER DOWNS - Key Persons
Adam joined Schneider Downs in 2007 and has more than 20 years of diverse professional experience working with businesses. Adam leads the firm's Business Advisory services group which includes:
Transaction advisory
Valuation
Strategy consulting
Managed accounting, including CFO services
Forensic investigations
Litigation support
Adam has diverse experience advising companies on broad range of business issues, including accounting and finance topics. His experience ranges from early-stage businesses looking for growth up to large international publicly traded businesses looking to improve their business. Adam spends most of his time advising middle-market sized companies in a variety of industries including SaaS, retail, professional services, manufacturing, not-for-profit and higher education.
Adam's specialties include transaction advisory services, including both buy-side and sell-side due diligence, strategy consulting and CFO services. His passion is helping companies to grow, whether through M&A advising or helping to find and implement growth-oriented strategies for companies to pursue. He has advised on numerous successful transactions and has positively contributed to the success of many businesses over his career. Adam is trusted by his clients' owners, c-suite, board of directors and investors to provide innovative and practical solutions to business challenges.
Education
B.S.-Business Administration, Robert Morris University
Alyssa is responsible for supporting transaction execution, business development and client service for Schneider Downs Corporate Finance's middle-market investment banking practice.
Alyssa has transaction and analytical experience across a broad range of industries, including real estate, energy and health care. Prior to joining Schneider Downs Corporate Finance, Alyssa held finance positions at a real estate investment trust in New York and a leading investment bank in Connecticut.
Ashley has over 10 years of experience, practicing in public accounting, a family office and a national bank. In addition to specializing in high net-worth individuals and trusts, she has been responsible for a combination of tax planning, consulting and compliance services.
Ashley recognizes the uniqueness of high-net-worth individuals by helping clients make informed decisions relevant to their needs. She is particularly proficient in researching tax issues and responding to various taxing authorities.
Education
M.S.-Taxation, Robert Morris University
MBA-Clarion University
B.S.B.A.-Accounting, Robert Morris University
B.S.-Financial Mathematics, Robert Morris University
Brian joined Schneider Downs in January 2007 and has more than 15 years of public accounting experience. Brian has extensive experience providing consulting services including buy side and sell side diligence and financial modeling. Brian will be responsible for the coordination, management and overall delivery of services.
Prior to joining the Business Advisory Group, Brian provided audit and assurance services to a variety of industries, including construction, manufacturing, transportation and radio broadcasting, in addition to clients in the not-for-profit sector and with publicly traded and private equity owned entities.
Education
B.S.-Business Administration, Robert Morris University
M.S.-Accounting, Robert Morris University
Carl has more than 11 years of professional tax experience in public accounting. He has served privately-held and family-owned corporations, partnerships, LLC's and high net worth individual clients, advising on various issues involving federal, international, state and local tax matters. Carl is primarily involved in strategic tax planning, research and compliance issues for corporate and pass-through type entities.
Carl has extensive experience working with companies operating in industry sectors ranging from real estate, construction, transportation/logistics, automotive, retail and professional services. He also has experience with the review and analysis of cost segregation studies, transfers/sales of partnership interests, and U.S. and foreign-based companies that have tax exposure from foreign-owned investments.
Education
B.S.B.A - Accounting and Economics, The Ohio State University
Carley is a shareholder in the Risk Advisory Services practice. She joined Schneider Downs in 2009 and has experience in a variety of external and internal audits. Carley specializes in internal audit, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance work, risk assessments and business process optimizations.
Over the past 13 years, Carley has lead multiple teams in internal audit co-sourcing and outsourcing relationships. This experience includes performing Sarbanes-Oxley compliance work for a large international retail organization and completing internal audits and business process reviews and optimizations for clients in a variety of industries. She also services as a leader of the firm's Digital Transformation Services. Carley began her career at Schneider Downs in the external audit group, where she obtained experience in a variety of industries, including transportation and logistics, manufacturing, and energy and resources.
Carley is committed to exceeding client expectations by providing prompt responses, clear communications, and the highest level of service and satisfaction to clients.
Education
B.S.-Accounting, Washington & Jefferson College
Carol has more than 20 years of experience working in the accounting and legal profession and most recently the Wealth Management Department of a national bank. Recognizing her passion for assisting individuals, her practice has focused on estate, tax, wealth, philanthropic, and business succession planning for high net worth individuals and their families.
Carol's professional experience uniquely positions her to assist family offices and their clients with the stewardship and deployment of family resources.
As Chief Operations Officer of the firm's Private Family Office practice, Carol is responsible for ensuring prompt responsiveness from Schneider Downs inter-disciplinary service team. The team's focus is on the provision of customized solutions and fewer transaction-like interactions. Her oversight of the integrated consultative team assures clients that Schneider Downs is thinking about the management of their financial affairs as a whole by harnessing extensive expertise on their behalf.
Education
J.D.-Duquesne University
B.S.-Accounting and Finance, Clarion University of Pennsylvania
Cathy joined Schneider Downs in 2013. She has more than 16 years of experience in the areas of trust, estate and individual taxation, from planning to ompliance. While working with a myriad of tax issues facing her many clients, Cathy strives to provide individual attention to them in a trusted advisor role.
Education
B.A.-Mercyhurst University
M.S.-Taxation, Robert Morris University
Chris has more than 30 years of experience in the accounting profession. He started his career in public accounting, where he provided auditing and tax preparation services to a variety of clients including real estate, not-for-profits, financial institutions and technology clients.
After 15 years in public accounting, Chris transitioned into a large private family office as controller, where he was responsible for operations, financial reporting and tax preparation for not-for-profits, corporations, partnerships and trusts. Chris oversees all client accounting services for our private family office clients.
Education
B.S.B.A.-Accounting from John Carroll University.
Chris is one of the Co-Managing Shareholders of the firm. As a Co-Managing Shareholder, Chris shares the responsibility for leading the firm's initiative for product delivery and quality while working closely with the firm's Board of Directors. He joined the Firm in 2017 as a tax shareholder with more than 25 years of private and public accounting experience. Prior to joining Schneider Downs, Chris served as a Tax Market Leader and International Tax Partner for a Big Four public accounting Firm.
He has a diverse background serving large U.S. multinational companies, closely-held companies, partnerships and S corporations in the areas of international tax consulting and compliance, tax accounting and mergers and acquisitions.
Chris advises clients in diversified sectors including consumer products and retail, healthcare and manufacturing and distribution.
Education
Masters - Taxation, College of William & Mary
B.S. - Accounting, West Virginia University
Darin has more than 25 years of experience providing a wide variety of accounting and tax services to a broad range of clients. Previously a tax partner with a national firm, Darin has extensive experience working with hedge funds, private equity funds and individual taxation issues related to high-net-worth individuals.
Darin serves clients in numerous industries, including real estate, professional services and manufacturing. He has extensive experience with S corporation and partnership taxation, estate taxation and planning.
Darin is the lead shareholder for the firm's Private Family Office group which provides a comprehensive suite of services, including wealth management and treasury management, as well as income, gift and estate tax compliance and consulting.
Education
B.S. - Accounting, Point Park University, Magna Cum Laude
Job Titles:
- Shareholder
- CITP
- Investment Banking
Shareholder ERIC WRIGHT has been involved with Information Technology with Schneider Downs since 1983 and oversees the firm's thriving Technology Consulting and IT Audit & Compliance practices. Through this role, Eric brings extensive experience in assessing IT infrastructure and identifying cybersecurity risk and exposure.
has been involved with Information Technology with Schneider Downs since 1983 and oversees the firm's thriving Technology Consulting and IT Audit & Compliance practices. Through this role, Eric brings extensive experience in assessing IT infrastructure and identifying cybersecurity risk and exposure.
One of our clients felt fairly good about their existing cybersecurity defenses. But they were still afraid of the unknown and newer cyber attack techniques. Through our regular audit procedures, we inquired about their current cyber controls and their confidence in withstanding an attack. We then performed a network penetration test which simulates an external adversary hacking their network. This procedure identified the client's unknown weaknesses in their defenses through a live test. "Within 48 hours, we were able to guess the passwords of close to 10% of their employees, effectively giving us VPN access to their corporate network and certain employee utilities, like email." Eric said. "We also found that their corporate intranet site was visible over the internet and susceptible to login via the bad passwords. After identifying these issues, we worked with the client to make significant changes to their environment to make it harder for an attacker to break in." Schneider Downs provides Big Thinking and Personal Focus in delivering a variety of services for large and small businesses, both publicly and privately held, as well as nonprofit organizations, government entities and more. Through our commitment to thought leadership and knowledge management, we deliver the solutions our clients need with a personal commitment to service.
Shareholder GENNARO DIBELLO has widespread experience in all areas of tax and business planning associated with closely held companies, and he's been with Schneider Downs since 1987.
During a routine review of one of our client's operations, Gennaro's team identified something that wasn't very routine at all. They discovered that the client was using multiple incorrect methods and calculations for computing tax depreciation for their fixed assets. Gennaro met the client to discuss the issue, presented a solution to correct the problem, quantified the results, and implemented the changes resulting in a favorable adjustment of nearly $4.5 million. Gennaro's expertise and eye for detail was critical in helping this client fix a problem they didn't even realize that they had. "We're good at identifying opportunities or exposures that aren't on our clients' radars," Gennaro said. "It's not necessarily what we were originally retained to do, but while we're executing our engagements, we're always looking for new ways to help our clients and minimize their tax burden." Schneider Downs provides Big Thinking and Personal Focus in delivering a variety of services for large and small businesses, both publicly and privately held, as well as nonprofit organizations, government entities and more. Through our commitment to thought leadership and knowledge management, we deliver the solutions our clients need with a personal commitment to service.
GREG ALLISON is responsible for estate and succession planning for business owners, executives and high-net-worth individuals. He also prepares annual income tax returns for estates and trusts in addition to gift tax returns, federal estate tax returns and state inheritance tax returns.
One of Greg's clients was a father wanting to retire and give his son 100% ownership of their company. Giving his 80% share in the company would result in a $1.5 million tax due on redemption. Greg's team was able to avoid the $1.5 million tax and introduce asset protection by having the father creator a grantor trust instead. "By creating a grantor trust, the father was able to sell his shares under the same terms as redemption but save money since no gain is recognized on the sale," said Greg. "We were also able to integrate asset protection into the structure and procure the recurring tax and attest services." Schneider Downs provides Big Thinking and Personal focus in delivering a variety of services for large and small businesses, both publicly and privately held, as well as nonprofit organizations, government entities and more. Through our commitment to thought leadership and knowledge management, we deliver the solutions our clients need with a personal commitment to service.
Shareholder JOE BRUCE has more than 21 years of public accounting experience since joining Schneider Downs in 1996. He has expertise with a variety of clients including construction, manufacturing, retail, oil and gas industries, and employee benefit plans.
One of Joe's clients had a successful business and was interested in contributing more to their retirement accounts. However, the client was limited by the existing employee benefit plan structure and IRS contribution limitations on their existing structure. Joe's team was familiar with the structure of their existing plan and offered to do an analysis of their options. "The Schneider Downs Retirement Plan Solutions Group suggested a cash balance plan and provided an analysis to the business owners which quantified the impact and provided options to allow the client to evaluate the direction they were most comfortable moving forward with." Bruce said. "The client elected to adopt the cash balance plan and was able to significantly increase contributions into the owners' retirement accounts. This also enhanced the quality of the retirement benefits for their employees, which in turn helped improve employee retention." Schneider Downs provides Big Thinking and Personal Focus in delivering a variety of services for large and small businesses, both publicly and privately held, as well as nonprofit organizations, government entities and more. Through our commitment to thought leadership and knowledge management, we deliver the solutions our clients need with a personal commitment to service.
KIM GRIFFITH has more than 30 years of accounting experience and specializes in providing audit, tax and business consulting services to not-for-profit and governmental clients. She joined Schneider Downs in 2016 and provides clients with a range of services including budgeting, account systems, reviews of policies and procedures and strategic planning.
One of Kim's clients operates multiple community-living homes and was struggling to determine if employees were using their company credit cards appropriately. Through audit procedures, they were able to uncover questionable transitions and change the credit card usage policies. "We were able to identify a new purchasing card provider for our client and assess the data that they could utilize under this new system," said Kim. "That way, they can more effectively monitor the transactions through automated reporting which safeguards the client's funds." Schneider Downs provides Big Thinking and Personal Focus in delivering a variety of services for large and small businesses, both publicly and privately held, as well as nonprofit organizations, government entities and more. Through our commitment to thought leadership and knowledge management, we deliver the solutions our clients need with a personal commitment to service.
Shareholder MARY RICHTER has more than 20 years of public accounting experience since joining Schneider Downs in 2002. She has expertise with domestic and international tax planning, state tax nexus, tax credits, accounting for income taxes, and specific transaction planning and implementation.
One of Mary's clients was reorganizing their overseas operating structure and wanted to move certain assets to different jurisdictions. The client had been purchased by a Private Equity group and called us about updating a valuation we had previously done for the business. In addition to working through the valuation questions, we were able to identify an opportunity to revise their restructuring plan to avoid taxation of a significant portion of the transactions. "By asking questions, having a strong understanding of their needs, and collaborating with the client, we were able to save them roughly $1 million in taxes," Mary said. "Plus, our plan enabled them to generate future tax deductions overseas to offset the current cost of restructuring. We also saved them substantially on fees." Schneider Downs provides Big Thinking and Personal Focus in delivering a variety of services for large and small businesses, both publicly and privately held, as well as nonprofit organizations, government entities and more. Through our commitment to thought leadership and knowledge management, we deliver the solutions our clients need with a personal commitment to service.
Shareholder PATRICK ARMKNECHT has been with Schneider Downs for over 21 years. His expertise lies mainly in corporate accounting, project management and software implementation.
One of Patrick's clients was looking for more efficient back-office operations. Patrick's team recommended the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) technology to help address their billing problem. After implementing RPA technology, manual time spent completing the monthly billing process was reduced by 75%. "Although the immediate need was focused on the monthly billing process, we recognized that investment in RPA would also enable the client to automate a number of processes throughout their organization," Patrick said. "They have already implemented five other automation projects in different parts of the organization and have a list of more than 20 other processes they intend to automate in the near future." Schneider Downs provides Big Thinking and Personal focus in delivering a variety of services for large and small businesses, both publicly and privately held, as well as nonprofit organizations, government entities and more. Through our commitment to thought leadership and knowledge management, we deliver the solutions our clients need with a personal commitment to service.