Grant Thornton names several new office managing partners and principals

CHICAGO — Grant Thornton LLP has named new office managing partners and principals in Atlanta; Charlotte, North Carolina; Dallas; Chicago; Columbia, South Carolina; Metropark, New Jersey; Orange County, California; Phoenix; San Diego; San Francisco; Silicon Valley, California; South Florida; and Seattle.

Grant Thornton appointed these office managing partners and principals to drive the firm’s continued commitment to its people and culture, while also supporting its strategic objectives and growth initiatives in their respective markets. They include:

• Jason Perry has been named office managing partner of the firm’s Atlanta office, effective August 1, 2020. Perry succeeds Wade Weeks, who is retiring on July 31, 2020, after more than 37 years serving in a range of leadership roles at major accounting firms.
• Doreen Griffith has been named office managing partner of the firm’s Dallas office, effective August 1, 2020. Griffith succeeds Wally Gruenes, who is retiring from the firm on July 31, 2020 — his mandatory retirement date. Gruenes concludes an impressive career at Grant Thornton, where he served as Central region managing partner and Dallas managing partner for the past 7 years. Prior to that, Gruenes led the firm’s Consumer and Industrial Products industry practice and served on the Board of the National Association of Manufacturers.
• Mike Desmond has been named office managing partner of the firm’s Charlotte, North Carolina office, effective August 1, 2020. Desmond succeeds Dave Wedding, who is retiring from the firm on July 31, 2021 — his mandatory retirement date. During the one-year overlap with Desmond, Wedding will continue to focus on Grant Thornton’s people-centric programs and support Desmond in the market with clients, strategic pursuits and overall growth initiatives. He will also serve as an experienced ambassador for Grant Thornton’s people-first culture.
• Mark Sullivan has been named office managing principal of the firm’s Chicago office, effective immediately. Sullivan succeeds Vince Tomkinson, who accepted a new role as Grant Thornton’s global account leader based in the United Kingdom.
• Barbara Koosa Ryan has been named office managing partner of the firm’s Columbia, South Carolina office, effective August 1, 2020. Ryan succeeds Mark Ballew, who is retiring from the firm on July 31, 2020 — his mandatory retirement date. Ballew caps an impressive 40-year career in accounting and served as Grant Thornton’s Columbia office managing partner for the past 12 years.
• Bryan Merrigan has been named office managing partner of the firm’s Metropark, New Jersey office, effective immediately. Merrigan succeeds Matt DiDonato, who became the New York City office managing partner on January 22, 2020.
• Brett Beightol has been named office managing partner of the firm’s Orange County, California office, effective August 1, 2020. Beightol succeeds Alan Herrmann, who has been leading Grant Thornton’s Orange County office. Hermann was promoted to lead Grant Thornton’s West region Tax practice in 2019.
• David Gifford has been named office managing partner of the firm’s Phoenix office, effective August 1, 2020. Gifford succeeds Tim Zingraf, who has been serving as interim Phoenix office managing partner since 2019, when the office managing partner, Brad Preber, became Grant Thornton’s CEO.
• Adam Steinmetz has immediately assumed the role of office managing partner of the firm’s San Diego office. He replaces Brett Beightol (see above) in the role, who relocated to the firm’s Orange County, California office and will become that office’s managing partner on August 1, 2020.
• Rimma Tabakh has been named office managing partner of the firm’s San Francisco office, effective August 1, 2020. Tabakh succeeds Tony Perazzo, who has been leading Grant Thornton’s San Francisco office, as well as its Silicon Valley, California office. Perazzo is relinquishing the twin posts because he was promoted to the firm’s West regional managing partner role in 2019.
• Amanda McCarty has been named office managing partner of the firm’s Silicon Valley office, based in San Jose, California — effective August 1, 2020. McCarty succeeds Perazzo.
• Seth Siegel has been named office managing partner of the firm’s South Florida offices, located in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale. Siegel replaces Doug Gawrych, who is retiring from the firm on July 31, 2020 — his mandatory retirement date. Gawrych concludes an 18-year career at Grant Thornton, where his leadership experience includes roles as the firm’s Florida managing partner and as its national managing partner for Private Company Services and Private Equity Services.
• Dan Powers has been named office managing partner of the firm’s Seattle office, effective immediately. Powers has been serving as the interim office managing partner since July 2019.

“Our new office managing partners and principals are the definition of servant leaders — professionals who are committed to our firm’s people, clients and communities,” said Brad Preber, CEO of Grant Thornton. “It is a privilege to name such a talented and accomplished slate of leaders to provide our clients with innovative, high-quality solutions during the challenging times ahead.”

About Jason Perry
Perry has spent almost 20 years at Grant Thornton providing audit services to public and large private companies primarily in the manufacturing, technology and life science industries. Additionally, he currently serves as the Atlanta Audit Services practice leader, a position he has served in since April 2012. Perry received a bachelor’s degree in management from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is a certified public accountant (CPA) in Georgia and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).

About Doreen Griffith
Griffith boasts more than 30 years of experience in the tax industry, including 17 years at Grant Thornton. For the past 3 years, she has been a member of Grant Thornton’s Tax leadership team and the Financial Services Tax leader. Prior to that, she was the firm’s California managing partner. Griffith has also held a range of other leadership roles, including national managing partner of Tax Services and West region Tax practice leader, as well as office managing partner in Honolulu. She received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Louisiana Tech University — and is a CPA in Arkansas, California, Hawaii, Illinois and Texas. She is also a member of the AICPA.

About Mike Desmond
Desmond joined Grant Thornton in 2007 and currently serves as the firm’s national Audit Industry and Growth leader. He previously led the firm’s Carolinas Consumer and Industrial Products industry team. He has more than 30 years of public accounting and corporate industry experience focused primarily within the manufacturing and technology sectors. Desmond received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a CPA in North Carolina and a member of the AICPA.

About Mark Sullivan
Sullivan joined the firm in 2009 and has more than 25 years of experience in corporate investigations, fraud prevention and detection and litigation support. He previously served as the Advisory practice leader for the firm’s Central region and the Chicago Forensic Advisory Services practice leader. Sullivan also served on the national and global leaderships teams for the firm’s Forensics practice. Sullivan is currently a member of Grant Thornton’s Partnership Board and is a certified fraud examiner. He received a bachelor’s degree in administration of justice from Southern Illinois University.

About Barbara Koosa Ryan
Ryan joined the firm in 2002 and has more than 25 years of public accounting experience focused primarily in the transportation, real estate, manufacturing and distribution industries. She currently serves as the partner-in-charge of the firm’s Carolinas Tax practice and is the national leader of the Privately Held Corporation Services practice. She received a master’s degree in accountancy from the University of South Carolina and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Furman University. Ryan is a CPA in South Carolina and North Carolina and is a member of the AICPA.

About Bryan Merrigan
Merrigan joined the firm in 2002 and has nearly 20 years of public accounting experience spanning a variety of industries, including professional services, technology and life sciences. As an Audit partner, he has significant experience working with initial public offerings (IPOs), mergers and acquisitions (M&A), debt offerings and other complex business transactions. Merrigan received a master’s of business administration degree and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Rider University. He’s a CPA in New York and New Jersey and a member of the AICPA.

About Brett Beightol
Beightol joined the firm in 1994 and has nearly 30 years of experience serving public and private companies in a broad range of industries, including technology, life sciences, transportation, logistics and manufacturing. He specializes in financial statement audit engagements and technical accounting guidance. He most recently served as the San Diego Audit partner-in-charge and San Diego office managing partner, a role that has been filled by Adam Steinmetz (see below). Beightol received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Northern Colorado. He is a CPA in California and a member of the AICPA.

About David Gifford
Gifford joined the firm in 2002 and has 30 years of public accounting experience in a wide array of industries, including real estate, integrated auto retail and finance, transportation, hospitality, agriculture and technology. He most recently served as the Audit practice leader in the firm’s Phoenix office, a post he held since 2009. Gifford received a master’s degree and a bachelor’s degree in accounting with honors from the University of Florida. He is a CPA in Arizona and a member of the AICPA.

About Adam Steinmetz
Steinmetz boasts a 14-year career at Grant Thornton, which includes 2 years in Grant Thornton’s Washington National Tax Office. He has consulted on a wide variety of corporate tax matters and specializes in corporate consulting, audit support over ASC 740 and federal income tax provisions — as well as M&A support and tax structuring. Steinmetz has worked with a variety of enterprises, including closely-held businesses, emerging growth companies, pre-IPO companies, complex private companies and large public companies. He is a CPA in California and a member of the AICPA.

About Rimma Tabakh
Tabakh joined the firm in 2002 and has more than 20 years of experience providing audit and advisory services to publicly listed multi-national corporations. She has led initial and secondary public offerings, performed due diligence in acquisitions and supervised IFRS to U.S. GAAP conversions. She has also advised European, American and Asian companies on cross-border transactions. Tabakh most recently served as the firm’s Greater Bay Area Audit practice leader. From 2014 to 2017, she was the U.S. resident partner for Grant Thornton China. She received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of California at Berkeley and is a CPA in California and a member of the AICPA.

About Amanda McCarty
McCarty joined the firm in 2007 and has more than 15 years of experience providing audit and consulting services related to SEC regulations and filings, IPOs, audits of internal control over financial reporting and M&A. She also has extensive experience working with private equity firms and complex public and private technology and healthcare companies in Silicon Valley, California. McCarty received a bachelor’s of business administration degree in accountancy from Baruch College. She is a CPA in California and New York and a member of the AICPA.

About Seth Siegel
Siegel joined Grant Thornton in 1996 and boasts extensive experience in a variety of industries, including real estate, hospitality, private equity and financial services. He served as the firm’s Florida Audit practice leader from 2012 until 2019, with operational responsibility for Grant Thornton’s five offices in that state. Prior to that, Siegel led the firm’s Florida Real Estate, Construction and Hospitality industry group, and served on Grant Thornton’s Experience Leadership Council. Siegel is currently a member of Grant Thornton’s Partnership Board and serves on the firm’s Audit Quality Advisory Council. He received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Florida Atlantic University. Siegel is a CPA in Florida and a member of the AICPA.

About Dan Powers
Powers joined the firm in 2004. He has 35 years of public accounting experience and has provided accounting, tax and advisory services to numerous large and mid-sized companies with both domestic and foreign operations. He continues to serve as the global head of Tax for Grant Thornton International Ltd, and helped establish the Grant Thornton Shared Services Center in Bangalore, India. He also served as Grant Thornton’s Wichita, Kansas office managing partner and Tax practice leader of the Kansas City, Missouri office. Powers received a master’s degree and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Florida. He is a CPA in Washington, Kansas and Missouri and a member of the AICPA.

Contact: