MOVE Like This!

On this episode, we are joined by two women from the Accounting and Financial Women's Alliance (AFWA), Cindy Stanley, Executive Director and Shane Schaefer, Events & Education Director. We learn about AFWA's 86-year-history and how the organization and the Accounting MOVE Project started working together 15 years ago. Cindy shares her observations about the role of women in the accounting profession, including some advances and remaining frustrations, and Shane tells us all about AFWA's upcoming events. We encourage anyone interested in learning more about this supportive and influential organization to visit their website at https://www.afwa.org/. 

Priscilla Hammonds, DEI Director at BerryDunn joins MOVE Like This to share her unique perspective as someone who has worked in the DEI space for 20+ years. We learn how BerryDunn has embraced diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging and access and committed time, resources and energy to creating a firm of choice for all potential employees. Priscilla also shares her thoughts on why firms that may be considering pulling back on their DEI investment should reconsider if they want to remain competitive. To learn more about BerryDunn, visit https://www.berrydunn.com/.

Reema Patel, accounting practitioner, financial advisor and co-director of D-PATH, CBM's diversity and inclusion initiative, talks about how the firm has created policies that attract and retain women, how she addresses DEI skepticism, and why she helped create a financial planning service targeting Millennials. We also learn why she would choose teleportation as her superpower. To learn more about CBM, visit https://www.cbmcpa.com/. 

Angie Grissom, CEO of The Rainmaker Companies and one of the most influential people in accounting, joins Bonnie to talk about the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion in today's profession. Topic discussed range from what firms can do to find and retain talent, how a "people-first" approach is vital to today's workforce, and what successful firms are doing to meet and exceed the needs of clients, the firm and their team members simultaneously. We also learn the impact travel has had on her world view and the superpower she wishes she had. To learn more about The Rainmaker Companies, visit https://therainmakercompanies.com/.

Amanda Pontow, partner, and Megan Geissinger, Human Resources manager, at Bland & Associates join Bonnie to discuss how they are supporting local high schools to fight the talent shortage, discuss their Leadership training program, called BLING, and share how they are invested in cross training team members to ensure clients are always served at the highest level possible. Learn more about Bland & Associates by visiting https://blandcpa.com/.

Jen Cryder, CEO of the Pennsylvania Institute of CPAs, joins Bonnie to talk about the talent crunch, the core reasons why fewer young people are entering the professions, and how some firms are addressing it. We also discuss some ways firms need to adjust to retain the people they have, particularly women, and where they need to invest their money to become firms of the future. Learn more about the PICPA here: https://www.picpa.org/. 

Arianna Savoca, Human Resources Manager with Grassi talks about how training and mentoring is built into the culture at Grassi, the great work and impact that the Women's Council and other ERGs have on the firm, and how bi-annual employee reviews help ensure pay equity at the firm. We also learn about the unique superpower she would like to have and how Bonnie would find it valuable too. Learn more about Grassi at https://www.grassicpas.com/.  

Lanelle Herink, a partner at HBE, talks about the challenges of instilling culture in a remote working environment, how important it is to provide training and transparency for rising leaders in the firm, and offers advice for other firms looking to recruit, retain and promote women. We also learn that she'd head to Italy if given the opportunity to travel anywhere and what unique superpower she'd like to have. Learn more about HBE at https://hbecpa.com/.

Dave Roberson, president of RoseRyan, talks about why they decided to merge with ZRG and how it has gone in the last 18 months as well as the unexpected benefits of having a 100% remote workforce. We also discuss how having managers take on greater responsibility for the firm's strategic initiatives has better equipped the next generation of leaders for the future and led to exciting new insight and ideas. We also learn that Dave wants to travel to the Mt. Everest base camp, not to climb, but to support those that are. Learn more about RoseRyan by visiting https://roseryan.com/. 

Robin Matthews, partner and shareholder at Jones & Roth in Oregon discusses the supportive culture at her firm and their philosophy of "one size fits one." With women comprising 42% of their partner group, Jones & Roth is well above average at retaining women into leadership positions, and Robin shares some of the reasons behind their success. She also shares advice for other firms looking to attract and retain more talented women and share where she'd like to travel too. To learn more about Jones & Roth, visit https://www.jrcpa.com/.