Tom is one of the most influential leaders in the Accounting Profession. In 2019 he was named the Second Most Influential Person in Accounting for the seventh year by Accounting Today Magazine (His 15th year on the Top 100). He was one of the first five thought leaders inducted into the Accounting Hall of Fame (2015) by CPA Practice Advisor.
LinkedIn recruited Tom as one of their Top 100 Influencers and he was named to the Top 25 Influencers in Learning by HR Examiner. He is known for his prolific digital footprint and now has over 780,000 followers on LinkedIn, Twitter and other social accounts.
Tom is on a mission to help CPAs, Finance and Accounting Professionals thrive in these times of exponential change. He firmly believes that what got us here, won’t get us there as the Profession faces unprecedented changes and opportunities.
Tom’s recognition and awards reflect his leadership in helping CPAs “shape their future” through his work at the Maryland Association of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute (BLI), a center for the development of leadership, strategic thinking, and collaboration skills for CPAs. BLI has a catalog of over 600 programs and 30 ‘top gun’ instructors who provide state of the art learning and curriculum for the Top 500 CPA Firms, Fortune 500 corporations, non-profits, State CPA Societies and even internationally.
Tom and his team have facilitated and taught the Major Firms Group (Top 100 CPA firms) for the AICPA, the AICPA Leadership Academy and lead strategic planning sessions for many of the top CPA firms all over the US and Canada.
He is an internationally recognized author, speaker, and consultant, featured in the Journal of Accountancy, Accounting Today, and AccountingWeb. He won the AICPA Special Recognition Award for his contributions to the profession leading the CPA Vision Project in 2003.
Tom also co-authored BLI’s i2a – Insights to Action a strategic thinking system that is used to cultivate leaders and a strategic planning process to help organizations navigate today’s VUCA environment. The i2a process was customized for the national CPA Horizons 2025 project where Tom and his team ran over fifty future forums that engaged thousands of participants in a conversation about the future, identifying the top trends facing the CPA Profession.
He is a graduate of Loyola College (B.A. in Accounting) and has a Master’s in Finance (Real Estate) from Johns Hopkins University. He also obtained the Certified Information Technology Professional (CITP) certification and the Certified Global Management Accountant (CGMA) certification from the AICPA.
Contact Tom at tom@macpa.org.