“I learn from people that are smarter than me as I go.”
Southeast Region: Kent Pittman, Founding Partner of Hughes Pittman & Gupton, LLP, headquarters - Raleigh, North Carolina
Your firm joined CPAmerica in 2003. Describe what influenced your firm to become a member? Doug Thompson visited our firm to share the benefits of membership with CPAmerica. My partner group was interested, but skeptical. During his visit, Doug asked me to attend the Leading Partners Retreat (LPR) as a guest. It was the most valuable conference I had ever attended in my life up to that point. The speakers were good, but it really was the group of leading partners and their conversations that I was able to participate in. Their willingness to share and to help each other was very impressive to me. When I returned, I told my firm that we were joining CPAmerica and they had no choice in the matter. That conference made it very clear to me that membership in this association was a slam dunk decision to make. Can you describe a time when CPAmerica’s member sharing assisted with an issue at your firm? The most recent was in regards to an upgrade to our computer systems. We learned a lot about virtual desktop infrastructure by attending CPAmerica meetings. We decided it was the right thing to do and we learned from other members that it is very difficult to find ... consulting help to do this well. The solution came from chatting with Seth McDaniel from Frazier & Deeter during a Leading Partners Retreat. He very kindly offered to allow us to utilize Adam Moleski, their IT director, as a consulting resource that we could use to deploy this
technology at our firm. It gave us the ability to use somebody that is in our industry, using similar software and has taken a CPA firm through the conversion process. We used him to lead this effort for us as opposed to hiring consultants that do not understand our issues or our systems. This made it far more successful for having had that resource available to us. What’s your favorite part about membership with CPAmerica? The ability to spend time talking with lead partners from other CPA firms is hands down the most important part of it. The fact that we can sit together and talk openly about what is working for us and what is not, is a huge competitive advantage compared to sitting here in isolation trying to manage a firm, looking only among ourselves for answers. It’s like having your own board of directors of industry experts to assist you in all your decision making. I can contact them and always get responses and help. Occupation: Tax Practice Partner Hometown: Fairmont, North Carolina
Three things about Kent Pittman: 1. Enjoys sailing off the coast of North Carolina 2. When onshore, appreciates a good round of golf 3. Excited to be a part of and live in the booming technology hub of Raleigh
What’s one piece of advice you would give to new firms that have just joined CPAmerica? Take advantage of the leading partners retreat and other conferences. Go out of your way to get to know people one on one. Look for opportunities outside of conferences to build relationships – the faster you build relationships with these people, the faster you will benefit. I would say joining CPAmerica has been the most dramatic change that ever took place at our firm. The things we have learned from other members of the association and what we have changed here because of what we learned from them has had a huge impact on this firm. Finding ways to leverage these relationships with similar firms is of huge potential value. What’s your hometown and describe your experience there? I grew up in a little tobacco farming town in North Carolina called Fairmont. What I learned from this town is to go to the city to make a living. Tell us what makes you a unique managing partner? I’m just an average guy trying to find my way along. I learn from people that are smarter than me as I go and so far that has worked out for me. What is your personal philosophy? When we created this firm, it was based on the theory that if we surrounded ourselves with very smart people, treated them with great respect, and gave them a platform on which they can be successful, that we would do well. And more than 30 years later, I’d say we were right.
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