“Keep everything simple and in perspective.”
Central Mountain Region: Steven Knebel, Leading Partner of Maxwell Locke & Ritter LLP (ML&R), headquarters - Austin, Texas
Your firm joined CPAmerica in 1995. Describe what influenced your firm to become a member. We started ML&R in 1991 by spinning out of Deloitte & Touche and immediately we realized that we had lost the ability to pick up the phone and get both domestic and international expertise, so that was obviously a gap. Doug Thompson and Kathy McDonald identified our firm as a possible candidate and contacted us – we agreed to meet and joined the association. It has been wonderful ever since. Tell us about your first experience with CPAmerica. Right after we joined, the CPAmerica A&A Conference was being held in San Antonio. I was a young manager at the time and Earl Maxwell [one of the firm’s founders] told me to go to San Antonio and see how the conference was. I did. I walked into the room of probably 60 or 70 people and knew none of them. I grabbed a cup of coffee and very quickly found the fun group. I had a great time. I was welcomed and spent three days at the conference. I made a lot of very good friends and had a great experience. Interestingly, the majority of the people that I met at that first conference are today, in some form or fashion, leaders of their firms. So it was a great experience, we had a ball, and I made deep, personal friends. It was a wonderful start. I learned a few things at the conference, too!
Describe a time when CPAmerica’s member sharing assisted you or your firm with an issue. The one that stands out the most was when we were battling with [the issue] of too much work, working too many hours, and trying to figure out how we could get more efficient. Earl and I were at a conference and Steve Tatone of [member firm] Aldrich Group, pulled us aside and during a break, described the launch of their India practice and asked if we would consider joining in. We immediately said yes. It was a huge solution to our staffing issues and it allowed us to lower our hours, have happier people, and to serve our clients better. Also, in 1997, CPAmerica helped us get into the wealth management business which is now over 20 percent of our revenue, so we have a lot of gratitude to CPAmerica. What is your favorite part about membership with CPAmerica? The best part is the friendships and personal relationships that we have made with the Occupation: Leading Partner Hometown: Victoria, Texas
Top 5 things to do in Austin, Texas: 1. Barbeque (preferably in my backyard) 2. Sample the local microbrew beers 3. Relax by listening to some country music 4. Anything outdoors 5. Sitting on my back porch and listening to nature
other members of CPAmerica and secondly, the resources that we have been able to use to better serve our clients [by being able to pull on all CPAmerica and Crowe Global firms] and Preferred Providers. All of these things are beneficial to our client service. What’s one piece of advice you would give to new firms that have just joined CPAmerica? I would advise them to actively participate in everything CPAmerica offers. Engage and get involved in the non-technical parts of the conferences. That is where the real value is - in helping us all become better leaders. We get our membership dues’ value out of the annual Leading Partners Retreat and Firm Administrators Roundtable. Those conferences give us enough value to pay for our membership dues. What is your hometown and describe your experience there. I grew up in a small south Texas town - Victoria, Texas. I grew up German-Czech and what I learned from my upbringing was how to treat people and my work ethic. Tell us what makes you a unique managing partner. Humility is one of my strengths so that is a hard one for me to answer (laughs). I hope it is that I am thoughtful and that I am willing to listen and share ideas with anybody. What is your personal philosophy? Keep everything simple and in perspective. Also, make sure you always do the right thing. Ver. 052918A