VSCPA
CHAIR OF THE VSCPA BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
Gary Thomson, CPA
Gary Thomson, CPA, takes over as the VSCPA Board of Directors chair coming off a fresh reminder of the limitations of his own power. Thomson, a Pittsburgh Steelers season-ticket holder, was recently appointed to a 20-person fan advisory council for the team, and his first meeting came on the heels of the team trading star receiver Antonio Brown. Thomson was under no illusions that he could have done anything to stop the deal.
“They’ve made it very clear that this group I’m on has nothing to do with the team,” he said. “I don’t think they need to hear my voice on Antonio Brown.” The VSCPA, on the other hand, is happy to be the beneficiary of the mental energy he isn’t spending on draft picks and salary cap implications. Thomson, 55, is retiring from Dixon Hughes Goodman (DHG) and public accounting effective May 31 and starting his own consultancy practice focused on succession and transition planning, general consulting and mergers and acquisitions for public accounting firms. And the VSCPA will be a major beneficiary of the time he’s freeing up. “I couldn’t be more excited,” he said. “To have your own peers give you the opportunity to lead is just fantastic. I’ve had the opportunity to lead in a lot of organizations, both local and statewide, but this is a special one for me. My excitement level is off the charts. The fact that it coincides with a change in career makes it more exciting because I feel like I have the appropriate amount of time to do some things that I want to do.”
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DISCLOSURES
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MAY/JUNE 2019
Those priorities include an increased focus on the VSCPA2025 theme of driving innovation and vision, as well as advancing diversity in the VSCPA and the CPA profession — and Thomson sees the two topics as very much wrapped up in each other. Hear Gary’s thoughts about innovation at vscpa.com/GaryThomsonInnovation. “What do we need to do as a profession to remain relevant moving forward?” he asked. “How do we get people excited about the profession? How do we engage the next generation? To me, everything ties back to innovation... We’re looking at some diversity initiatives and recognizing what the future of the profession looks like. We need to innovate on the way we attract people into the profession.” We’ve profiled Thomson before when he was named 2017 VSCPA Outstanding Member of the Year, but here are the key points of his biography: He started his career at Arthur Andersen after graduating from Bob Jones University in South Carolina and later started his own firm in Colonial Heights. Eventually, that firm became part of DHG and Thomson was a partner who saw his territory grow to encompass the entire Mid-Atlantic region.