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Our people grew too.“ People” is our primary focus for a reason, so it’ s no surprise that I’ m particularly proud of the investments we’ ve made in this area last year. Here at Rea, we are intentional when it comes to investing in the professional development of our individuals and teams. After all, when our people grow, their impact on our clients and firm is incredible.
One of the most significant investments we made last year was to tap one of our outstanding principals, Annie Yoder( New Philadelphia), to serve as Rea’ s first-ever director of development. In this role, she oversees the firm’ s training, development and succession planning strategies. Annie previously worked full-time on Rea’ s government team, but her passion for development and professional growth was evident. As a result, she was asked to lead others on the Rea team in their career pursuits. Since stepping into the role, Annie has helped revamp the performance evaluation process while actively managing The Rea Academy – Rea’ s own learning and development program focused on technical, leadership and soft skills training. Still an active practitioner, she will continue to make a full transition into the director of development role.
Looking ahead, we are excited to launch training for our client service specialist( CSS) team under the direction of Rea’ s director of accounting services, Heather McNichols( New Philadelphia). The talents and expertise of our CSS team in providing bookkeeping and payroll services are essential to meeting our clients’ needs and the growth of our firm. So to keep their skills sharp, Heather is working to ensure they receive the right training and guidance.
With 13 offices across the state of Ohio, improved communication emerged as a top priority for our leadership team. We welcomed Abigail Eisenbrei( New Philadelphia) as our internal communications specialist to maintain open lines of communication across the firm regarding our business growth, strategic direction, accomplishments and client relationships. Abigail is helping to educate, empower and engage our people.
Helping Rea to strategically expand our team is Desirée Lyon( Dublin), our new talent acquisition specialist. Her work ensures we have the best talent to serve our clients and support the firm.
This is just a short list of Rea’ s new team members in 2017. While they’ re not all mentioned by name, they all significantly contribute to the firm, and I’ m thrilled for us to begin another year working together.
We gave credit where credit was due.
Our accomplishments wouldn’ t be possible without the enthusiasm and passion of our people. Since launching the Excellence Awards last year to thank those who make extraordinary contributions to the firm or a client, we recognized more than 50 professionals. Each honoree received a monetary bonus and firm recognition for going above and beyond to improve a process, serve a client and pursue career growth. Professionals at every level were awarded, highlighting how each employee is essential to Rea’ s success.
Rea’ s priorities are clear. In completing my first official year as CEO, I can report back to you that these last 12 months have been an exciting learning experience for myself and the Rea team. We launched new initiatives to support our people, implemented impactful change and worked to drive growth for our clients. Throughout the year’ s journey, one very important truth remained consistent and clear in the fabric of our work: Rea is committed to its strategic vision, and our people and clients are at the top of the priority list.
With this in mind, I’ m looking forward to making more waves in the year ahead.
Sincerely,
Don McIntosh, CPA Chief Executive Officer( 2017-present) Rea & Associates
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