CohnResnick CEO David Kessler on How to Adapt For a Multi-Generational Workforce

Hey, it's great to have David Kessler here today, CEO of Kohn Resnick. And Dave, welcome, welcome, welcome.

Uh, it's great to see you. Thanks for having me. It's so good to be here.

Well, it's terrific. I can't wait to hear more about Kohn Resnick, you and your leadership, and what makes you a Most Loved Workplace. Congratulations on becoming a top Most Loved Workplace this year. Oh, you're quite welcome. You're quite welcome. Well, David, it's amazing, your career, um, at Kohn Resnick as coming in as a young professional, coming on 37 years now and really creating this culture where it's great for young professionals to come in and knowing what that's like. And you hire 350 to 400 people every year right out of college, which is amazing. And I just want to know, first of all, just jump into it. What makes you a most loved workplace?

Well, thanks. And, you know, the people we hire directly out of college, I address each year and I say, look, I started in the same seat that you guys started in. And we hire hundreds more in at lateral positions, various levels of experience throughout, you know, all of our offices around the country and all of our practice areas. But we really care about each other and we care about our clients. And it all starts with communities and the communities with inside our organization. And that helps us to really create a lot of collaboration, and it starts as a team sport when you join Cone Resnick. And you're assigned to an office, whether you sit in an office or you sit at home, um, you're attached to service lines, you're attached to so many different industries that you're involved with. We excel in the industries that we service, and that's one of the things that makes us different and special. Tactical skills and specialties and backgrounds and different ethnicities in the groups that we have within our firm that collaborate together, and everyone can learn about so much and all these things. So we, you know, try to integrate all this together and allow for strong connections throughout these many communities within Kohn Resnick. And then there's so many communities outside of Kohn Resnick that everybody's a part of. So that's what makes it so exciting. And, you know, I tell people, Accounting, you know, may not have the most sex appeal, but man, it is one exciting career. And there are so many opportunities. And I'm just one example of that. And we have so many within our firm of 300 partners and 3,000 employees in the US and 700 employees in India who are all part of our firm who experience the journey. And not, not everybody has the same journey, but it sure is an exciting one.

It sounds that, you know, this concept is of hiring so many young professionals right out of college. That's so extraordinary. And helping them to lead up to the higher levels, giving them succession plans, career opportunities, this opportunity to be heard, as you said, being— understanding the diverse landscape and having psychological safety to inside the environment. Tell us more about what that's like for a young professional to into Cohen Resnick? What does it look like? What does the culture look like? And, you know, what makes them excited about it?

Yeah, absolutely. Well, you know, the culture, you know, is one of, you know, belonging, inclusiveness, and the really the joy and the experience that people have kind of runs along a spectrum. And, you know, first there's the technical skills, you know, you really hone your craft on whether it's assurance, tax, so many different advisory practice areas within our firm. You learn so much about technical skills. You learn about managing people, about managing client assignments, about working with different people, both inside and outside the firm. Um, there's the industry depth and experience and the expertise And I, I always enjoyed that. I, I liked going into a client and the client knew that you guys specialize in this particular industry, regardless of the industry. There's 15 or so wide-ranging industries we have specialties in. And I always appreciated how we were recognized as experts and leaders. And I might be asked a question and I might not know the answer, but my partners, my colleagues, uh, that had much more experience than me I could corral them and say, this is the problem, let's help find a solution. And you build relationships with stakeholders inside the firm and outside the firm that are lifelong colleagues and friends. And then the contributions that our people make to our firm, you know, so you've got the technical skills, you've got your managing of your engagements, you've got your industry experience, and then the contributions that you can make that I call them electives. And I always was so excited about all of these electives, whether it's being on the technology committee in our innovation office, being, uh, involved with recruiting, um, on campus at colleges across the U.S., business development, marketing, super users with technology, learning and development, creating and teaching a course for others, um, All of these things create so much, you know, professional and personal development. And, you know, we encourage everybody to have a wide range of experiences at Kohn Resnick. And then, you know, the other thing is being a part of various different teams along your service lines and industries where you can have so much, so much satisfaction in working with different people and working with different clients. And what I always enjoyed was one minute I could be working with a large public company with a sophisticated accounting department, finance group, going through M&A activities and very technical tax accounting advisory. And then the very next day I could be working with a startup of company of 3 people that really need help creating the backbone of their company. And those are wide-ranging experiences and everything in between, you know. So that, that's what always kept me motivated and excited, and, um, the, uh, receptiveness to creating new and different experiences and having the support from the people that I work for and my mentors. In wanting to see me thrive and grow. And I try to give that back. That's one of the most rewarding things is when somebody you've worked with since they've been an intern is promoted to a partner within our firm. And that's so exciting.

The promotion too, but everyone will probably want to know, how do you succeed at Cohen Resnick? You know, especially from you. Yeah. How do you do it?

You know, it's really about caring about our clients, helping find solutions, exceeding their expectations, and also caring about each other. You know, through my 36-plus years at the firm, you know, your life changes. You get married, you have children, you're involved in external organizations. And activities that you're passionate about. And to be able to have the support to be able to excel based on your lifestyle as it changes is, you know, what really provides the support system. And then, you know, the other thing is our Pyramid Values. You know, we really believe in our Pyramid Values, which are Passion for excellence, yearning for knowledge, respect for everyone, adaptability, making a difference, integrity, and developing opportunities. And, you know, that's so critical in everything we do, how we treat each other, how we treat our clients, and it creates a special place.

It's wonderful. I mean, the, the question also I had for you is I've heard great things about your Focus Fridays. Your HR team is doing a great job on this. Your, your coursework, on-the-job learning, they're doing just a wonderful job. You have a great team doing this with you. Tell me about this, these, this, these great programs for young professionals must love this stuff. It sounds so cool.

The one thing we had to do was, you know, part of our pyramid of values is adaptability. And With what's happened in the world with COVID we've had to reinvent ourselves. And we were able to successfully do that through a whole bunch of different programs. And, you know, the challenges of, you know, working from home are made much easier with technology. Recreating the, you know, relationships and the connectivity that we have with each other and our clients through the video technology, streaming, chatting, and so many different platforms to be able to communicate, interact, mentor, and create learning groups has been very successful for us, you know. So we, we continue to do that and thrive on that. We created Focus Fridays because everyone is so, you know, glued to their computer, their videos. We found, you know, that your calendar fills up with meeting after meeting. So we said, look, you know, let's take Fridays and use that time for yourself. If you want to reflect, get some work done without interruptions. Mental health is very important. We have a lot of different mental health programs and solutions for our employees to take advantage of. And, you know, we closed down for the week of Thanksgiving this past year. We know how hard it is for people to unglue themselves from their computers. We have a hybrid work environment. We're encouraging people to come in and collaborate within our offices. We believe that we operate under our Kohn Resnick purpose. And, you know, we can collaborate with each other virtually, and there's times where it's much more valuable to collaborate in person. So, you know, that's important for us. And next year we're going to close down July 4th week and Thanksgiving week to allow people time to decompress. Now we have client demands and deadlines, so for the most part You know, the majority of our company is able to do that.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. So a lot of care is given to stress, to also focus, and also to give freedom to connect to customers and each other.

Yeah. And, you know, we think, you know, that, you know, together we're part of something greater and we spend a lot of time with each other at work, but we also spend a lot of time on community activities. And, you know, we're very proud of that, whether it's buying and filling backpacks for kids that are of lower-middle-income families within our communities that we can contribute, whether it's making lunches. Recently, we made lunch packs out of one of our offices, and we've done that throughout various different offices. You know, so we're, we're very involved. Each of our offices has a community focus group to determine which things are most important within our local communities to contribute to, and not only, not only our, our financial support, but our, but our time as well. And we believe in that.

Yeah, I mean, to give that kind of commitment to the community as well as the interest of not just young professionals, but I think everyone really, to help others is not just a wise choice. It's the right thing to do, right? It sounds like doing the right thing is important at Kohn Resnick.

Doing the right thing is extremely important. You know, it's the backbone of our profession. Integrity is, you know, one of the most important characteristics you could have in the work that we do, but, you know, with each other. You know, we believe, you know, integrity, forward thinking, being creative, being driven, hard work, and having fun is the most important thing. And, you know, what's amazing to me is not only the professional connections that a lot of our people have, but the personal connections. You know, when I talk to some of our people on the teams that I've worked with. And, you know, you create these strong relationships.

It's sort of going places together, being with each other, uh, and also belonging is important, you know, part of your, your pillars that you discussed. And, you know, feeling like there's a sense of belonging, isn't there? Like when people come in with it, do they— so if I, I'm a young professional, I'm out of college, and I'm thinking to myself, well, I have other opportunities, but I really love accounting, and I, I really want to be in the field. Who, who are you looking for? How, how, you know, how, how can people not just find your website, HR, like that, but who you're really looking for? If you're to speak out to them today and hear you, what would you say to them? You know, why they should come to you and, and how, how they should, you know, what should they do to get a job with you?

We're about, um, 80% assurance and tax and 20% advisory services. So, um, technology, um, cybersecurity, uh, um, ERP systems implementation, data analytics, um, all these skills, finance skills, valuation, um, transaction advisory services, bankruptcy litigation, government services. You know, all these are, you know, folks that we're looking for because of our growth. We've experienced 20% growth over the last year, largely due to the expansion of services and our client base. And we look for people who are talented, who are motivated, who are driven, who want to make a difference, who know how to work with a wide range of people, teamwork environment. And the accounting profession is so exciting and there's so many opportunities within not only public accounting, not only Coen Resnick, but just, you know, at large. And I've always been amazed at the amount of opportunities that are available. And so please seek us out. We're open for business and we're open for hiring, and there's just an enormous amount of opportunity. I've always, you know, as I said before, like, you know, the variety, not only in the size of the clients, but, you know, traveling across the country, traveling across the world, meeting with new people, working in many different industries, and you really get to learn so much. It's almost like it's a new job every month, quarter, or year. And, you know, I've always enjoyed experiences that were thrust upon me that I never anticipated or expected or even wanted. And it's turned out to be life-changing with the relationships and the skills that I've, that I've learned, but also being able to navigate my career into the areas where I wanted to have exposure and experience, whether it would be transactional due diligence with M&A activity, whether it's working in the finance industries or nonprofit industries, working in forensic assignments, you know, uncovering fraud and, you know, being available to testify in court and all these different types of experiences. That create, um, you know, such a wealth of knowledge where you can determine, well, I really want to do more of that, or that was great, I enjoyed doing that for 3 months, 9 months, a year, and now I'll go back to my core, uh, practice. So, um, I, I encourage, you know, everyone to really consider— younger folks, you know, consider a career in accounting. And, uh, the opportunity that it can create for a lifetime.

David, undergrad I was a government and economics major, and I remember my friends, there was two— it's kind of like they were in two buckets. The two buckets were who were in my government economics. They were number one, people who just want to make a lot of money. The second bucket was people who wanted to make a huge difference in the world. So this is what happened. I had several of my friends— I won't speak to exactly who— several of my friends went to do the money aspect first. These are lawyers and some accountants as well. So they went into the big law firms, huge law firms. Then they went in places like Department of Justice and the usual, you know, the SEC, larger Washington, uh, uh, sort of institutions. And they did real well there, got up into the higher ranks. And the question I have for them is, what would you rather do? So they say to me, some of both, because I want to make the money and I also want to make a difference. And so what I'm hearing you're saying is people can have a lucrative career and they can still do things like work, uncover fraud and affordable housing, and sort of like you get both, best of both worlds.

No question about it. No. And, you know, when you started down that path, my initial thought was, why not both? You know, you can do both. And, you know, you can make a good living certainly in the accounting profession, um, you know, but you can also give back so much, um, whether it's in the, in the work that you actually, actually do. You know, we do a lot of work with affordable housing community development. I've been personally involved in that practice. It's so rewarding. You really are making a difference for, you know, families and for America in that work. And it was always so prideful for me to be able to work on a deal, a project, and, you know, what's actually happening is you're creating a place for people to live You're, you're working on creating services for people, whether it's tutorial, healthcare, mental health services, before and after school care and things like that. And then even at large changing whole communities, you know, through various different grant programs that exist that just develop, you know, whole blocks in, in major cities, you know. Renewable energy, which is another area that we're involved with, you know, being able to work on wind and solar farms to create clean energy, you know, so, so wide-ranging, you know, certainly with our not-for-profit practice. And then, you know, that's the work that we do, but also just giving back your time into the community. I've been involved with Junior Achievement and, you know, have had so much personal reward in teaching kids in the inner city of all different ages and, you know, creating a platform to be able to give back, you know, and that's in the financial literacy area. But You know, we support so many of our employees and what they want to do and the organizations that they're attached to and associated with. And then, you know, there's ESG, environmental, social, and governance. And, you know, we spend a lot of time as a firm in that area. You know, we've undergone an assessment on our carbon emissions. We've undertaken a study to determine how to reduce our carbon emissions. We're investing dollars. And in that we're looking at our supply chain, we're looking at providing scholarships for lower-middle-income, first-generation college students that we can support that are interested in going into accounting and a wide range, you know, of other areas. Plus we're creating services for our clients to help them navigate how to increase their, um, Integrity, you know, with, with ESG. So, you know, that's a whole new exciting area, and it's an area that matches well with our firm because we've been so community-oriented and driven. And not even— I haven't mentioned yet our government services practice, you know, which provides a specialty federal, state, local governments Um, but one area of specialty is emergency management, um, where we run service centers for, uh, hurricane relief, um, throughout the country, Southeast, um, and New Jersey. And we've done a lot of great work there providing funds through federal government assistance, uh, qualifications to literally thousands of families and other, other work with the government that really, really does help and change lives. And we're so proud of that.

It's a lot to be proud of. And what I'm hearing is that the work, very work that you do, you live within your company. So you're living the values that you espouse, you're actually doing them. And what better environment to do that than, than, than your, your company. You know, it's, it's a, it's really what I call a no-brainer to go in your company, you know.

After— I appreciate that. It was a no-brainer for me.

It sounds that you came right out and knew it. And, um, you know, you— I worked at a Big Five right out of, right out of college.

Oh, no kidding.

Yeah, I did. Is it Fortune, you know, Big Five? And, um, I'll tell you, it didn't, it didn't feel like how you're describing at all. You know how you're describing, it's like immediate belonging, immediate impact, you know. And, um, I, I just didn't— I definitely didn't feel that. I feel like if— and, you know, I've, I've talked about this before, uh, on other shows and other discussions I've had, is that I really— I was excluded. Not to say— not to say, you know, hey, I'm a— I'm not the coolest guy, right? But it wasn't— it wasn't about— right, it wasn't about being the coolest guy or the best guy or person or gal. It's not about that. It should never be about that. It should be, you're now part of us. Yeah, yeah, you're us. You're with us. Look what we're doing together. And there's no exclusion. At all. And that's what you're talking about. There's no need for it on a, a logical, rational level.

No, there really isn't. And, you know, that's what we, we espouse, and that's what I always felt. And, you know, when I joined the company, we had 2 offices, and, um, you know, we had 8 partners, and we all, you know, kind of pretty much worked on the did the same type of work. And, you know, we, we grew from that. And within that growth created so many different industries, so many different services, um, and offices, uh, throughout the country, 25 offices, um, on the West Coast and the East Coast in the middle. And, um, it still feels the same to me. You know, it still feels like, you know, people care. We care about each other. We care about our clients. You know, we're very strategic and we're not everything to everybody, but we want to be the best at what we do and who we do it for. And that, you know, to me, you know, gives you a lot of pride. You know, so I can, you know, help a business and I can say, we do that. We do it well, or we don't do that. But I know several firms that I'm close with that do that well, and I'm happy to bring them in as part of the team, you know, because we want to find solutions. And it's really about helping others, whether they're in our firm or out, be the best that they can be. So, you know, you talked about, you know, the together. I mean, we call it We call it Cone-Resnick together, and together we're better. And we look at things from the lens of Cone-Resnick pride and our Cone-Resnick family.

Cone-Resnick pride, Cone-Resnick together. I mean, that's what it's about. Nobody said that when I entered the building. So I certainly—

I wish they would've said that.

I wish I would've met you because it would've been a lot different. And at the same time, you know, we find our own paths. And it sounds like finding your path is a lot, a lot easier at Kohn Resnick. And you're given opportunities to find your path. You're given a path itself and development and great work, sustainability, and you're connected to your larger career vision and purpose in life. And I can't say that a lot about a lot of places at all, obviously. And yours is definitely one of them.

I appreciate that.

Well, this is great. You said, you said it all, David. Any, you know, you said wonderful things, and I always give this opportunity. What else do you want to say that perhaps what's next in your vision for Krohn Resnick? People want to know about, uh, kind of the vision. Um, what's next? What do you want everybody to know about what's next for you, for Krohn Resnick?

Um, you know, for me, it's continuing along this journey helping us expand, making new partners, bringing on new partners, and growing in the areas that we want to grow in. We are really focused on building out our geographies, growing in geographic locations that we're not now, heavier in the Southeast, heavier in the middle part of the country, expanding on the West Coast, doing that organically and through acquisitions, building out our services and really understanding within our industries that we practice what our clients need the most. And, you know, we continue to, to, to build out there. And it's really continuing along our path of being the best accounting firm that we can be, being the best advisory firm that we can be, and, you know, creating life-changing experiences for our people and for our clients. And we'll continue on that journey. And it's been a wonderful journey. And, you know, I'm so proud of what everyone within our firm has been able to accomplish. Over the many years, but particularly over the last 2 years with this COVID environment that we're in and how we've been able to reinvent ourselves in the services that we provide and how we interact with clients and how we go about getting new business. And, you know, there's so much— there's so much capital available in the marketplace. And we pride ourselves on being able to provide services throughout the entire capital stack and really support the growth. That's what we've seen so, so much activity within the US. And we're continuing to expand globally as well. And we're connected with a lot of clients. And with a lot of other CPA firms through our international organization where we can work internationally and we can support, we can support other companies and firms throughout the world that have activities in the U.S. So that's also very exciting for us.

Outstanding. A lot, a lot of great vision, a lot of great leadership that you have provided, and it's just a It's awesome. I'm so glad to have met you, to talk with you today, learn more in depth why Kohn Resnick is a Most Loved Workplace. Great talking with you, David.

Fantastic talking with you. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much.