Day in the Life with Neal Spencer

Neal Spencer gets up and retrieves a bag of snack-size chocolates from his desk, then casually walks back to the conference table in his office and refills a candy bowl.

The candy bowl wasn’t empty, and my guess is that he simply wanted a reason to stretch his legs during a marathon of meetings.

There isn’t a frenetic pace to Spencer’s day – just a slow, steady balancing act. To an extent, Spencer creates that atmosphere with his smooth, easygoing, regular-guy way of talking to people.

“I think I am unique in my ability to relate to everybody, whether it’s a typist or a partner,” he says. “One of the things I’ve been able to hone over time is this ability to communicate and work with people.”

Spencer, 48, is managing partner for Springfield-based BKD LLP, the 10th-largest U.S. accounting firm, according to Public Accounting Report. BKD is a $318 million company with 27 offices in 11 states, more than 1,600 employees and about 230 partners – and Spencer is in charge of the whole shootin’ match.

He’s new to Springfield, though, having taken over in June when William E. Fingland Jr. retired as managing partner. Spencer relocated from Louisville, Ky., where he was partner in charge of BKD’s Kentucky and southern Indiana offices for 10 years.

Now, 75 percent of his work time, when not traveling, is spent in meetings. Most of the meetings are held in Spencer’s office, a 340-square-foot space on the 18th floor of Hammons Tower. Two walls of solid glass allow visitors to peer out over Jordan Valley Park and Hammons Field.

Many of Spencer’s meetings are impromptu, because, as Spencer puts it, “With close to 2,000 employees, you’re always going to have ‘stuff’ going on.”

This meeting – during which Spencer refills the candy bowl – is with Eileen Wollenburg, the firm’s director of continuing professional education. It’s an unscheduled one-on-one meeting, but Spencer calls Wollenburg into his office to discuss plans for the annual Partner/Manager Leadership Conference, this year in Nashville, Tenn.

Wollenburg pages through a thick binder and Spencer shuffles loose pieces of paper as they write the agenda for the first day of the two-day conference. Spencer pitches an idea of hiring a broadcast professional to host the “BKD News Hour,” a presentation of news from around the firm. They also discuss a schedule for the conference’s retirements and awards ceremony.

After wrapping up, Spencer takes a few minutes listening to voice mails and checking e-mails. Spencer responds to e-mails almost immediately and responds to voice mails usually the same day. He gets about 100 e-mails and voice mails combined daily, and he notes that he doesn’t like long voice mails and hates e-mails overall.

“I’m a big believer that if you’ve got something to say, just go down the hall and say it. If you type it in an e-mail, you’re misinterpreted 99 percent of the time,” he says.

Spencer uses a computer with dual screens so he can drag items back-and-forth. His office is lightly decorated by his wife, Julie, and includes inherited furniture from the previous administration – a conference table, desk, chairs and U.S. wall map with pushpins indicating each BKD location.

There’s also a small plush moose on a table. “We have a saying, ‘Put the moose on the table,’” he explains. “It means that if you’ve got an issue, don’t tap-dance around it. Throw the moose right on the table so everybody sees what it is.”

Spencer’s favorite decorations are three mock, 3-D newspaper pages that highlight the growth of his family throughout his 22-year BKD career. His wife commissioned an artist in Louisville to draw the displays with pen and ink, and Spencer says they send a message about balancing work and life.

Spencer has two children; 22-year-old David and 18-year-old Rachel are both in college. His son is following in dad’s footsteps, majoring in accounting at the University of Kentucky.

After a brief lull, it’s back to meetings.

Greg Williams of Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce arrives at 2 p.m., and they talk in Spencer’s office for 25 minutes about Spencer’s role as a panelist for the chamber’s annual economic outlook conference.

After Williams leaves, Spencer says he needs to spend time thinking about the benefits and detriments of having corporate headquarters in Springfield, which is his topic to tackle as a panelist.

“If I was God for the day and could put BKD’s corporate office anywhere in the U.S., why would I pick Springfield? Or would I pick someplace else? That’s what I have to think about before Tuesday,” he says.

Less than half an hour later, Spencer is hit with his next meeting. Wade Clark, director of sales and marketing, visits Spencer’s office to talk about BKD’s leadership conference, the same event Spencer discussed earlier with Wollenburg. They flip through PowerPoint slides, making notes on most of them. The slides will be part of Spencer’s keynote address, which will highlight his vision for retaining employees and making strategic alliances.

This isn’t the last meeting of the day for Spencer, who usually works from about 7:30 a.m. to past 6 p.m.

“This is kind of a normal day,” he says, offering me some chocolate out of the candy dish. “Meeting after meeting after meeting.”

The Day

6:45 a.m. Wakes up and leaves less than 30 minutes later. “When you’re bald like me, it doesn’t take you long to get ready,” Spencer jokes.

7:30 a.m. Enters a Hammons Tower elevator to take him up 18 floors.

8 a.m. Begins two-hour meeting about marketing strategies with Jack Thurman, president of BKD Wealth Advisors.

11 a.m. Holds conference call with a BKD regional partner.

1:30 a.m. Working lunch at Steak n Shake with BKD partners Bill Kirkman and Steven Rafferty.

1 p.m. Checks voice mails and e-mail.

1:30 p.m. Meets with BKD executive Eileen Wollenburg to plan agenda for BKD’s annual Partner/Manager Leadership Conference.

2 p.m. Sits down with Greg Williams of Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce to discuss the chamber’s annual economic outlook conference, for which Spencer is a panelist.

2:50 p.m. Edits PowerPoint slides with BKD marketer Wade Clark, in preparation for the Partner/ Manager Leadership Conference attended by 500 executives.

3:30 p.m. Discusses risk management with Rafferty.

4 p.m. Catches up on messages.

4:30 p.m. Leaves work to get ready for Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks’ Hooked on Dance.

6 p.m. Arrives at Bass Pro Shops’ White River Room for fundraiser.

11 p.m. Heads home to The Oaks neighborhood after a 16-hour day.

The Q&A

How have you risen through BKD’s ranks?

“I think part of it was a good work ethic from Day 1. Part of it was basically having the ability to speak my mind – but do it in an appropriate manner and a well-thought-out manner, so I didn’t come across as a complainer. I think the other thing is just a deep belief in the firm.”

What was your first impression of Springfield after moving here this year?

“I’ve been coming to Springfield for 21 years because of the corporate office, so it wasn’t really like I was moving to a brand new city. ... We eat out a lot, and we don’t run into a lot of people we know, yet. That’s kind of nice, so I don’t have to entertain a lot of people while my wife is waiting on me to get back to the table.”

Who is your right-hand person?

“I use (Operations Partner Bill) Kirkman and (Professional Practices Partner Steven) Rafferty a lot. If you said, ‘Who are the people you go to the most?’ It’s Kirkman first, Rafferty second, but I have a management style that I’ll reach out to anybody that I think is useful.”

What percentage of your work time is spent traveling?

“It varies. Next week, I’m gone three days (to St. Louis, Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, Ind.). … (That trip) is to get a better understanding of the challenges (and) the opportunities that my leaders out there are facing. (It’s my way of going) around in the trenches.”

Do your people skills come naturally?

“If you were to go back and talk to my college professors or my high school teachers, they would be shocked that I’m in the position that I’m in today. I was shy, I was quiet (and) I didn’t have a lot of confidence. It’s taken me a while.”

What made you less shy?

“Knowing that you can’t survive in business if you don’t come out of your shell. You ask anybody at BKD, and they’ll say I’m a liar, but I’m still shy today. It’s something that I’ve worked very hard on.”

Are you an organized worker?

“I’m a pile guy. I have stacks. I keep things in stacks, and about once a week I’ll look at the stack and see what I’ve got in the stack just so I know if there’s something I’ve got to keep working on. … Even when I had a lot of clients, I rarely had lists of things I needed to get done. I just kept things in (mental) order. … I remember literally everything. I can’t just spit it out, but if someone triggers something, I can remember stuff from 20 years ago. The conversations I’ve had – it’s kind of spooky, to be honest about it.”

How strong are your accounting skills?

“I was never a good accountant. [laughter] I knew, though, early on in my professional career that I couldn’t be an accountant my whole career. I had to do something else. I knew that I’d get bored with the auditing and the consulting work. … I knew I had to move into a leadership role at BKD for me to stay. I pretty much knew who I was when I was 25 years old.” [Contrary to Spencer’s self-evaluation, he was named 2003 Accountant of the Year in Public Accounting by the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, from which he graduated in 1985.]

Are you naturally good with numbers?

“Am I naturally good with numbers? I don’t think so. I can sort through stuff pretty well, and I was more of a consultant, anyway.” [He gave up full-time accounting duties in 2000, five years after becoming partner.]

How did you choose accounting?

“I have a sordid past. That was my third major. I was an architect major, then I was an engineering major and … yeah, I flunked out of college my first time. I wanted to stay, but the administration didn’t want me to. My grades were horrible.” [After flunking out of college at age 19, Spencer worked in a restaurant. That motivated him to get back in school.] “I went to business school. I didn’t know anything about accounting, but I took an accounting class and said, ‘This is easy.’ And that’s kind of how I changed things.”[[In-content Ad]]