BKD expands in four markets

Springfield-based BKD LLP has added or expanded offices in four states during the past month, adding about 60 new personnel and an expected $10 million in new revenues.

BKD was ranked No. 10 by Public Accounting Report, based on revenues of $258.7 million in fiscal year 2005, which ends May 31.

The additions:

• Grant Thornton LLP’s office in Colorado Springs, Colo., was acquired on May 1. The office’s 15 employees will be incorporated into BKD’s existing Colorado Springs office, helping expand the company’s staff of experts in financial issues for nonprofit organizations and government entities. Four employees from Grant Thornton’s Denver office also joined BKD in its Denver office, bringing BKD’s Colorado presence to nearly 130 employees.

• The Evansville, Ind., office of Gaither Rutherford & Co. LLP was scheduled to be added June 1. Its 13 employees, specializing in a variety of different areas, will join BKD’s existing Evansville office. The addition creates a staff of 150 in southern Indiana and Kentucky, with revenues exceeding $25 million.

• Lisle Compton Cole & Almen LLP and its 19 personnel were to be added June 1, creating a new BKD presence in Oklahoma City.

Those employees specialize in general financial services and nonprofit issues. With BKD’s two existing Oklahoma offices, in Enid and Tulsa, the firm will have 100 employees in the Sooner state.

• Additionally, BKD’s Louisville office hired nine new health care consultants in late April and early May to add to the southern Indiana and Kentucky practice.

John Wanamaker, partner in charge of BKD’s home office in Springfield, said the timing of the additions was really a coincidence. The firm is not necessarily in an “expansion mode,” rather deals are considered on a market-by-market basis.

“This is purely coincidental that there would be four happening in the same time period,” he said.

Wanamaker declined to disclose the costs associated with the mergers and acquisitions.

With the new additions, BKD now employs more than 1,600 associates, 668 of them certified public accountants, as of August 2005, according to Public Accounting Report.

BKD now has 28 offices in 11 Midwest states. BKD employs 247 in its southern Missouri practice, which includes offices in Springfield, Joplin, Branson and Pittsburg, Kan.

Firm elects new partners

In addition to adding new staff through mergers and acquisitions, BKD’s Springfield office also announced several upper-level promotions:

• Mark P. Sharp was made a partner in the Springfield office;

• Bradley K. Brotherton, L. Jamison McDonald and Gary W. Schafer were named senior managers; and

• David C. Fields, Kyle G. Hesemann and Jaye L. Waynick were promoted to managers.

Month of Deals

May was a busy month for BKD LLP. Here are the recent gains, listed by company; office locale; new employees; and effective date.

• Grant Thornton LLP; Colorado Springs, Colo.; 15; May 1

• Gaither Rutherford & Co. LLP; Evansville, Ind.; 13; June 1

• Lisle Compton Cole & Almen LLP; Oklahoma City; 19; June 1