Springfield-based certified public accounting firm BKD LLP last month named east region managing partner Ted Dickman as CEO, succeeding Neal Spencer, who stepped down after five years. Dickman, who said he was the only candidate the company’s governing board interviewed, now leads the nation’s 10th largest accounting firm that posted 2011 revenues of $391 million and has 30 offices in 12 states. The hand-picked CEO has 29 years of experience with the firm, and Dickman’s stated focus since starting June 1 is on growing its geographic and services footprint.
Accounting Roots “I tell most people I’ve been with BKD my entire career. I started with another firm in 1983, and the firm I started with merged with BKD in 2001. For me, I view that as one continuous journey. … I grew up in a family business, and I had an uncle who was the (chief financial officer) who kind of taught me while I was in college how to do the accounting, so that he could take some vacation time. That was probably responsible for some of the early sparks of my interest in accounting.”
Cross-state Commute “I live in Indianapolis. That’s where I’ve been my entire career. Even though I will be in Springfield frequently, my family and I will continue to reside in Indianapolis. … I will definitely be traveling quite a bit. I’m not looking forward to necessarily spending all those nights out of town per se, but that’s where the opportunities are, so I’m looking forward to those challenges.”
Hand-picked “The governing board asked for input from all the partners across the entire firm as to what type of leader we should be looking for; what are the issues we expect our leader to be dealing with; and what candidate or candidates do they think should be considered. Then the board evaluated the candidates suggested by partners … and interviewed who it thinks would be a good fit for the role. … I was the only candidate that interviewed for the position. I am a member of the board, so I had to recuse myself from [the vote and] some of its discussions. … I think my 29 years’ experience with the firm was helpful. … I have about 15 years of management experience with the firm. I have been on our board all of the 11 years since the merger, so that added to the experience. And then, I’m very growth-oriented. I’m looking to stimulate the growth of the firm.”
M&A Focus “We’d like to develop over time our footprint to become more of a national firm in order to better serve clients in what is clearly a more global world. It is a primary focus of mine to spearhead those types of external merger-and-acquisition opportunities. Other growth strategies that I’ll be involved with would be the recruitment of some very high-level experienced specialists who can help us augment our practice in different areas. And we will probably become even more investment-oriented in terms of trying to build new services and industry specializations within our firm.”
Five Pillars “Health care has been one of our most dominant industries during the years, but we have four other industries we’ve built strong practices in: manufacturing distribution; financial services; not-for-profit governmental; and construction real estate. Health care is the largest of those five by a little bit, but manufacturing is not far behind. We are looking at the insurance industry and energy as two specific industries in which to expand our practice. And we are also looking to further expand and deepen our resources in the international services arena.”[[In-content Ad]]
Logistics company Premier Truck Group is building a new truck sales and repair facility in Strafford, using precast contract, metal framing, thermoplastic polyolefin roofing and standing-seam metal in its construction.
