Tax Consulting (federal, state, local, foreign)
For 12 years, Liz Golway has been serving clients with accounting and tax compliance advice for Hutchins & Haake. A CPA, she’s also a professional adviser in the use of QuickBooks, a member of the American Institute of
CPAs, and is an accredited personal financial specialist.
Ernst & Young knows taxes at virtually any level, with the global view mastered by Ron Pierce, who also provides planning advice; Dave Anderson and Jason Carlstedt, who deal with the ever-changing intricacies of federal tax law; Kevin Boyer, whose consulting and planning services are matched with his experience in state-level issues; and Ronda Blatt, who provides general consulting and planning counsel for the firm.
Julie Runtz Welch is a CPA and partner at Meara Welch Browne, where she directs operations in the tax division. Her master’s degree in accounting included a taxation focus, and her experience in those issues has made her a frequent speaker for tax-planning venues nationwide. Her interest in the subject also helped inspire her to become co-author of the 10th edition of 101 Tax-Saving Ideas.
The chief financial officers at multiple Kansas City companies sing the praises of Bud Vick, a partner at Cochran Head & Vick, for his contributions to their annual audit and tax needs. The firm, which opened in 1975, provides client services for individuals as well as companies with international operations. In addition to audit and tax assistance, Vick gets a nod for his estate-planning competencies.
Christy Cubbage is manager for the entrepreneurial services group for the Overland Park office of St. Louis-
based RubinBrown. She specializes in business tax compliance, and is the current president of the Missouri Society
of Certified Public Accountants’ Kansas City chapter.
At Leawood-based CBIZ, Tom Barzee is a manager focusing on tax advisory services for clients in the financial-services sector. His expertise extends not only to general taxation for those companies, but to S corporations, multi-state C and S corporations, partnerships and real estate taxes and planning.
Sandra Thomas, tax research director for Overland Park-based BillSoft, Inc., specializes in transaction-based taxation issues. Thomas, who holds a master’s degree in accounting from the University of Missouri–Kansas City, served 12 years as the auditor for Platte County, and former Gov. Matt Blunt appointed her to the seven-member Missouri Accountancy board in 2008.
Kathryn Rhodes, a veteran of 25 years in the field, is a taxation specialist for CBIZ MHM/Mayer Hoffman McCann, based in Leawood. Her client base consists of mid-size and large manufacturers, plus companies in the wholesale and retail sectors, as well as other and professional services clients, and her specialties include corporate and multi-state taxation, M&A, transactional taxation and family-owned businesses.
RubinBrown’s Mary Ramm, a partner in the tax-consulting group, is a CPA who handles clients with varying needs, from car dealers to health-care providers. She’s a member of the CPA societies in Kansas, Missouri and at the national level, and a former board member of the Heart of America Tax Institute.
Ross Franken is a tax partner at RSM McGladrey, where he’s worked for the past 16 years in different capacities following stints at Donnelly Meiners Jordan Kline and Arthur Anderson (where he was a senior tax manager). He holds a master’s degree in accounting from the University of Kansas.
Benefits Consulting
Core competency in benefits consultation starts at the top at Tax Favored Benefits, where CEO David Wentz applies more than 30 years of experience across a wide range of business issues. With both bachelor’s and law degrees from the University of Kansas, Wentz is also a chartered life underwriter, a registered investment adviser, and a frequent speaker on pension and 401(k) programs, profit sharing, tax strategies and investment programs. He also comes recommended for his ability to help structure estate plans and charitable giving strategies.
Integrity and independence are both considered hallmarks of Jim Nolan at The Nolan Company in Overland Park, providing record-keeping, actuarial and design services for retirement plans. He’s been advising clients—they cover 45 states—for 32 years regarding profit sharing, 401(k) plans, defined-benefit plans and more, largely for businesses with fewer than 50 employees.
Jim DeMars has been working in retirement planning since shortly before moving to the Kansas City area 42 years ago. He formed DeMars Pension Consulting Services in June 1979 and works with qualified plans, primarily with consultations, plan design and marketing.
Ken O’Renick, whose 40-year career has included ownership of three companies, merged his most recent venture into Bukaty Companies in 2010, and he serves as president there. He has administered hundreds of retirement plans with millions of dollars of investment portfolios, and his retirement-planning counsel includes estate planning, life insurance, consulting and administration of qualified plans, financial consulting and investment management.
Business Consulting
Clients rave about the dexterity that Charles McCann brings to business consulting at McCann CPA, particularly when it deals with thorny issues of compensation and succession. He also advises on retirement issues and successful growth strategies, and structures training and development programs for partners, managers and senior staff of accounting firms.
Linda Campbell, a partner at the Overland Park firm of Marks Nelson Vohland Campbell Radetic, provides business advisory services to help companies analyze operations to develop effective internal reporting methods and improve efficiencies. She also concentrates on both forensic accounting and litigation support services.
At Topeka’s Mize, Houser & Co., Gary Heyka’s clients include companies in the manufacturing, construction and retail sectors. He assists with strategic planning, financing and restructuring, budgeting and regulatory assistance as well as cash planning and development of procedures and policies. He’s been a CPA for more than 40 years, and with the firm since 1976.
Jeff House applies his Harvard MBA to the business consulting arm of House Parks Dobratz, based on the Country Club Plaza. For two decades, he has worked with companies in financial services, insurance, manufacturing and distribution, helping marketing, operations and tech-nology strategies and improve project management.
Information Technology
Aaron Grist brings to clients of Ernst & Young nearly 15 years of project management in various venues—nine years in programming and systems engineering, and five years of auditing. A senior manager, he has specialties in many fields—including enterprise report planning audits, data analysis, Sarbanes-Oxley audit and remediation, custom database and SQL development work and more—for financial services, tax services and insurance companies, plus manufacturing, retail and telecommunications sectors. Jeanne Cline, with both an accounting degree (Rockhurst University) and an MBA (University of Kansas), is a senior manager offering IT consulting for the firm