Gary Shamis

Gary is the managing director of SS&G. He has the overall responsibility for the day-to-day management of SS&G and its entities. Gary also serves on the firm’s six-person executive committee, which leads its strategy and growth. With 30 years of accounting and consulting experience, Gary specializes in serving the needs of professional service firms and numerous other industries, such as restaurant and distribution. Gary also consults on general business, financing, service programs, and growth strategy. He has extensive experience in tax and strategic planning. Gary also serves as an adviser to national firms in the industry, including providing SEC testimony on topics ranging from Sarbanes-Oxley to practice management issues.

Gary currently serves on the board of the Anti-Defamation League and the editorial board of CPA Practice Management Forum, and has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Accountancy, Managing Partner Report, Practicing CPA, and the Ohio CPA Journal. He is chairperson of North Coast Community Homes, Inc., Hillel at Kent State University, and Cleveland Jewish News. Gary was also recently appointed to the board of trustees for the Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy. He has previously served on the boards of Jewish Community Federation, Better Business Bureau, Montefiore Home, Cleveland Museum of Art, and the National Center on Nonprofit Enterprise.

Gary is the founder and chairman emeritus of The Leading Edge Alliance, which has grown in its first decade, to become the third largest international association of accounting firms. He is also a founder and partner in The Advisory Board, an innovative think-tank for leaders of CPA firms and the host of the Winning Is Everything Conference, the most recognized and attended practice management conference for some of the largest accounting and consulting firms in the country.

Gary received the inaugural Champion Award from the Cleveland Area Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association for his long-standing commitment and dedication to the nonprofit organization. He and his partner Mark Goldfarb are recipients of the 2008 E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Gary has been named to Accounting Today’s Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting 11 times. Gary is a frequent contributor to national accounting publications with more than 100 appearances in the last decade, five of them in the Journal of Accountancy. He recently co-authored his first book, How to Manage Your Accounting Practice: Taking Your Firm from Chaos to Consensus.

He earned his Master of Accountancy from The Ohio State University and his Bachelor of Science from Tulane University. Gary is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Ohio Society of CPAs. He served on the AICPA strategic planning committee and as chairman of the AICPA “Managing an Accounting Practice” committee.