Firm Management
Jami L. Satterthwaite, CPA – 2015 40 Under 40 Honoree
This year’s 40 Under 40 honorees are among the best and brightest talent in the accounting profession. They are all active in the professional community, as well as in their local communities, where many are small business owners and employers.
Sep. 15, 2015
Jami L. Satterthwaite CPA – 36
Partner, Nelson & Swaite, CPAs, LLC
Vancouver, WA
Twitter: @jamiswaitecpa
What is the name of one book that has been a great influence to you?
Zero to One by Peter Thiel. It is not a book about accounting, or leadership, or service, or business planning. It’s a book about building the future. My favorite quote from the book:
“If you believe something hard is impossible, you’ll never even start trying to achieve it.”
In what ways have you contributed to your firm/company to make it better?
With the support and commitment of everyone at our firm, I’ve implemented a completely paperless system, moved our firm to the cloud, and redesigned our workflow in a way that allows us to provide exceptional service with expert efficiency from anywhere.
In what ways do you participate in the professional community to change/improve the accounting profession?
I’ve taken the time to learn and implement better systems at our firm. I am committed to helping the profession and other firms make the same transition.
In what ways do you participate in your local community to help others?
It is incredibly important to use your talents to help others. I have participated as a board director and volunteer for an agency whose mission is to lead the hungry and homeless to self-sufficiency and an agency that provides access to justice for low income individuals.
What changes do you foresee in the accounting profession of the near future (3-5 years)?
Firms will continue to adopt technology that will change the way they provide service to clients and the way they operate. There will be an increase in real-time collaboration with clients and staff will spend less time married to their desks at the office.
How do you see yourself participating in shaping the future of the accounting profession?
I am incredibly passionate about the way we have revolutionized our firm with a paperless, cloud-based system, closely held client relationships, and consistent operational improvements. I am excited to share my experience with other professionals through writing, speaking and consulting.
What is your career philosophy?
It’s all about relationships. I will not settle for anything less than loving what I do, believing in the clients I do it for, and enjoying the people I work with. I take complete responsibility for ensuring that happens.
Describe one person who has been an important mentor to you and how that person helped change your life.
My business partner, Gregory Nelson. He has a great deal of experience, an amazing ability to draw people’s strengths out, and an incredibly unselfish desire to help everyone he encounters exceed their own expectations of themselves. We don’t have a mentoring program at our firm because our firm IS a mentoring program and Gregg makes that possible.
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