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By Warren Turner
• Editor
As we celebrated Independence Day, many of us reflected on the extraordinary freedoms and opportunities we enjoy as Americans. The Fourth of July reminds us that our nation was founded by courageous men who pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor in pursuit of liberty. Their legacy continues to inspire each new generation.
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By Andersen Alumni Association
• Admin
Congratulations to the Following Alumni and Best Wishes in your new roles.
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By Arthur Andersen
• Partner Emiritus Founder and Chief Administrator for the Andersen Alumni Association
Often referred to as a Partner’s Partner, Alumnus Ed Maier died on June 20, 2026. Ed was a devoted husband and loving father and grandfather and touched the lives of so many. Ed was a faithful supporter of the Andersen Alumni Association. He provided valued guidance and contributed countless articles for quarterly newsletters.
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By Andersen Alumni Association
Andersen Alumni Association has begun an ongoing series “Alumni Reflections” highlights members’ reflections. We would like to thank Alumnus Brendan Giuseppe for sharing his reflections in this issue of our newsletter. Today Brendan serves as the CEO of BGS Consulting, BGS Consulting is a management consulting firm specializing in providing flexible, tailor-made solutions around Finance, Technology and Talent, to address the unique challenges of its clients. It’s led by former Andersen partners who carry on the values and commitment to Client Service every day. The BGS team has a blend of public accounting and operational experience across numerous industries which allows the collaboration, design and delivery of solutions to its clients.
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By Ralph Schonenbach
• Former Consultant Andersen Business Consulting, Founder and CEO of Meerkat, Inc.
I was a few months into my first job when I stepped into an elevator and made small talk with the man standing next to me. I introduced myself, he gave me his name, and I told him it sounded familiar. He smiled. "It should. I'm the office managing partner."
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By Gary Thomson
• Andersen Alumnus and currently a Managing Director at Thomson Consulting
I began my career in public accounting 41 years ago and spent the next 34 years in the profession before launching my advisory practice in 2019. When I started, my firm was just adopting automated trial balances. Lotus 1-2-3 and WordPerfect were replacing the ledger paper and typewriters that had defined the profession for decades. Those tools didn't just change how we worked—they eliminated the “grunt work” traditionally assigned to the youngest staff, forcing firms to rethink training, career paths, and what it meant to develop a young professional.
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By Arthur Andersen
• Partner Emiritus Founder and Chief Administrator for the Andersen Alumni Association
Andersen Alumni Association is more than a network, it's a community of accomplished professionals who understand the value of relationships, trust, and helping one another succeed. If your company has open positions, post them in the Andersen Alumni Association’s LinkedIn Group. There is no cost, and it's one of the many benefits available to our members.
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By Patrick Thompson
• Former Managing Director, Andersen Business Systems Consulting and Celonis Global Senior Vice President Customer Transformation
AI is at the top of every CIO's agenda, yet most organizations still struggle to turn pilots into profit.
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By Louis Gump
• Andersen Alumnus, Author and partner in the Executive Operations practice at TechCXO
A new term for people capable of building within an organization, and building on their own
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By Jennifer Eggers
• Andersen Alumnus and Founder & President of LeaderShift Insights®
Everywhere I go right now, leaders are talking about AI. Boards are asking about it. CEOs are demanding plans. Technology teams are being told to “move faster.” HR teams are trying to support employees through uncertainty. And somewhere in the middle of it all, organizations are rushing to launch “change management” initiatives to help people adapt.
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By Warren Turner
• Former Arthur Andersen Enterprise Group Manager, Founder of Andersen Alumni Association and Partner Cardinal Points Group
Microsoft 365 E7 represents one of the most significant advancements in enterprise productivity and AI. Before committing to long-term licensing agreements, organizations should ensure their investment strategy is driven by business value—not just attractive pricing.
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By Todd Dewett
• Andersen Alumnus, author and speaker
Believe it or not, job hopping has not changed a lot over the years. It’s still about 2-3 years of tenure before someone hops, very similar to when I was coming up. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, if you break it down by age, you find that young professionals jump about every 1.5 years. Around 25-35 years old, it’s every 2.7 years. Then it slows down. When you get to 55-64 it’s every 9.6 years.
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By Jim DeLoach
• Former Andersen Partner and Founding Managing Director at Protiviti. He is the author of several books and a frequent Forbes and NACD contributor.
Capturing enterprise value from AI now depends less on the technology itself than on how rigorously executives and boards govern, oversee and steer it.
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By J. James O'Malley
• Former Andersen National Director of Experience Recruiting, Jim is Managing Director at Kensington International Executive Search
Over the past 40 years, I have had the privilege of serving organizations from several perspectives. I have worked inside Arthur Andersen and other global professional services firms, led human resources organizations, advised private equity investors, and spent the last decade in executive search. While industries, markets, and technologies have changed dramatically, one lesson has remained remarkably consistent.
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By Frank Mencini
• Managing Partner at BGS Consulting, Arthur Andersen Alumnus and Former Partner (1988-2002)
Growth is a good problem to have but it can also hide weaknesses that become costly over time.
Throughout my career, I have worked with leadership teams at companies ranging from founder-led businesses to large, complex organizations. While every company is different, the warning signs that a business is beginning to outgrow its systems, processes, and leadership structure are often remarkably similar.
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By Robb Thomas
• Former Arthur Andersen Bankruptcy/ Turnaround Consultant
Whether fractional leadership is growing is no longer an interesting question. It is, and the data is not subtle about it. The interesting question, for anyone weighing it or advising a company that might use it, is the harder one: what separates the experienced operators who build a durable fractional practice from the ones who try it and quietly go back. That is the part the trend pieces skip, and it is the part worth your time.
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By John G. Blumberg
• Andersen Alumnus and author of Return On Integrity
We say character matters in a leader. We may say it in our values statements or imbed it in our leadership competency models. We include it in the eulogies we give when someone retires.
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By Dave Sparkman
• Andersen Alumnus
There is a frustrating reality that needs to be realized: why do most attempts at culture change fail? Too often, they are treated as "outside-in" HR or marketing initiatives—relying on creative slogans, top-down mandates, and compliance training. They skip the hard part of transformation, opting for flavor-of-the-month programs instead of building something that actually sticks.
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By Larry R. Katzen
• Former Managing Partner for the St. Louis office and Great Plains region and author of the book, “And You Thought Accountants Were Boring”
Over the past few months, we've been incredibly encouraged by the response to the podcast. With little to no paid advertising, the story has continued reaching new audiences across multiple platforms ALL OVER THE WORLD! Hello to our new friends from Italy, Japan, UK and Australia!
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By David Jolliffe
• Andersen Alumnus
Over forty years in business I have seen companies succeed spectacularly, fail explosively, and occasionally do both at the same time. I have also been fortunate enough to have a great deal of fun along the way.
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By Joe DioGuardi
• Former Andersen Partner, former U.S. Congressman (New York) and Author
As the United States’ gross national debt recently surged past the $38 trillion mark, commentators hastened to ring alarm bells. And surely the figure is eye-popping. But as someone who was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1984 on the very platform of fiscal responsibility—and who was the first practicing CPA ever elected to Congress—I want to sound a more fundamental warning: the number may be much less meaningful than meets the eye. We will never truly know what the national debt really is, or tackle it effectively, unless we adopt full-GAAP accounting at the federal level.
