Following its merger with longtime Chamber member Grove, Mueller & Swank, P.C., award-winning national firm REDW Advisors and CPAs is building upon GMS’ legacy of service to Salem with an eye toward growth, expanded client services, and a dynamic suite of new tools and resources.
REDW Team (left to right): John Hawkins, Tax Principal; James Ortiz, State and Local Tax Principal; Katy Lennick, HR Consulting Operations Support Specialist; Cristin Heyns-Bousliman, Principal, HR Consulting Practice Leader; Steve Cogan, CPA and Managing Principal; Rachel Biro, CPA and Manager, Valuation & Related Financial Services; Christine Papelian, Senior Financial Planning Manager; and Rick Signs, Advisory and Accounting Principal. Photo by Cristin Heyns-Bousliman.
Founded in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1953 by accountants Sanford Rogoff and Nathan Glassman, REDW Advisors and CPAs has established an impeccable reputation for service and a legacy built on integrity over the last 70 years. During that time, REDW has expanded to serve clients in major cities such as Phoenix and Oklahoma City, while welcoming new industries to its impressive breadth of expertise areas along the way. Today, the company employs a team of nearly 350 professionals who continue to further its rich history, serving thousands of clients across the United States and the globe.
Recognized by Accounting Today as a 2024 “Top Firm and Regional Leader,” REDW’s success as a company is largely due to its investments and commitments to the communities it serves. As of December 1, 2023, Salem became one of those communities, as REDW announced that local accounting firm Grove, Mueller & Swank, P.C. had joined REDW, marking the company’s first expansion into the Pacific Northwest.
With Native American tribes, communities, and organizations being central to REDW’s client portfolio across the country, the company’s move into Salem presents an incredible opportunity to further its reach to those historically underserved communities in the Northwest.
“The REDW Salem office has been critical in helping us to connect with organizations such as the Washington Indian Gaming Association and several others, through which we are increasing our awareness of issues affecting the Pacific Northwest Tribes first-hand, allowing us to better serve our Tribal clients in the region,” said Wesley Ryan Benally, CPA, who serves as a Principal and National Tribal Practice Leader at REDW and is also an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation.
For Grove, Mueller & Swank — one of Salem’s preeminent accounting firms for more than 35 years and a highly involved and engaged Salem Chamber member since 1995 — the partnership with REDW allows its locally connected team to offer a greater depth of service to Salem-area clients than ever before.
“Prior to aligning with REDW, we focused on tax, accounting, and auditing services, often having to outsource or find partners to support clients in other areas,” said John D. Hawkins, JD, CPA, who served as the chairman of the board at Grove, Mueller, and Swank, and is now Tax Principal at REDW Salem. “Over the past decade, REDW has undergone an evolution, transforming into a multi-disciplinary organization serving clients’ audit and tax needs, but also offering cybersecurity, business, wealth management, HR consulting, and financial services, both regionally and nationally.”
Hawkins and his GMS staff at their 475 Cottage Street NE office are already feeling the pride of being part of a nationally recognized firm that continues to climb in industry rankings each year. However, they are most energized by what the new partnership will mean for clients and the client experience, as they tap into the powerful resources and extensive services REDW provides.
“For several years, our firm wanted to begin a Client Advisory Service practice,” Hawkins said. “In joining with REDW, we did not have to reinvent the wheel and can help build the Client Advisory Services practice that REDW already has in place.”
With many major company mergers or acquisitions, there can be challenges with strategic or cultural alignment, as well as logistical, personnel, and technological concerns during the transitionary period. But for REDW and GMS, the transition couldn’t be moving any smoother thus far, as both firms are discovering an optimal synergy as they methodically, deliberately, and gradually move through a strategic 18-month alignment process while learning more from one another along the way.
“As we have moved deeper into our partnership, we have worked hand-in-hand to review processes and procedures of both firms and adopted the best practices of each,” Hawkins said.
Of course, throughout the entirety of the process, REDW’s clients remain the focus and the primary reason for the intentionality behind each step. For REDW and GMS, bringing both firms together begins and ends with a mission to serve the Salem community driven by shared and deep-rooted core values.
“And our core values – dream big, better together, and integrity counts – guide our behavior and business practices in everything we do,” says Benally.
After seven decades of advising clients on complex business, accounting, and regulatory issues, the move into Salem once again demonstrates REDW’s ability and motivation to grow and evolve to meet the individual client’s needs. However, the real benefactors of the partnership will be those Salem REDW clients, which Hawkins and his team couldn’t be more excited about.
“We have seen clients that have outgrown QuickBooks, and now being able to offer other technology solutions is critical,” said Hawkins. “Through the transition, we were very proud to have GMS team members continue to be on board, and now that we are REDW, we have even more staff to assist with peak times, like April 15 (tax deadline day). And, of course, we are also excited about the opportunities in closer reach for Tribes in the Pacific Northwest.”
To learn more about REDW’s Salem office and the services it offers, visit redw.com/gms.