KEITH GAMBREL

Firm Management

For the 13 years preceding retirement, I served with David Resnick on KSM's 2-person Executive Committee, managing the firm. My role included primary responsibility for analysis, evaluation, and communication of considered and completed acquisitions, and other firm investments; management and integration of KSM's alternative (non-CPA) business investments, including the extremely successful KSM Consulting; and all high-level financial analysis and communication with third parties, partners, and other ESOP participants. In addition to these primary responsibilities, I shared responsibility with David and others in growing the practice through direct practice development efforts and mentoring of other partners, and in managing KSM's expanded service offerings and an ever-growing employee base. For several years, I also served as the Managing Partner of the Audit and Assurance Services Group.

Financial management

For the 17 years preceding my retirement, I oversaw all firm financial matters, including what would be referred to in other organizations as the CFO function. This role included traditional financial analysis and forecasting, risk management (primarily client acceptance and retention), as well as managing the ESOP. KSM became a 100% owned ESOP in 2001, and a year later, I joined what was then the firm's 3-person Executive Committee (with Curt Miller, and David Resnick). Until my retirement in 2019, I had primary responsibility for the ESOP, including interfacing with professionals (legal, trustees, and valuation), valuation and financial forecasting, redemption analysis, and communication with the partner group and other ESOP participants.

Practice Partner

For more than 40 years, I served clients, primarily entrepreneurial owner-managed businesses, with a concentration in the real estate, government, and not-for-profit industries. With Kent Manuel, I co-chaired the Real Estate Group, KSM's largest industry practice group and a core contributor to the firm's reputation and image. When I joined KSM in 1990, the firm did not have a presence serving government or not-for-profit clients, so I started the Governmental and Not-For-Profit Group, which grew to one of the firm's largest, serving the State of Indiana and local governments, as well as a variety of not-for-profits, with a concentration in economic development.

Prior to KSM

I started my public accounting career in Chicago immediately upon graduation in 1977 from Indiana University. I feel like I learned a lot serving a variety of clients in the rough and tumble city before moving to Indy in 1990 and then joining KSM. While in Chicago, I met and married my wife, Carol, and together we started our family of now three grown and completely independent children, and currently two grandchildren.