At a glance
Name: Nick DecosimoAge: 64Job: Office managing shareholder in Chattanooga for Elliott Davis DecosimoEducation: Undergraduate degree from University of Virginia; MBA from University of North CarolinaCivic: Served as chairman of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce and Chamber Foundation; board member of the national Ethics and Public Policy Board in Washington, D.C.Family: He and wife Karen have three sons.
What kind of manager decides to merge his firm with another larger one?
Nick Decosimo on Wednesday answered the question which he had himself asked.
“It’s the kind of manager who has a deep commitment to his firm and wants to see his clients, employees, shareholders and the community we live in prosper,” the Chattanooga area manager of the year told a group of several hundred as he accepted the annual award.
Decosimo on Jan. 1 completed the merger of the Chattanooga accounting firm co-founded by his father more than 40 years ago, Joseph Decosimo and Co., along with Jerry Adams and Marion Fryar.
The Chattanooga company combined with a Greenville, S.C., business to form Elliott Davis Decosimo, which is now ranked 28th on Accounting Today’s top 100 firms list.
Nick Decosimo said the Chattanooga firm before the merger had 275 employees, including about 150 in the city, while Elliott Davis had 525. There were no geographic overlaps, but the union did offer complementary offerings and niches, said the 64-year-old managing shareholder for the new firm’s Chattanooga office.
But, he asked, doesn’t the merger mean the Chattanooga company will lose its identify?
The name did change, he said. But the question to be posed in a broader context is “What’s best for our clients, employees and shareholders ?”
Both firms benefit, Decosimo said, gaining from depth of expertise and experience and in breadth of services.
But in the end, he said, the merger wasn’t a management decision but about leadership.
The Chattanooga CPA firm had grown to nine offices and maintaining the values set by the founders had become more challenging, Decosimo said.
“Maintaining the excellent client service and real concern for people that always epitomized us,” he said. “It was a challenging proposition.”
Elliott Davis, meanwhile, had already taken steps to maintain its culture, which was much like the Chattanooga company’s in the essentials, Decosimo said.
“Given Elliott Davis had accomplished this preservation of culture and done it well, it made sense to get what they had and reduce our risk of losing ours. Thus, the merger,” he said.
Decosimo said the merger is going “remarkably well,” with the combined company seeing the benefit as “we build a firm that serves our clients even better and offers great opportunity to our employees.”
“What kind of manager of the year merges [his company] with another one? I guess you’re looking at him,” he said.
His 90-year-old father, Joseph, also a manager of the year winner, lauded his son’s management abilities after the meeting.
“I’m honored,” he said, quipping that Nick was the oldest of nine children and learned to manage the rest of his siblings.
While Joseph Decosimo and Co. was a $40 million a year business, Elliott Davis did about $75 million in revenue before the merger, said Nick Decosimo.
While the Chattanooga company’s banking practice was almost nil before the merger, Elliott Davis has 120 bank clients, he said.
At the same time, Joseph Decosimo and Co. had a robust hedge fund business, while the Greenville, S.C., firm had practically none.
Decosimo also serves on Elliott Davis Decosimo’s executive committee.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.