A certified public accountant and auditor by trade, Jackie Cardello has built her career advising nonprofit organizations and now leads GRF CPAs & Advisors as president and managing partner. Under her direction, the metropolitan Washington, D.C.-based firm has grown as a premier provider of accounting, assurance, tax and advisory services to nonprofits, small businesses and individuals.

Cardello chairs the Practice Advisory Group of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ G400 and serves on the board of directors of the Maryland Association of CPAs. She received the GWSCPA Champion of Women Award in 2023 and was named Accounting Today’s 2020 Managing Partner Elite. She holds a Bachelor of Science in accounting from the University of Maryland.

Kimberly Castle Royster is a Maryland-based accountant and entrepreneur. She holds a Bachelor of Science in business administration from the University of Baltimore (2012), an Associate of Applied Science in accounting from Baltimore City Community College (2007) and a Women’s Entrepreneurship certificate from Cornell University (2020).

She serves as chairwoman of the Baltimore City Chamber of Commerce, an advisory board member at the University of Baltimore and treasurer of The Break Room Inc. Her honors include The Daily Record’s Top 100 Women (2025) and Leading Women Under 40 (2023).

What is the biggest challenge facing your industry today?

The biggest challenge facing the accounting and financial services industry today is shifting businesses from a reactive, compliance-based mindset to a proactive, strategy-driven approach to financial management. Too often, financial services are viewed as transactional, focused on tax filing and reporting rather than as a critical tool for decision-making, growth and long-term sustainability.

At the same time, the industry is navigating rapid changes in tax regulations, increasing economic uncertainty and the integration of new technologies such as automation and artificial intelligence. While these advancements create efficiency, they also require firms to evolve quickly and redefine the value they provide beyond traditional services.

The real challenge and opportunity is educating clients to understand their financial data in real time and positioning accounting professionals, not just as service providers but as strategic partners who drive clarity, growth and long-term success.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

“Build something that can grow beyond you.”

That perspective challenged me to move from simply working in my business to intentionally building systems, developing leaders and creating sustainable structures that allow the business to scale and thrive in the long term. It also shaped my vision to create opportunities for others, particularly women, by fostering an environment where they can grow professionally, lead confidently and achieve financial independence.

For me, success in business is not just about growth but about building a platform that creates meaningful employment, uplifts women and empowers them to step into leadership and ownership in their own lives.

How do you define success? I define success as the ability to create lasting impact while maintaining sustainability, integrity and purpose. In my work, success means helping individuals and businesses gain financial clarity and build strong, scalable foundations for long-term growth. Equally important, success is reflected in my ability to create opportunities for women, providing employment, mentorship and a pathway to financial empowerment and leadership. I am deeply committed to building an environment where women are not only supported but positioned to thrive, lead and create generational change. Ultimately, true success is not just measured by what you achieve but by how many lives you elevate and empower along the way.

Aileen Eskildsen is the CEO and managing director of Ellin & Tucker, a Baltimore-based accounting firm celebrating its 80th anniversary. In fall 2026, the firm will relocate its headquarters to 28,000 square feet in Harbor East.

Eskildsen holds a Bachelor of Science in accounting from Towson University, where she received the Outstanding Alumnus Award. She serves on the boards of Catholic Charities of Baltimore, the Greater Baltimore Committee and First Fruits Farm Inc. The Daily Record named her a Top 100 Women recipient in 2015, 2018 and 2025. The Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants recognized her as an Experienced Leader Women to Watch honoree in 2024.

What is the biggest challenge facing your industry today?

Public accounting is currently managing an ongoing talent shortage while adapting to rapidly evolving technology. Advances in tech and artificial intelligence offer powerful tools to improve efficiency and help close capacity gaps, but capacity constraints remain as clients’ needs and regulatory complexity continue to grow. Most importantly, however, public accounting remains a relationship-driven profession. Technology can enhance how work is delivered, but it cannot replace sound judgment, experience and trust. The future of the profession depends on developing the next generation of subject matter experts who combine specialized excellence, technological fluency and the ability to build meaningful, trusted client relationships.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

A mentor once told me, “Never hesitate to ask for an opportunity.” That advice gave me the courage to pursue roles early on in my career that were real reaches/stretches for me. It taught me that boldness, paired with hard work, opens doors. It’s just a single sentence, but it has sparked some of the most defining moments in my career, and I continue to be grateful for it.

How do you define success? Success is measured by the impact we have on others. When we invest in developing our people, they become valued advisors who, in turn, help business owners move forward with confidence. With our support, those business owners navigate opportunities and challenges, which then strengthens not only their businesses but also the communities they serve. Such cyclical impacts all stem from relationships built on trust. I am proud of the next-generation leaders who began their careers at our firm and now serve as that steady presence for others, preserving the foundation laid by current leaders that allows our people, our clients and our communities to succeed.

Mary Kate Federico is the Baltimore office managing partner at Ernst & Young, a role she has held since July 2024. An audit and assurance partner at the firm since 2017, she is responsible for a team of more than 200 professionals and serves private and public accounts with a focus on healthcare. Federico earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from James Madison University.

Federico has served as treasurer of the Maryland Food Bank’s board of directors since 2023. The statewide nonprofit feeds food-insecure Marylanders and works to build pathways out of hunger. She also sits on the board of the Greater Baltimore Committee.

Wanda Lynn is a principal, shareholder and audit director at Brown Plus. She has 30 years of experience specializing in attest services for nonprofits and governmental entities, with additional experience serving manufacturing, service organizations and other for-profit entities.

Her responsibilities include audits, reviews, compilations and related tax work. She has performed peer reviews for firms throughout the mid-Atlantic and served on the Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants’ peer review committee for nine years.

A licensed CPA in Maryland and Pennsylvania, she holds a Bachelor of Science from Stevenson University.

What is the biggest challenge facing your industry today?

A key challenge in the accounting industry is the need to continually invest in advancing technology and equip professionals with the skills to use it effectively, all while ensuring adherence to complex and evolving accounting and auditing standards.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

One of the most valuable pieces of advice I’ve received is that you don’t always need to have the answer on the spot. Being willing to pause, research and come back with a well-informed response builds trust and leads to better outcomes.

How do you define success?

I define success as meeting my clients’ needs, supporting my team, giving back to the community and spending meaningful time with my family. Balancing these priorities isn’t always easy, but it’s what I continually strive to achieve.

Steven McCarty is chairman and CEO of UHY. A Walsh Business College graduate with a bachelor’s degree in accounting with distinction, McCarty has led UHY through more than 25 acquisitions in just over five years, expanded the firm’s national presence, and introduced nearly 20 new service lines.

He serves on the board of the Crohn’s Foundation and is a member of the Knights of Columbus. McCarty was named to Accounting Today’s Managing Partner Elite in 2023, Forbes’ inaugural list of America’s Top CPAs in 2024 and Irish America’s Most Influential in 2025.

What is the biggest challenge facing your industry today?

The biggest challenge facing our industry today is not a single issue but the convergence of several powerful forces that are fundamentally reshaping what it means to be a public accounting firm.

First, the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence is transforming how work gets done. Traditional compliance services are becoming increasingly automated, forcing firms to rethink how they create value and stay relevant. At the same time, this creates an opportunity but only for those willing to evolve quickly and invest intentionally.

Second, we are seeing a growing divide between aggregators and integrators. Some firms are focused on scale for the sake of scale, while UHY is focused on building a truly integrated firm that enhances client service, culture and long-term sustainability. That distinction will define which firms thrive and which struggle to maintain identity and quality.

Third, global resourcing and delivery models are changing the economics of the profession. Firms now have access to talent and capabilities well beyond their local markets, but leveraging this effectively requires new ways of thinking about quality, communication and team structure.

Finally, there is a clear shift toward deeper advisory services. Clients expect more than compliance; they want insight, strategy and a trusted partner who can help them navigate complexity and drive growth.

The real challenge is not any one of these trends in isolation — it’s the ability to navigate all of them simultaneously while continuing to develop people, serve clients at a high level and stay true to the firm’s core values. Firms that embrace this complexity and lead through it will define the future of our profession.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

The best advice came early in my career from my brother, Danny. At a time when public accounting felt demanding and uncertain, he challenged me to shift my perspective: “Stay in public accounting and be a partner.”

That simple statement changed everything. It moved me from thinking of my work as just a job to seeing it as a long-term career with meaningful opportunity and ownership. It gave me a clearer sense of direction and a reason to lean into the challenges rather than question them.

How do you define success?

Success, to me, is measured by the positive and lasting impact I have on others — specifically, whether I’ve meaningfully influenced the trajectory of a colleague or a client.

It’s not just about outcomes, metrics or milestones. It’s about moments where someone moves forward because of a conversation, an idea or a belief you helped instill. When a colleague steps into a bigger role with confidence they didn’t have before, or when a client makes a decision that changes the course of their business or life for the better.

I believe the most meaningful professional achievements are not individual; they’re multiplied through others. Success is helping people see what’s possible, challenging them to think differently and supporting them as they take action.

Jeffrey Rosen is the office managing partner at Frazier & Deeter accounting firm. He holds an MBA with a concentration in finance and a bachelor’s degree in finance and accounting, both from the University of Maryland.  Rosen serves on the board of directors of The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore and previously served as president of CHAI Comprehensive Housing Assistance Inc. He has received multiple honors from The Daily Record, including the Influential Marylanders Award and Most Admired CEO recognition. He is a three-time recipient of the Influential Marylanders Award (2019, 2023, 2025). 

What is the biggest challenge facing your industry today?
For many decades, the accounting industry evolved very slowly and without a sense of urgency. While technology gradually made accountants more productive, the fundamental business model stayed the same. Today, accounting firms must change their business models in real time while continuing to service clients under tight deadlines and severe labor shortages. In order to remain competitive, accounting firms must rapidly invest in human capital, technology and process improvement. Additionally, the legacy hourly-billing model (and its variants) must evolve, and the service models we use and value propositions we provide have to meet the needs of discerning clients with many options for their financial partners (including firms not directly in the accounting industry).

What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
I learned many years ago that failure is not a dirty word so long as you recognize it, embrace it and grow from it. Many people are reluctant to seek challenges or learn new skills due to the risk of failure. I subscribe to the belief that if you’re not failing at something, you’re not doing enough to get to the next level of happiness and success.

How do you define success?
Success means delivering outcomes that benefit a broad set of stakeholders — within my family, business, professional network and community — while creating long-term, positive impact.

Joye Sistrunk founded Premier Group, a full-service CPA firm serving government contractors, agencies, nonprofits and private-sector clients. She leads a team of 34 professionals.

Sistrunk holds a Master of Business Administration degree in international business from the University of Baltimore and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accounting from Loyola University Maryland. She serves on the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Tax Practice Management Committee and the board of the National Society of Black Accountants. Forbes has recognized her as a Best In-State CPA and a Top 200 CPA. Premier Group has been named a Washington Post Top Workplace in consecutive years and ranked among the nation’s fastest-growing companies.

What is the biggest challenge facing your industry today?

One of the biggest challenges facing the accounting industry today is balancing increasing complexity with the need for efficiency and accessibility. As financial regulations, compliance requirements and client needs become more sophisticated, firms must also find ways to streamline operations and deliver insights in real time.

At the same time, the industry is facing talent shortages and a need for more diverse representation, while also keeping pace with rapidly evolving technology. Firms that are unable to modernize their systems or attract and retain skilled professionals risk falling behind.

Successfully navigating this environment requires a combination of technology adoption, process optimization and intentional investment in people.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

The best advice I’ve received is to build a business that reflects your values, not just your technical expertise.

In an industry driven by precision and compliance, it can be easy to focus solely on the work itself. However, long-term success comes from aligning how you operate with what you believe in. For me, that meant prioritizing diversity, creating opportunities for others, and building a culture where people feel seen and supported.

That advice has shaped every major decision in the business and continues to guide how we grow.

How do you define success?

I define success as building a business that creates both measurable results and meaningful impact.

From a business perspective, success is reflected in sustainable growth, strong client relationships and the ability to scale while maintaining quality. But equally important is the impact we have on people, including our team, our clients, and the broader community.

Success means creating opportunities for others, expanding access to financial knowledge, and building a firm where diverse perspectives are not only included but drive better outcomes. It is the alignment of performance, purpose and long-term value.

A Goldman Sachs One Million Black Women: Black in Business program alumna, Dr. Darvincia Warren built CORE DMV on lived experience, compassion and strategy, leading the platform as CEO with a vision of making financial empowerment accessible on a global scale. Warren created the organization with the belief that financial freedom should be a universal expectation and that future generations should inherit systems designed to work for them.

That mission extends into the community through Prince George’s County Councilmember Edward Burroughs III’s Student Leadership Academy, where she serves as a mock interview host, spoke at the inaugural Student Leadership Summit and led a breakout session at the inaugural Youth Wealth Summit.

Bookkeeping classes at Baltimore City College High School set Arnold Williams on a path that would take him from an associate degree at Baltimore City Community College to a Bachelor of Science in accounting at the University of Baltimore and, ultimately, to managing director of Abrams, Foster, Nole & Williams, P.A. In that role, Williams leads the firm’s Accounting and Consulting Services Division and oversees practice management, serving clients across Baltimore, Washington, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

His civic footprint is equally substantial: He chairs both the Maryland Health and Higher Education Facilities Authority and the Neighborhood Impact Investment Fund, and serves on the boards of Qlarant Inc., the Baltimore City Board of Finance and the Greater Baltimore Committee.