Why Anders Sought Out Summit
As we continued getting to know Anders, Adam and I were on the lookout for a true cultural match. We quickly discovered we’re both very intentional about our culture, focused on employees and family, and put “people over profits.” (As Robert Minkler, Sr. says, it’s “we, us, ours” not “I, me, mine.”)
Fort Wayne—and we spent a day and a half ironing out all the big items on our checklist. One of the primary things we addressed was that Anders had imagined folding us into their team, but we said no—we want to operate as an independent unit. It was the first time they had thought of the merger that way, and it would have been a showstopper if we hadn’t been able to work it out. The more we talked about how the combination of our services and teams could positively impact our clients and the accounting industry as a whole, it was a no-brainer for us to join forces. It wasn’t just about a perfect match in terms of our offerings, expertise, and resources, but a perfect alignment of our cultures. We each want to change how people think about accounting, and we realized together we could increase that reach exponentially. We only ever wanted to partner with a firm where we could really have an impact. With Anders, we felt like the Summit team could come in and make a difference. A clear win-win: Anders was explicit that they had no intention of changing our model or our processes; instead, they see learning from the Summit model as one of the main value-adds we bring to the table.
THAT WAS ENOUGH TO GIVE THE CONVERSATION SOME LEGS.
In November 2021, Adam and I made the six hour drive from Fort Wayne to St. Louis to meet the Anders team. The first night—our first in-person meeting with anyone at Anders—it was just the two of us (me in my Hawaiian shirt, Adam in his t-shirt and jeans) sitting down with a few representatives from the Young Professionals, a group that is bridging the generational divide and bringing new and fresh ideas to the accounting indus- try. There was quite the age gap between us, but we hit it off right away. They were extremely welcoming (and talented at ping pong). The next day we met Robert Minkler and Dave Hartley, and I realized this might lead to something big. As a follow up to that meeting, Dave Hartley traveled out to Fort Wayne. Even though Adam and I both live in Fort Wayne, we got a hotel—first time I’ve ever stayed in a hotel in
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