Most Connected Accounting and Financial Services Executives

In honor of Tax Day, we wanted to learn more about the accounting and financial services industry. With RelSci’s Lists tool, Enterprise clients build targeted lists of individuals and companies across all industries. Sample lists include Biggest Donors, Tier 1 Tech Prospects, and Highest Paid CEOs. The Most Connected Accounting and Financial Services Executives list leverages RelSci’s data and relationship mapping algorithms to identify accounting and financial services executives who have the most access to influential decision-makers inside and outside the industry. All current accounting and financial services executives in RelSci’s database were eligible for the list, and candidates were ranked by a Total Power Score that incorporates the following metrics.

Methodology

Relationship Count

Relationship Count looks at the number of individuals within RelSci’s database of over 7 million decision-makers the candidate likely has access to. The total number of relationships is adjusted to prevent any one relationship source from carrying too much weight.

Board Access Count

Board Access Count is a measure of how many company boards the candidate can access. The metric uses shared board relationships to determine points of access.

C-Suite Access Count

C-Suite Access Count measures the candidate’s influence within the accounting and financial services space by examining how he or she connected to C-Suite executives at those companies. A candidate receives one point for each company where he or she can access the C-Suite.

Money Access Count

Money Access Count reveals the candidate’s access to funding. It leverages RelSci’s financial data to identify firms with large Assets under Management, and evaluates how many of them the candidate can reach.

Results

Making it to the list of Most Connected Accounting and Financial Services Executives, takes more than simply knowing a lot of people. It’s the value and caliber of these relationships. The most well connected individual on this list is Deepak Parekh at eTEC Ventures. While his relationship count is relatively low, his extended network allows him to access nearly 6,000 board members (2,000 more individuals than anyone else on this list). Beyond accounting professionals, Parekh also has connections in industries such as Schools & Student Services and International Affairs & National Security.

Next on the list is Deborah DeHaas, Vice Chairman & Naitonal Managing Partner at the Center for Board Effectiveness at Deloitte. It’s no surprise DeHaas ranks so high on the most connected list because she has held a seat on 15 nonprofit boards and four corporate boards. DeHaas is a true supporter of her home city, Chicago. She has donated over $130,000 to nonprofits; top recipients include the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, United Way of Metropolitan Chicago, and Northwestern University. DeHaas has also made it into Accounting Today Magazine’s Top 100 Most Influential People.

Dennis M. Nally  follows DeHaas as the next most connected accounting and financial services professional. He holds the position of Chairman Emeritus at PricewaterhouseCoopers International and currently a member of Morgan Stanley’s board of directors. He first joined PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1974 and served the firm for over 30 years. As Global Chairman, he led more than 195,000 people in 157 countries. He is a well-known leader across many industries.

The next two most connected individuals contribute to each other’s network strength through their relations at Ernst & Young. Avery E. Neumark, Partner at Marks Paneth and prior Tax Partner at Ernst & Young, and Mark Alan Weinberger, Global Chairman and CEO at Ernst & Young, have countless first and second degree connections through individuals and organizations like Fidelity Investments, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

It should come as no surprise that each of the top 10 most connected accounting and financial services executives have current or prior experience at the “Big Four” accounting firms (with the exception of Jaime Valdivia-Hernandez). The “Big Four” are the largest professional service networks across the globe, including Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, and KPMG. Whether these individuals started as an auditor like Sabino Di Paola or now leading these organizations like Deloitte US CEO Catherine Engelbert, these companies make up a significant portion of the accounting and financial services industry.

While none of the top 10 most connected accounting and financial services executives are available for personal accounting, check out the 5,000 accounting professionals profiled in RelSci.