In a recent episode of Making Waves, David Toth, Chief Growth Officer of Winding River Consulting, sat down with Jessica Freiburg, Managing Partner of Sassetti and MPB | Leadership Accelerated alumni. Below is a summary of their conversation.
Click here to watch the full podcast interview.
Early in her career as a CPA, Jessica Freiburg decided that she was determined to become a Managing Partner. Today, she’s achieved that goal, leading Sassetti, a 100-year-old firm based in Oak Brook, IL, right outside Chicago: the very same firm where she started her career.
As the Managing Partner of a majority women-owned CPA firm, Jessica brings a different perspective to many other leaders. While she’s passionate about growing the firm, she’s also focused on building a winning culture at Sassetti: a culture that allows her team to have it all.
Jessica joined Sasseti right out of college in 2004. At the time, the firm was small, with less than 20 employees. She gained experience in every area of the firm, gradually working her way up the ladder, before being appointed Co-Managing Partner in 2021, then Managing Partner in 2022, taking over from her long-time mentor Jim Robbs. Jessica reflects:
“Once I’d been in the industry for a few years, I knew that for me, it was Managing Partner or bust. I saw the pathway: our Managing Partner at the time, Daniel Finnegan, had joined Sassetti out of college and worked his way up. For me, that was the goal from an early stage.”
Today, Sasseti has 50-plus employees, does over $10m in annual revenues, and continues to grow. But Jessica thinks about growth through a slightly different lens than other leaders, a fact that’s helped Sassetti carve out a unique position in the market:
“We’re not primarily focused on growing the top line. Instead, our goal is to find profitable clients in niches that we can serve uniquely well. It’s a more strategic approach to growth.”
The firm’s strategic growth plans are centered on two clear pillars: a focus on three specific industries and the expansion of a suite of advisory services. Jessica comments:
“We spent a lot of time over the past two years really digging in to understand the areas our people have experience in and want to work in the most. It’s an approach that ensures our team gets to work with the type of clients they’re most interested in. For us, that’s organizations in the not-for-profit, manufacturing, and technology industries.”
While the firm isn’t necessarily shedding any clients outside of these core industries, it has grown more discerning about the type of work it now takes on. Part of that process involves assessing their current client base to determine which clients are a good fit, and which might be better served by another firm. Jessica notes:
“Perhaps our top-line revenue isn’t going to grow as significantly over the coming years, but our focus is really on the bottom line. We’re focused on attracting profitable clients that we can provide great service to, while being more efficient in our processes.”
This approach is strengthened by Sassetti’s continued moves into the advisory services space. It’s a profitable business, and as Jessica notes, there’s a real opportunity in offering wrap-around services to clients:
“We’ve added HR services, wealth management, digital advisory, and more in recent years. We’re also doubling down on the high-level CFO advisory work in our CAS business. Our goal is to build out a kit that helps our clients feel like we can handle everything they need from a back office perspective, so they can focus on building their business.”
It’s an approach well-suited to Sassetti, a firm that’s always taken a collaborative approach to business development. Jessica notes that a key element of Sassetti’s success in this area has been their commitment to training their team members:
“Historically, people have always been focused on certain tasks when interacting with clients: a tax return, an audit, and so on. Now, we’re coaching people to think differently: to think about the client more holistically and anticipate their needs.”
In recent years, the accounting industry has been defined by waves of consolidation as PE firms and M&A activity continue to play a more prominent role in the industry. But for Jessica and the Sassetti team, the plan is to remain independent. She explains:
“There’s no question it’ll be challenging, but we’re full of optimism for our future as an independent firm. We have a lot of ambitious partners, great momentum, and everyone is aligned on the direction we’re headed. Ultimately, our goal is what it has been for the past 100 years: to provide great quality client service and be a place where people enjoy working.”
If anything, Jessica thinks the continued consolidation of the industry will lead to new opportunities for firms like Sassetti. From her perspective, plenty of clients value the one-on-one connection and familiarity that working with a more nimble firm provides.
Sassetti is unusual among accounting firms in that it is majority female-owned and led. From Jessica’s perspective, this wasn’t necessarily planned, but it certainly wasn’t by accident either:
“We’ve evolved this way because we’ve always maintained a great culture that allows our people to have balance. I’m married, have four kids, and am a Managing Partner. When people see women like me in leadership roles, they realize the type of firm we are: one that promotes diversity in leadership positions. It’s huge for attracting and retaining talented employees.”
When Jessica arrived at MPB | Leadership Accelerated in 2021, she’d just been named Co-Managing Partner of Sassetti and was getting ready to take over the reins solo. Looking back, Jessica highlights two huge benefits of her experience at MPB | Leadership Accelerated:
“Learning from the best was key: all of the instructors brought so much perspective on the things you have to deal with as a Managing Partner. Whether it’s the challenging issues you have to deal with as a leader or the importance of communicating and aligning everyone around a clear plan, I learned so much
“The other key element was the peer group. I keep in touch with my cohort: we’re always meeting up, having virtual coffee chats, and bouncing ideas and questions off each other. It’s truly a great resource.’
Applications for the next cohort of MPB | Leadership Accelerated are now open. Join us in Chicago in October 2024 for a rigorous bootcamp focused on building the next generation of leaders in the accounting industry.