Baker Tilly CEO abruptly quits before successor named

AFTER BAKER TILLY’S revenue tripled during his seven-year tenure as CEO, Alan Whitman is suddenly out at the top 10 accounting and consulting rm. Baker Tilly last week said he had resigned “with immediate e ect” and with no permanent successor in place.

“While Alan and the board were closely aligned on strategy, they differed on aspects of execution,” the rm said in a statement. “While change is never easy, we respect Al- an’s decision to move on.”

Whitman, 57, did not respond to a message left on his cellphone, and a spokeswoman for the rm said he would not be available for an interview. His bio was scrubbed from Baker Tilly’s website.

Baker Tilly appointed Je Ferro, 60, a regional managing partner in charge of the rm’s eastern and central regions, as interim CEO. Je rey DeYoung, a managing partner in Minneapolis, is taking over as chairman, the other role held by Whitman, who was promoted to the top job in 2016 after heading up the accounting rm’s Michigan market.

Whitman was promoted to CEO from a role as managing partner of Baker Tilly’s local o ce in South- crainsdetroit.com

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Senior Executive Vice President Chris Crain eld and head of the rm’s international services practice. He worked at Big Four accounting rm PricewaterhouseCoopers before joining a boutique rm in Detroit that later joined what became Baker Tilly.

Baker Tilly, which traces its roots to mid-century Wisconsin and is now based in Chicago, ranked as Michigan’s 16th-largest accounting rm last year, with 96 employees in the state, according to Crain’s list of largest Michigan accounting rms.

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G.D. Crain Jr. Founder (1885-1973)

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