Professionals on the Move is a round-up of recent hiring, promotion and other staffing announcements from around the profession.
Grant Thornton Appoints Rick Surrett as CFO, Succeeding Longtime Leader Muhammad Bhayat
Grant Thornton, one of America’s largest brands of professionals providing end-to-end audit, assurance, tax and advisory services, recently named Rick Surett as its new chief financial officer (CFO). He will succeed Muhammad Bhayat, who is retiring after more than 20 years at Grant Thornton.
Surett officially stepped into the CFO role on June 2. He is an accomplished financial executive with nearly 30 years of experience across private equity-backed companies, public markets and complex capital structures.
Before joining Grant Thornton, Surett served as CFO of Transportation Equipment Network, the largest full-service trailer leasing company in North America, where he significantly improved operational efficiency and scalability. He also held a series of leadership roles at Ports America, including CFO, and previously served as director of corporate development at Avaya.
Surett earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Siena College in Loudonville, NY, and an MBA in finance from the State University of New York at Albany.
About Grant Thornton
Forvis Mazars celebrates Rob MaCoy and Leslie Jordan as 2025 Key Award winners
Forvis Mazars, LLP, ranked among the largest public accounting and consulting firms in the United States,celebrated Rob MaCoy and Leslie Jordan as the winners of the Key Award—the organization’s highest honor—during the recent 2025 VISION conference held in Orlando, Florida.
The Key Award is given annually to one partner and one team member who exemplify the firm’s unique culture and values. These honorees lead by example and bring the firm’s purpose to life as they unlock the potential of their colleagues, clients, and communities.
MaCoy and Jordan were chosen from more than 300 nominations submitted by team members across Forvis Mazars US, its highest number ever, as the firm recently celebrated its one-year anniversary of a new global network and worldwide brand.
About the honorees
Rob MaCoy is an assurance partner who has served as the Audit Quality Leader in the Colorado/Salt Lake City practice unit for more than 25 years. A year ago, he embraced a new challenge in the spirit of one of the firm’s values, Operate as One Firm, volunteering to support the creation of Forvis Mazars by relocating on a semi-permanent basis to New York City. There, he helped integrate the assurance quality control structure and implement the firm’s ASSURE methodology with legacy MUSA teams.
In nominating him for the Key Award, colleagues highlighted his reputation for servant leadership, tireless mentorship, and firmwide impact. “Rob communicates with partners and team members with utmost respect, fostering a positive environment,” said one nominator. “His commitment to the firm as he is in the back end of his career to put in the time, effort, and sacrifice to be away from home is very special.”
During his acceptance speech, MaCoy spoke about three values that have been constants in his life and career: respect for others, passion for the work at hand, and a strong work ethic.
Leslie Jordan is a finance operations and practice management leader based in Kansas City, with a career at the firm spanning more than 35 years. In that time, she has evolved from an office accountant to a regional role and now serves in a national capacity, solving complex internal accounting challenges and mentoring countless colleagues along the way.
Jordan is well known for her deep operational knowledge, dedication to training others, and consistent demonstration of the firm’s values, especially Be Your Best Self and Operate as One Firm. Her peers described her as “always on,” whether that’s arriving early, staying late, or raising her hand to lead firmwide initiatives.
In her acceptance speech, Jordan reflected on her upbringing as a bi-racial adoptee who others felt the need to categorize. She said her family, faith, and a supportive career environment helped her fulfill her potential.
Chris Goodman Joins UHY as Chief Growth Officer
Effective June 16, Chris Goodman takes the role of Chief Growth Officer (CGO) at UHY, a leading national accounting and business advisory firm with 40 offices in the U.S., and a founding member of UHY International. In this newly created role, Goodman will focus on expanding market presence, strengthening client relationships, enhancing the firm’s brand, and driving revenue across the firm’s service lines and industry sectors. He will be based out of UHY’s New York City office.
Goodman has more than 30 years of experience in adjacent roles, including Chief Marketing Officer at Crowe, KPMG, and Accenture. Goodman also served as Executive Vice President at Young & Rubicam and Senior Vice President at IMG. He has an MBA in marketing from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Science in marketing from Cornell University.
As a part of the announcement, McCarty shared that Joe DeVito recently joined UHY as Director of M&A and Chief Legal Officer, a newly expanded role to support the firm’s strategic growth plan. DeVito brings extensive legal expertise from his prior role as a corporate attorney at Taft, a prominent law firm in the Detroit, Michigan area. Additionally, Tom Bomberski has been appointed Chief Operating Officer at UHY. Bomberski previously served as the firm’s Chief Financial Officer.
Spencer Schulten joins Forvis Mazars to lead financial crimes compliance consulting practice
Forvis Mazars LLP, one of the largest public accounting and consulting firms in the United States, has named Spencer Schulten as the leader of its financial crimes compliance consulting practice within financial services consulting. Schulten will join the firm’s risk and regulatory practice, focusing on anti-money laundering, sanctions compliance, and securities regulation.
Schulten is a certified anti-money laundering specialist (CAMS), licensed attorney, and executive-level management consultant with expertise in securities and derivatives compliance. He brings extensive experience leading high-profile internal investigations and transaction reviews for major financial institutions, including engagements requested by law enforcement and regulatory agencies. Schulten joins as a principal based in the firm’s Metro D.C. office and will serve clients nationwide.
Most recently, Schulten was a partner and U.S. head of financial crimes compliance at The Capital Markets Company LLC (Capco) in Washington, D.C., where he specialized in regulatory response, remediation, and transformation. Before that, he served as senior director in a large international accounting firm’s financial services risk and regulatory practice in New York, focusing on regulatory change management and financial crimes compliance. Before entering consulting, Schulten served as in-house counsel at Apollo Global Management, Inc., a leading private equity firm.
Schulten is a 2006 graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center with a concentration in Securities and Financial Regulation and holds a bachelor of arts in history with honors from Trinity College in Connecticut. He is admitted to the New York State Bar and the U.S. Supreme Court.
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Tags: Firm Management, firm staffing, promotions
