Introducing New Chair and Vice Chair for Accounting Advisory Board

We are pleased to introduce our new Accounting Advisory Board Chair, Gary Homsley and Vice Chair, Jim Brown. They will serve in their roles for two year terms from 2022 through 2023. They will lead the 22-member advisory board who serve to strengthen ties to the region’s accounting community and assist the Accounting and Tax programs in supporting student success.

Gary, who previously held the Vice Chair position, is a native of Portland and attended Lewis & Clark College as well as Bethel University in St. Paul, MN, obtaining a degree in Business Administration. After spending a few years post-college working in industry accounting roles, Gary determined to pursue a career in public accounting.  To complete the accounting credits to sit for the CPA exam, Gary enrolled in the PSU School of Business as a Post-Bac accounting student. After completing his Accounting education at PSU, Gary secured a position in the Portland office of Coopers & Lybrand LLP (now PwC), and subsequently became a partner in the Portland office of Grant Thornton LLP, retiring from the firm in 2019. Gary credits PSU’s Post-Bac Accounting program for making his career in public accounting possible.

Jim is an alumnus of Portland State University (Class of 1999), with degrees in Accounting and Finance.  Within days of his last final exam Jim started his career at Deloitte as an audit staff, working his way up to Audit Managing Director in 2012.  Jim has worked in several industries throughout his career, and spent nearly 5 years working in Deloitte’s national office.  Jim is also the Lead Recruiting Partner for Deloitte’s Portland audit practice.  Since 2010, Jim has been a member of the Portland State School of Business Administration’s Accounting Advisory Board, bringing Big 4 and recruiting perspectives to help foster the success of PSU’s faculty and students.