CPA, Director of Tax Services, Dean Dorton Allen Ford
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Jennifer Shah is anything but your average numbers person. In addition to going cage diving with great white sharks at Guadalupe Island a few years ago, the Kentucky native has a hunger for helping people.
An active volunteer with Hospice of the Bluegrass as treasurer as well as Women Leading Kentucky Board chair and treasurer, Shah is an active community member and CPA, regardless of the time of year.
Born in Louisville, Ky., and raised in New Jersey, Shah said she has always been a numbers person.
“I really liked working with numbers,” said Shah, who declared an accounting major at the University of Kentucky before ever taking an accounting class.
Shah said her accounting career really got its start when she took on a position in public accounting at a Big Four firm in Cincinnati, Ohio. She worked for her first four years concen-trating in international tax.
The enthusiastic CPA joined Dean Dorton Allen Ford when she and her husband, Ajay, moved back to Lexington over nine years ago. The focused Shah has worked her way up from staff accountant to partner, currently leading the firm’s equine team and specializes in working with high net-worth individuals and their related business ventures in a variety of industries.
“We are a customer-service business,” said Shah. “When we can go to a client and show them how to save money with proactive planning, it is very rewarding.”
She hopes to see the state of Kentucky continue to retain homegrown talent, in addition to attracting out-of-state talent.
“Kentucky has so much to offer,” said Shah. “As professionals in a service industry, we work hard to become advisers to our clients. This requires a strong client-service mentality. However, to continue to attract the brightest recruits, we need to be able to meld this need to provide except-ional service with the ability to balance work requirements with the home/outside interests of younger generations.”
“Don’t be intimidated,” advised Shah. “Use our resources here. You don’t have to know people in Lexington to move ahead. It is big enough to network, and I am proof of that."
“I did it on my own,” she continued. “I love Lexington. It is a great town to be a part of.”