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A leading provider of accounting and business advisory services

Lori Reiner is the Partner-in-Charge of EisnerAmper in Philadelphia. Founded in 1965, EisnerAmper has grown into one of the largest accounting firms in the US, with offices in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, California, Florida, and the Cayman Islands. Today, the firm provides audit, advisory, bankruptcy, employee benefit, tax, and financial services clients in a variety of industries ranging from construction to real estate to sports and entertainment. Lori is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA), and has earned honors from the Philadelphia community for her accounting expertise and leadership, including a "Best 50 Women in Business" award, a Small Business Administration "Woman in Business Advocate" award, and a Young Leadership Award from the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.

Lori Reiner spoke with citybizlist publisher Edwin Warfield for this interview.

EDWIN WARFIELD: Accounting is traditionally a male-dominated profession. What’s your perspective as a leading woman in the field?

LORI REINER: You know, I was just having a conversation with a longtime female friend of the firm yesterday about women in the accounting profession. We were talking about how much the times have changed - that women can have a successful career, feel really good about their contributions and really reach down and help other women grow up in the profession. And there’s so much more room for successful women in the profession than there was at one point.

Many, many years ago, there was always at least a perception - if not somewhat of a reality - that when one woman got there, that that was enough. The good news is that philosophy has long since been shattered. I was very young in my career when I think that that philosophy somewhat existed. However, it’s very important that women empower women to continue to progress in their careers, that they want to continue to progress in their careers, they don’t decide to opt out - which women do for a myriad of reasons - and that they continue to feel good that they’re contributing both at home as well as in their careers, so that they can continue to grow.

Q. Tell us about the Women of EisnerAmper.

A. What is the Women of EisnerAmper? It is one of the many affinity groups that we have. Women represent about 50% of our starting classes every year and, for many reasons, when you take a look at our partner ranks: of about 180 partners, we have about 50 or so female partners, so it’s a very nice percentage - however, it’s still not quite half. And you take a look at our starting classes and they are [half]. So, we spend a lot of time with women in the firm, it’s really to educate women and to have frank discussions about a variety of different topics - work–life balance is absolutely one of those things; however, it’s many things. It’s about asserting yourself in the workplace, how to conduct yourself in the workplace, ways that you can continue to build on your career even if you decide that you want to work flexible or a more reduced schedule for a few years while your kids are young and you’re raising your children, so that you can continue to feel really good about your contributions to the firm. There are so many different things that we talk about, and we have many programs throughout the year that really enable the women to share and to create experiences. I would say that most of what we talk about in that is really for both. Men can get a lot of the agendas as well. So, Women of EisnerAmper is an extension of our career counseling program that both men and women obviously take a part in.

Connect with Lori on LinkedIn

ABOUT NEWMARK GRUBB KNIGHT FRANK

Newmark Grubb Knight Frank (NGKF) is one of the world's leading commercial real estate advisory firms. Together with London-based partner Knight Frank and independently-owned offices, NGKF’s 12,800 professionals operate from more than 370 offices in established and emerging property markets on six continents.

With roots dating back to 1929, NGKF’s strong foundation makes it one of the most trusted names in commercial real estate. NGKF’s full-service platform comprises BGC’s real estate services segment, offering commercial real estate tenants, landlords, investors and developers a wide range of services including leasing; capital markets services, including investment sales, debt placement, appraisal, and valuation services; commercial mortgage brokerage services; as well as corporate advisory services, consulting, project and development management, and property and corporate facilities management services. For further information, visit www.ngkf.com.

NGKF is a part of BGC Partners, Inc., a leading global brokerage company servicing the financial and real estate markets. BGC’s common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol (NASDAQ: BGCP). BGC also has an outstanding bond issuance of Senior Notes due June 15, 2042, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol (NYSE: BGCA). BGC Partners is led by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Howard W. Lutnick. For more information, please visit www.bgcpartners.com.

Edwin Warfield, CEO of citybizlist, conducts the CEO Interviews.

If you're interested in reaching CEOs, please contact edwin.warfield@citybuzz.co

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