IMA begins search for new CEO as Thomson prepares to retire

The Institute of Management Accountants has engaged the search firm Korn Ferry to help it identify its next leader with its president and CEO Jeff Thomson set to retire early next year. 

The IMA announced Monday that Thomson, who has been leading the organization since 2008, will be stepping down early next year (see story). The IMA organized a search committee, which has selected Korn Ferry as the search consultants. “As of Monday, the search will start in earnest,” said Thomson. “I hope there are many diverse, highly qualified candidates. Until the last day that I’m officially CEO, I’ll be working my tail off to enable that new person to be incredibly successful. I owe that much to the IMA and to the profession.”

His time with the IMA goes back to 2005 when he was vice president of research before becoming CEO. Previously, he had worked for more than two decades at AT&T and then as a high school math teacher. He reflected on his long tenure with the group.

“It’s been a life-changing experience,” he told Accounting Today. “I was not necessarily groomed to be a CEO, but it was the opportunity of a lifetime. I was used to the life of a telecom CFO, and here I am approaching 14 and a half years as CEO. When I officially retire in the first part of next calendar year, it will be closer to 15 years.”

He plans to keep working over the next few months until his final day as CEO to put the IMA in the best position. “We have an incredible group of volunteers around the world who are literally the heart and soul of the organization,” said Thomson. 

The IMA has expanded its efforts during his tenure around diversity, equity and inclusion, sustainability reporting and cybersecurity. “Just the fact that we’re involved as finance and accounting professionals in ESG, technology and analytics, and DE&I tells you how relevant and influential we are,” said Thomson. “But we need to do a better job of telling that story to students and young professionals. With our commitment to ethics, internal controls, strategy and data analytics, we have an incredible interdisciplinary impact on the value chain. It goes beyond the profession. It goes to our impact on the capital markets, on society, on how people comport themselves as professionals. I think our opportunity at IMA and in the profession is boundless, which means that you never keep striving and growing and making a tangible difference.”

He has seen the role of the management accountant evolving over the years. “The days of the CFO, CMA, CPA or CA being the guy or gal or person responsible for the numbers and doing the books and the transactions are long over,” he said. “The role as a strategic business partner and trusted business advisor has come much more to the forefront.”

The IMA has been partnering with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, the International Federation of Accountants and even its sometime rival the American Institute of CPAs to advance the profession. The groups have all worked to recruit more young people to join the profession and expand their technology skills. Thomson started out at the IMA with a combined technology and finance background from his job at AT&T working with data. 

“More and more — whether it’s in curricula or in everyday jobs in finance and accounting — data analytics, data visualization and data science are being infused into the accounting and finance disciplines,” said Thomson. 

Once he retires from the IMA, he plans to spend more time with his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, but he will probably stay involved with the IMA and the accounting profession at large.

“There are probably more short- and longer-term opportunities than you can count on, carving the path, retiring from IMA, but moving on to something else,” said Thomson. “In the short term, it is certainly having the flexibility to spend more time with a growing family. My wife and I adopted four young people when they were teenagers from different cultures around the world, and they’ve had kids and then they’ve had kids. But I do expect in some way to stay active either with IMA or more broadly the profession. I’m still a proud member and until early next year I’ll be on the COSO board working on a major ESG study to show how internal controls can be used to improve trust and confidence in sustainability information. In the short term, I don’t plan to sleep in and watch soap operas. I’m really not a golfer. I’ll definitely be finding ways to keep active, engaged and inspired in and outside of my chosen profession. Who knows? I might even go back and teach math again. You never know.”