BKD merges in Ledgeview Partners

BKD CPAs & Advisors, a Top 20 Firm based in Springfield, Missouri, is adding Ledgeview Partners, a marketing and customer relationship management consultancy in Appleton, Wisconsin, effective March 1.

The deal is the latest in a string of mergers for BKD. Just last week, the firm announced a merger with Bankers Assurance, a regulatory compliance firm in Little Rock, Arkansas. Earlier this month, it announced a megamerger with another Top 20 Firm, Dixon Hughes Goodman, which it is expecting will create a $1.4 billion combined firm when the deal closes in the second quarter of the year. Financial terms of the deal with Ledgeview were not disclosed. BKD”s fiscal year 2021 revenue was $758.12 million. The firm has a staff of more than 3,000, which includes approximately 310 partners and principals. Ledgeview has 43 employees who will be joining the BKD Technologies team. They include co-founders Lisa Benson and Doug Fissell, who are joining BKD as managing directors.

Ledgeview has been in business since 2007. The consulting firm helps clients with their sales, marketing and service operations and specializes in the use of customer relationship management technology. It’s a partner with both Microsoft and Salesforce. BKD expects to use Ledgeview’s expertise in CRM systems to help clients with their marketing automation, field service, sales and marketing.

Garret Layman

“We were first attracted to Ledgeview based on their outstanding reputation for successful CRM implementations, which is a valuable strategic addition to our technologies capabilities,” said BKD CEO Tom Watson in a statement Monday. “But we’re equally impressed by their efforts to truly gain trusted advisor status with their clients by providing a seamless suite of services designed to help their clients achieve success.”

Ledgeview’s team members will stay at their current offices in Appleton, Wisconsin, which will become BKD’s 42nd and northernmost office, again expanding the firm’s geographic reach. BKD has a footprint in 19 states.

"We are beyond excited to join the combined BKD and DHG team,” said Ledgeview Partners principal and CEO Lisa Benson in a statement. “While we have many business synergies that will allow both our companies to grow, it was the amazing culture at BKD, which parallels ours, that sealed the deal. From our first leadership interactions to the individual Ledgeview employee touchpoints that made each feel like they are already part of the family, we were convinced it was the perfect fit.”

Besides the deal with DHG and Bankers Assurance, BKD acquired Schmidt Westergard last month in Mesa, Arizona. Last April, it acquired Strategic Sourcing Results, a health care supply chain consulting firm based in Chicago. Last March, BKD acquired another consulting firm, Hamernik, an Indianapolis-based firm that specializes in restructuring and business advisory services.