The New Jersey Society of CPAs said Wednesday that longtime CEO and executive director Ralph Thomas plans to retire June 30, 2023.
Thomas has been leading the NJCPA since 1999, advocating on behalf of accountants in both the state capital of Trenton and in Washington, D.C. The 13,000-member group has appointed a search committee and enlisted an outside recruitment firm to find a successor.
"I will truly miss my time at the NJCPA — all of the members, staff and colleagues from other state CPA societies and national organizations that work so hard to keep the CPA profession relevant — but it is time to find new frontiers," Thomas said in a statement. "I look forward to what lies ahead for me, my family and the new connections still to be made."
For the past 11 years, Thomas was named by Accounting Today as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting. He serves on the boards of numerous colleges, including the Accounting Advisory Boards for Lehigh University, Rutgers University, Seton Hall University, Montclair State University and Rider University. He is also trustee emeritus of Lehigh University and a member of Lehigh's Trustee Audit Committee, and is on its Diversity Committee. Thomas was asked by New Jersey Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin to be on New Jersey's Sales and Use Tax Commission.
Thomas has been a stalwart supporter of the NJCPA Scholarship Fund, which has awarded more than $7 million since its inception in the 1960s, helping increase the number of minorities and women who enter the accounting profession. Many scholarship recipients have been the first to attend college in their families. Under Thomas's leadership, the scholarship program expanded to help additional students of color through the Deloitte Foundation's NJCPA Scholars Award, the introduction of sophomore awards to attract interest from those students attending two-year colleges, and other awards in conjunction with the American Institute of CPAs and the National Association of Black Accountants' Northern New Jersey Chapter. Thomas and his wife Valerie also provide additional student scholarships.
"Ralph is sincerely a one-of-a-kind CEO who makes everyone feel special, from the interns just starting out to the managing partners and CFOs that have the pleasure to meet him," said NJCPA COO Theresa Hinton in a statement. "We will all miss him dearly, but we know he is only a phone call away."
