RSM Announces Strategic Leadership Appointments to Accelerate Growth and Innovation

RSM Announces Strategic Leadership Appointments to Accelerate Growth and Innovation

Strategic Appointments Advance Firm’s Leadership Position for the Middle Market

CHICAGO – (May 7, 2025) – RSM US LLP (“RSM”) – the leading provider of assurance, tax and consulting services for the middle market – recently announced several leadership appointments across the firm. These appointments emphasize the firm’s focus on innovation and growth while paving the way for a compelling, digital and global future.

“I am proud to welcome these leaders into their new roles,” said Brian Becker, managing partner & CEO with RSM US LLP. “They embody RSM’s values and bring insight, experience and fresh ideas as we continue to further our depth, agility and expertise to serve the middle market at scale. Their leadership will be instrumental as we embrace our digital future and serve our clients and teams in an increasingly connected global business environment.”

The appointments include:

Assurance

Mandy Wheat, formerly RSM’s construction and government contracting capability leader for assurance, succeeds Brandon Rucker as RSM’s assurance operations leader, following Rucker’s appointment as RSM’s enterprise assurance leader. Wheat will be responsible for financial strategy and management, performance measurement and driving quality and operational excellence throughout the practice. She is an 18-year veteran of the firm whose deep connections to the field and the firm’s clients will enable her to bring a fresh perspective to the role and to the leadership team.

Jeremy Zwart, formerly RSM’s assurance industry leader for industrials, succeeds assurance growth leader Joe Mazza and assurance industry leader John Nicolopoulos, both of whom will be retiring in October, as RSM’s assurance growth and industry leader. Zwart will work closely with assurance industry, service line and capability leaders to drive execution, promote quality, empower RSM’s auditors to grow the business, and ensure the right people are in the right places to support the practice’s plans. A seasoned industrials leader, Zwart has been on the front lines of shaping the growth and industry strategy and his 27-year RSM career has also included serving consumer products, retail and professional services companies.

Matt Gerkens, an assurance partner serving government contracting, technology and consumer products companies, succeeds Wheat as RSM’s construction and government contracting capability leader for assurance. Supporting an environment of high quality and excellence, Gerkens oversees the team of professionals providing audit services to construction and government contracting clients. Gerkens joined the firm as a partner in 2020 and has more than 20 years of experience serving complex private, public and private equity clients.

Tax

Gregg Kiehl, formerly RSM’s corporations capability leader for tax and Carolina market managing partner, succeeds Kristi Kennedy as RSM’s tax operations leader. Kiehl will oversee the alignment and coordination of RSM’s tax client service teams to support the execution of strategic tax priorities. He brings more than 30 years of experience providing tax compliance and high-level tax advisory services to corporations, partnerships and LLCs serving clients in a variety of industries, including wholesale distribution, retail and manufacturing services.

Leslie Stackpole, formerly RSM’s managing partner of the Los Angeles office, succeeds Kiehl as RSM’s corporations capability leader for tax, and is a new member of the tax executive leadership team. In this role, Stackpole oversees a team of tax professionals serving public companies, non-audit clients, large corporate U.S. and Canadian subsidiaries of companies with headquarters in foreign countries, and complex private companies organized as C corps but not private equity owned. Her team also works with public and private audit clients. With nearly 30 years of accounting experience, she has extensive experience dealing with various corporate and partnership tax matters including mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, global tax planning and compliance, accounting methods, R&D credits and IRS examinations.

Consulting

Jamie Burgess, formerly RSM’s risk consulting enterprise leader, has been named RSM’s consulting strategy & execution leader. Since 2021, Burgess has played a critical role in evolving the firm’s risk consulting practice and cultivating a dynamic culture across the service line. In her new role, she will be instrumental in driving execution across key initiatives. With more than two decades of experience, Burgess has led teams that transform complex challenges into opportunities for growth, innovation and operational excellence and earned a reputation for building high-performing teams and cultivating a culture of trust, agility and bold thinking. In addition to her consulting leadership roles, Burgess was also recently appointed chair of the RSM US LLP Board of Directors.

Bill Kracunas, formerly RSM’s management consulting leader, has been named RSM’s consulting industry and growth leader. In this new role, Kracunas will lead the continued expansion of RSM’s consulting services across industries and focus on driving growth through innovation and strategic relationships. Under his leadership as management consulting leader, RSM’s management consulting group launched and scaled several practices, including the business transformation practice, industry advisory practice, human capital advisory practice and human-centered design practice, and evolved its project and program management capabilities, which have been expanded to work across all lines of business.

Ron Draganowski has been named RSM’s consulting digital leader, transitioning from his interim role. Draganowski has over 25 years of business technology consulting experience, including 14 years at RSM, where he has led teams focusing on ERP customization, integrations and analytics. He has held key leadership positions within RSM’s DDS application development and integration team, and more recently, led the DDS data & analytics practice. Draganowski has played an important role in the successful development and launch of large client engagements through his extensive knowledge of financial systems technology, data analysis, integration and design.

Real Estate

Troy Merkel succeeds Stuart Taub as RSM’s industry leader for construction and real estate, while continuing as RSM's assurance digital strategy leader. In his new dual roles, Merkel will continue RSM’s strong relationship with middle market players in the construction and real estate industry, as well as influence the future of audit as the firm’s assurance digital strategy leader. In his 20-year tenure with RSM, Merkel has greatly impacted strategy and growth, developing his professional acumen through roles such as real estate industry consulting leader and real estate senior analyst in RSM’s Industry Eminence Program.