BDO Alliance USA is among the industry’s largest associations of accounting and professional services firms in more than 900 locations nationwide. In this series, we introduce you to Alliance Member leaders who are making a difference in their firms.
Meet Joe Lerro, Co-Managing Partner of LerroSarbey.
Based in Boca Raton, Fla., LerroSarbey offers a comprehensive range of services from traditional accounting, tax, assurance and consulting to unique services such as Sarbanes-Oxley outsourcing and SOC audits. With a culture that thrives on working together, their mission is to empower organizations with insightful, focused solutions while making their clients feel “part of the family.” They have been an independent member of the BDO Alliance USA since 2018.
Where did you grow up?
I have lived in Florida since I was two, when my family moved from Long Island, N.Y. My mom is one of 11 children, so I come from a very large family. Some of them made the move to Florida years ago, and my parents decided the cold weather wasn’t for them anymore and made the move as well.
How did you decide to pursue accounting?
It’s funny, because growing up, my dad (a CPA) would constantly joke, “don’t do accounting.” He wanted me to take the doctor or lawyer route, due to the heavy workload of a CPA, which he knew all too well. My parents started their firm before I was born, so I basically grew up surrounded by accounting. I witnessed the many hours that my parents put in. From middle school on, I worked with them doing bookkeeping and many other tasks to contribute as needed. School and studying weren’t always easy for me; I had to work really hard to get good grades, but something with the debits and credits just clicked for me – probably because I learned so much of it growing up. In college, there were accounting classes where other students were struggling to understand the concepts, whereas it was very familiar for me. I figured that was as good a reason as any to move forward with an accounting major.
Where did you go to school, and what extracurricular activities did you participate in?
I attended Florida State University in Tallahassee and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and then a master’s degree in accounting, with a focus in Tax. I was a member of Beta Alpha Psi, the international honor society for accounting students, and was very involved with the College of Business’ Student Leadership Council. Aside from this, I also worked at the FSU Health Center as an accounting assistant to the CFO. There, I learned a lot about what it’s like working for a business internally vs. public accounting.
After college, how did you start your career?
In the beginning, I didn’t want to work for my parents. I knew that I wanted to go somewhere and see if I could make it on my own. I also wanted to see what all the hype was about at a “Big 4” firm, so I headed to one firm where I spent the first five years of my career. I loved my team and the work I was doing. The hours were long, but I got an experience I will never forget. At a certain point, I felt like I had learned a lot and wanted to have more of an impact on an organization than I was capable of having in such a big company. Coincidentally, COVID hit right around that time, which meant I had a lot of time at home to think. Eventually, with the support of my family, I took that opportunity to go work with my parents. I’m fortunate to have met so many people along the way, and the countless opportunities my first job and network there provided me.
Tell us about your management team and how the firm has grown.
I co-manage the firm with my dad Victor and learned an entrepreneurial mindset from him at a young age. Ultimately, my dad will always be the boss. We both strive for improvement and making LerroSarbey a great place to work for our team. But I can honestly say that team has grown primarily from an investment in high-quality people. We’ve made countless hires over the last five years that have propelled the firm to what it is today. I can’t name everyone, but to name a few – Mike Cereste, our CFO, joined us a few years ago from a Big 4 firm; he manages the financial side along with orchestrating merger integration, forecasting and modeling, and helping us understand the investment opportunities we have as a business. Melissa Casanova has been with us for over 10 years; she oversees almost all firm operations along with Justin King, who joined us a couple years ago to lead People & Culture. We’ve expanded organically and through M&A, especially from 2021-2024. We were at around $5 million in revenue, which increased to $7, then $12 and eventually $14 million. We are hoping to have another year of double-digit growth this year as well.
Tell us about LerroSarbey.
We have always maintained that when you like who you work with, you tend to work harder and care more about your work product. We hired Justin to lead People & Culture, not because we needed an HR person, but because we believe it’s quite literally a full-time job to focus on a firm’s culture and the happiness of our people. To build an atmosphere where everyone feels like “family,” we’ve tried to think outside the box on how to bring people together. For the last few years, we have taken everyone on a firm retreat/cruise, which has been a big hit. People bring their spouses, some bring their kids, and some even bring their parents.
We also have an initiative called “Partners Unplugged,” where the partners share one of their passions or hobbies with the team. Last year, I hosted a cooking class. Scott Sarbey likes pickleball, so he held a pickleball lesson and open play at a nearby pickleball complex. My dad loves to golf, so he rented out some bays at Top Golf and everyone came out and spent time getting to know each other. It’s a great way for staff to learn more of the personal side to our partners. We also have happy hour sessions throughout the year, because first and foremost, we like to gather.
We love investing in our people. Good people will do good things. I really believe that you never have to “find work” for good people. Even if it’s not what they were hired to do, good people will find a way to support the organization and keep busy. Some leaders lead by micro-managing; I constantly ask myself “How can I elevate other people?” It is a constant goal, and I try to delegate often and show everyone that, by being at LerroSarbey, they are part of a family, and they’ll have the ability to take ownership of things and lead.
Tell us about your family.
Despite my mom coming from a big family, our family is pretty small. I have one older brother. I am engaged to my fiancé Justin, who leads People & Culture at the firm. We have been together for over 14 years and are finally planning our wedding for next summer. We are keeping it small, just close family and friends, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. We also have a Samoyed pup named Mochi that pretty much rules our house.
What do you do in your spare time?
I love to travel with friends. Now, most of my spare time is spent wedding planning or visiting our nieces and nephew, but Justin and I renovated our house a couple of years ago which got us very into DIY around the house. Believe it or not, work or projects on the business comprise a lot of our “spare time” activities. Aside from Justin, our best friends also work here, and Justin’s sister Courtney, who was previously a manager in a Big 4 firm, just joined us as well. Needless to say, almost every family or friend gathering results in conversation on how to improve the firm or new ideas.
What would you like to share about your experience with the BDO Alliance USA?
I’m extremely passionate about the BDO Alliance USA. I really appreciate the collaboration and networking opportunities it has afforded me as a young leader within a firm. I am a believer that no one knows everything, so there is always something for us to share and learn from, and that has been a tremendous benefit. The Alliance program also gives us great exposure and puts our firm at the highest level from a competitive standpoint with surrounding firms in our region. Outside of the obvious benefits, our team gets to collaborate through the organized roundtables, network at the EVOLVE conference and area meetings, and, of course, we have access to much of the same learning and development resources BDO affords its own team, which keeps us ahead of the curve when new guidance emerges.