Paid Leave Oregon – November Update

MY PATH

Kim Lyon, CPA

Partner & Shareholder

Kim is a member of the Employee Benefit Audit and Private Company Service teams and focuses on providing assurance and advisory services to these client groups.

As a student at Oregon State University, Kim interned at Jones & Roth. After graduation, Kim worked for a large firm in Portland, before leaving to explore the private sector. She had a young family and was looking for flexibility and professional growth which she didn’t find in private. She reached out to Jones & Roth about creating a FlexPath that would allow her to continue to advance professionally while working reduced hours.

Kim continued on a FlexPath for several years before transitioning to a ClassicPath and taking on leadership responsibilities in 2020. She appreciates the flexibility and support Jones & Roth provides her as her life changes.

MY PATH

Nicole McOmber, CPA

Partner & Shareholder

Nicole McOmber is the leader of the firm’s Healthcare team. She specializes in practice management, advisory services, and tax & accounting services for medical practices and clinics across the Pacific Northwest.

Straight out of high school, Nicole knew she wanted to be an accountant and she was interested and worked with the nonprofit niche originally. She soon found that her passion was actually doing tax and advisory work, especially when she saw how her husband’s business could be positively impacted by this. She especially enjoyed working in the Healthcare industry and began honing her expertise to serving medical practices and clinics across the Pacific Northwest. Nicole is now recognized as one of the top Healthcare CPAs in Oregon and is a frequent speaker at healthcare educational conferences and events.

When she started at Jones & Roth, her children were young and she found that each year going forward was different than the last, in terms of work/life balance. “Having mentors and a team surrounding me really helped me adjust when I needed to.”

MY PATH

Evan Dickens, CPA

Partner & Shareholder

Evan is the leader of the Employee Benefit Audit team and Co-Leader of the Construction Niche. He works with a variety of small business, investment funds and individual clients.    

As a Business Management major in college, Evan Dickens didn’t start out to become an accountant. However, accounting was one of the core classes and he found that it just made the most sense to him. The help and guidance of some wonderful professors at George Fox University helped to lay out the path and his major was changed to Accounting!

When looking for internships in college, one of those professors said, “you may want to look into Jones & Roth.” The recruiting process was a little different back in 2001: Evan printed out his resume, drove over to the Hillsboro office, and asked about possible internships. That day he got to meet with a manager, as well as a partner, and the next week was offered an internship. Once out of college, he had the opportunity to work for a ‘Big 4’ firm, but chose Jones & Roth and has stayed ever since.

Early in his career, Evan explored a variety of industry and technical niches, including municipal governments, nonprofits, healthcare, financial institutions and more.  He discovered a passion for working with contractors and small business owners.  And, after working on several employee benefit plan audits, he saw an opportunity for the firm to become experts in the area and with his guidance, the niche has grown to be one of the largest EBP Auditors in the state, with clients across the country.   “That was a chance for me to create a path and a focus for my career,” he says, and it was something I never expected to enjoy working on.”

MY PATH

Michael Bergland, CPA

Partner

Michael specializes in providing tax, financial statement and advisory services to multi-generational family owned businesses across Oregon. He is a key member of the Family Business Team.

Michael is a ‘Career Changer.’ In college he earned a degree in Journalism, and then worked as a federal background investigator for 12 years, which required a whole lot of travel. When he and his wife were beginning to plan their family, he decided to change careers and landed on Accounting because he saw great opportunity in this field.

When choosing a CPA firm, it was a natural fit to join Jones & Roth because of the chance to move to Eugene to be closer to his extended family, as well as having existing connections with a few Jones & Roth team members. He has enjoyed building relationships with mentors and co-workers.