August Aquila is one of the profession’s key thought leaders. He works with professional service firms both large and small, in the US and abroad. As a former partner in a Top100 US accounting firm and a senior executive with American Express Tax & Business Services, Inc., August brings a wealth of hands-on experience to the table. In 2004, 2007, 2009 to 2015 he was selected as one of the “Top 100 Most Influential People in The Accounting Profession” by Accounting Today. In 2003 August was inducted into the Accounting Marketing Association Hall of Fame. He won the 1994 Lawler Award for the best Journal of Accountancy article (“How to Lose Clients without Really Trying”). For twenty-seven years August has advised professional services firms covering succession planning, mergers and acquisitions, compensation plan designs and partnership issues. He has written several books on managing professional services firms as well. Most recently: Engaging Partners in the Firm’s Future, What Successful Managing Partners Do, Performance Is Everything – The Why, What and How of Designing Compensation Plans (AICPA), Client at the Core: Marketing and Managing Today’s Professional Services Firm (John Wiley & Sons) and Compensation as a Strategic Asset: The New Paradigm (AICPA). He is a frequent speaker at legal and accounting conferences.