Geoffrey ‘Geof’ Brown, CAE, is president
and CEO of the Illinois CPA Society (ICPAS), one
of the largest state CPA societies in the nation. Brown
also serves as president and CEO of CPAs for the Public
Interest and ex-officio board member of the CPA Endowment
Fund of Illinois.
A seasoned certified association executive (CAE), Brown has more than 20
years of experience as an association professional. Before joining ICPAS in
2022, he served as CEO of the National Association of Personal Financial
Advisors (NAPFA), the nation’s leading professional association of fee-only
financial advisors, for nine years. Prior to NAPFA, Brown was an account
executive with Sentergroup, an association manager at SmithBucklin Corporation,
and held multiple positions with North-American Interfraternity Conference.
Brown served as the board chair for Association Forum and is an active
member. He is also an active member in the American Society of Association
Executives and is a board member for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and the
Association of Fraternal Leadership & Values. Brown earned his bachelor’s
degree in government and politics from the University of
Maryland.
Doug Lowery was one of the
original five founders of Brilliant in 2009 and returned to the company in 2023
as Chief Revenue Officer, where he drives business development and customer
success. Doug’s
career began at Arthur Andersen where he spent five years in the Audit and
Advisory practice. His
clients included manufacturing, technology, healthcare and power companies. In 2002, he moved to recruiting
where he focused on permanent placement offerings for accounting, tax and audit
roles at Brilliant. Most
recently before rejoining Brilliant, Doug was the lead sales executive for Crowe
LLP in the Chicagoland market.
Prior
to Brilliant, Doug’s career began at Arthur Andersen where he spent five years
in the Audit and Advisory practice. His clients included manufacturing,
technology, healthcare and power companies. In 2002, he began his career
in recruiting where he focused on permanent placement offerings for accounting,
tax and audit roles. He joined Jim Wong who is a current board member and
co-founder of Brilliant at a Chicago-based search firm in 2004 where he became
the Area Managing Director of Perm in Chicagoland. Doug’s previous role at
Brilliant was as leader of all permanent placement solutions along with business
development responsibilities. Doug was instrumental in driving the explosive
growth of Brilliant between 2009 and 2018.
Doug
believes that growth of a business is based on building deep customer
relationships and trust. The most successful business development
individuals are those that become a true partner to the client and they are
always an honest and thoughtful advisor. Doug has a passion for the people
business and views his role as simply finding great people, finding companies
that need great people, and making the introduction between the two. Doug
is the embodiment of Brilliant’s mission to ‘Make People’s Lives
Better’.