Firm Management
Accounting Firm Names First Chief Innovation Officer
ne of the largest public accounting and consulting firms in the U.S., Crowe Horwath LLP, has named Derek Bang as its first chief innovation officer.
Nov. 08, 2013
One of the largest public accounting and consulting firms in the U.S., Crowe Horwath LLP, has named Derek Bang as its first chief innovation officer, effective Oct. 1. Bang, a CPA and a partner with the firm, will be responsible for leading the New Product Development team and continuing the firm's history of creating innovative solutions for its clients.
Bang, who has specialized in healthcare industry consulting, led the development of the first patented Crowe software product, Crowe Revenue Cycle Analytics (RCA). A healthcare revenue analysis and reporting application, Crowe RCA is just one of several solutions that Crowe has developed in recent years. Another, the Crowe Tax Risk Assessment and Control (C-TRAC) solution, is the only IRS-approved tax-exempt Form 990 software. These two solutions and several others have contributed more than $100 million in revenue over the past five years. Crowe currently has 10 new solutions and revisions of existing solutions in various phases of development.
“I'm fortunate to follow Dave Jarrett, who originally championed the firm's New Product Development team,” said Bang. “We're now formalizing the role and how we introduce new solutions that help make our clients' jobs easier.” Jarrett is retiring after more than 38 years with Crowe.
Bang and the Crowe team are concentrating current efforts on what the firm calls “triple-threat solutions.” These are solutions designed to combine and make the best use of the firm's technical knowledge, industry expertise and applied technology.
“Derek has shown great leadership in new product development for the Crowe Healthcare team and has a vision for future innovation,” said Chuck Allen, Crowe CEO. “Using new solutions to help Crowe provide an exceptional client experience is why innovation is one of the keys to our future growth.” The Crowe five-year plan includes deriving 20 percent of firm revenue growth from new products.