Jim Meade, CEO & Managing Shareholder, LBMC

The Southeast continues to be a hotbed for business and population growth. As a key market along the Sun Belt, Nashville’s professional services sector is indispensable in helping businesses perform at their best. In an interview with Invest:, Jim Meade, CEO and managing shareholder of accounting and advisory services firm LBMC, highlighted the key trends and challenges in the industry.

What changes have most impacted the firm in the past year?

Most of the significant changes are reactive to what is going on in the financial services sector and the public accounting sector as a whole. Factors such as addressing the talent shortage, digital transformation, and how we can meet the demand for services in high-growth markets are the defining factors that affected us the most.

What factors are driving digital transformation in the industry?

Digital transformation and technological innovation have been buzzwords for many years. This conceptually is not new. What is new, and I believe it will be pervasive throughout professional services, is the introduction of generative AI. Its initial impact on our profession is significant, and I believe right behind that will be the next wave of innovation. More technological applications and more sophisticated applications are being introduced, leading to increased efficiency and improved client experiences. Clients expect to have better insights and better data. Clients expect to be provided with a more in-depth provision of services than what they are accustomed to receiving; clients want much more than that. And our professionals expect a more engaging work experience as a result of being able to utilize technology, particularly AI applications.

What are some strategies to combat the talent shortage in the industry?

We have significant resources dedicated to campus recruiting. This is integral because just-in-time hiring is not an option, and as a result, we must continually plan years in advance. For example, we have about 60 interns in the 2026 intern class, who will start next year, and this cohort represents more than 20 universities. We also use internal recruiters to hire more experienced professionals, while we emphasize technology to allow our professionals to work more efficiently and faster. Lastly, we leverage an alternative workforce. We have more than 50 team members who are fully remote in different markets supporting our primary office. Earlier this year, we established a subsidiary office in India. The goal is to ramp up more than 150 professionals in that office over the next two years.

What key trends are you keeping an eye on for your core client sectors?

Everyone is trying to contend with the current regulatory environment and the impacts of the changes in tariff policy, as well as the potential impact of a tax bill that is under legislation. Clients are also dealing with talent shortages in key areas of their business. They are also trying to understand the effects of digital transformation in their industries, particularly how to harness AI. And since a number of the issues clients deal with are the same issues that we are trying to gain traction in as well, we will have firsthand experience in these matters to better assist our clients.

What challenges are you following closely?

The Southeast and the Southwest were recently identified as the highest percentage growth markets for professional services, primarily as it relates to public accounting and related advisory services. I believe this will continue in the following five to 10 years. With growth comes the need for more people, process innovation, better use of technology, and more strategic planning to take advantage of new opportunities.

What makes the Southeast ripe for industry growth?

Significant M&A activity exists in public accounting today. This has been fueled in part by the introduction of private equity and the expected need for organizational size to invest in digital transformation and industry challenges. We are using M&A as a strategy, which we have not done on a significant scale before. We have been fortunate to grow organically. As we look at markets that we want to be in, we look at growth markets. We want to be in markets of relative aggregate size of population and businesses. We want to find firms that mirror our culture and have the same strategies and values that we do. Our goal is to position ourselves as a large service provider in each of our markets, which we believe gives us a position of leverage. Significant Southeastern markets that are enjoying strong growth are always on our list. We are also looking to strengthen the markets where we are already by identifying like-minded firms to join us in those markets. 

What is the firm’s approach to community involvement?

To thrive and innovate, we must reflect the diversity of the communities we serve. Today’s rising professionals expect, and deserve, workplaces committed to inclusion, and they’re right to demand it. At LBMC, we invest in that future by partnering with universities and high schools to provide scholarships to students in need, ensuring all team members are involved in community initiatives in all of our markets, and by supporting causes our team cares about through the LBMC Cares Foundation.

What are the firm’s top priorities in the short term?

We will continue to invest in our people. To accomplish this, we provide more time for our employees to develop faster. And we don’t just focus on traditional technical knowledge; we have implemented a learning and development platform where we focus on leadership, business development, and business acumen skills appropriate for each person at each level of experience, including those who are first starting their careers. To grow, we must attract top talent — and move them into key roles faster than ever before. That means rethinking traditional timelines by embracing technology, leveraging flexible workforce models, and investing early in leadership development to accelerate their path to impact. Lastly, it is key to stay on top of technological and process innovation. These areas will be critical in the next three to five years.