Yessica Perez, Houston Market Leader, Cherry Bekaert

Invest: spoke with Yessica Perez, Houston market leader at Cherry Bekaert, about the firm’s Houston growth following the acquisition of Calvetti Ferguson, client priorities, AI, and talent. “Happy employees transfer that energy to our clients and our communities,” Perez said.

How has Calvetti Ferguson joining Cherry Bekaert changed the opportunities you can offer clients and the way you approach the Houston market?

Cherry Bekaert is one of the nation’s top 20 advisory and accounting firms, with more than 80 years of history. By partnering with a firm of this scale, we have significantly expanded the resources, expertise, and capabilities we can offer our clients and the communities we serve. Our leadership and growth opportunities now extend well beyond Texas, with a strong presence in major metropolitan markets across the country.

One of the most important factors in this partnership was our strong cultural alignment. We share a commitment to serving our communities, investing in our people, and delivering exceptional client service. Our goal is to provide every client with a best-in-class advisory experience while continuing to invest in the growth and development of our employees. By doing so, we strengthen client relationships and earn their long-term trust and satisfaction.

Cherry Bekaert also has a clear strategic vision centered on mergers and acquisitions, accelerated growth, expanded market presence, and continued investment in infrastructure, artificial intelligence, and technology. These investments position us to innovate more quickly, operate more efficiently, and deliver deeper insights to our clients.

Together, these strengths create tremendous opportunities for our clients, our people, and the Houston market. We are excited to leverage the expanded capabilities of Cherry Bekaert to continue serving our clients at the highest level while driving meaningful growth and innovation throughout the region.

What are you hearing from business leaders in Houston, and how has sentiment changed compared to a year ago?

Service remains one of our highest priorities. Our goal is to ensure that the trusted professionals who have always served our clients continue to do so, because those relationships are what matter most. We not only continue to be our clients’ trusted accounting and advisory firm, but we can now offer a broader range of services, including ERP implementation, CFO advisory, recruiting and staffing, and other strategic advisory solutions. This allows us to deliver more than compliance and a look back — we can help clients plan for the future, improve operations, and achieve their long-term goals. While our capabilities have expanded, our commitment remains the same: to put our clients’ best interests first.

What specific challenges are your clients facing today, and where are they still finding opportunities to invest and grow?

For the majority of our clients, their biggest fear continues to be the economy in general. They also have fears around AI and what that entails. 

Artificial intelligence continues to gain traction across industries, with many clients embracing it as a way to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and streamline operations. In the manufacturing sector, for example, companies are leveraging AI to optimize production schedules, enhance quality control, predict equipment failures through preventive maintenance, and automate repetitive tasks, resulting in meaningful cost savings and increased productivity.

However, adoption is not universal. Some clients remain cautious due to concerns over cybersecurity, data privacy, and the protection of proprietary information. They worry that integrating AI tools could increase exposure to cyber threats, unauthorized access to sensitive data, or regulatory compliance risks. As a result, while AI presents significant opportunities for operational improvement, organizations are carefully weighing these benefits against the need for robust security controls and governance before expanding their use of technology.

We are also looking at what the economy can be, not only for the nation but for Houston. We are lucky because we have a robust economy here in Houston. We are not as volatile as other economies in the country. We are excited about our economy here in Texas. We are proud that we have one of the strongest and largest economies in the world.

Where do you see the biggest opportunities to continue growing and diversifying Houston’s economy? 

We are starting to tap more into the Medical Center, and we are starting to see a lot more presence from PE-backed firms as it is one of the largest medical complexes in the world and it serves as one of Houston’s primary economic engines. Obviously, the port continues to be one of our biggest drivers and focus areas. There is a lot of technology in the port, a lot of international companies that come through the port, and a lot of growth.

Real estate and construction are also growing industries in Houston’s economy and throughout Texas in general. Healthcare, tech, life sciences, and oil and gas also continue to be important areas of focus for our firm as well as Houston’s economy. 

How are your clients using AI today, and how is the firm leveraging it to create efficiencies and improvements?

Technology and AI are transforming our profession by automating routine tasks such as data entry, allowing our professionals to focus on what truly creates value for clients — analyzing financial information, identifying tax planning opportunities, and providing strategic insights. By leveraging technology, we improve efficiency while enabling our teams to spend more time advising clients and exercising professional judgment. As we continue to adopt these technologies, cybersecurity remains equally important to ensure the protection of the sensitive financial and personal information our clients entrust to us.

How are you advising businesses to integrate these technologies into their own strategies?

We have an advisory practice that includes services that range from cybersecurity and IT managed services to business applications. We truly listen to our clients — it is all about their needs and their pain points and how we can help them achieve their goals. As we build relationships with our clients, we get to understand their constraints. They share with us whether they are protected, whether they have cybersecurity concerns, or whether they have AI included in their financial information. For example, we have helped some clients with their business optimizations, ERP systems, and the financial information they need to make informed decisions about how they run their business.

Whether the issue is cybersecurity, IT, or financial data, we can help because some of our partners have been in their shoes.

How has being part of a larger firm helped you attract, retain, and develop top professionals?

That has been one of the biggest advantages of joining a larger firm. Joining Cherry Bekaert significantly expands the capabilities and resources and now we have a bigger pool to tap into. Happy employees transfer that energy to our clients and our communities.

We also have better tools to train our employees and access to subject matter experts across different industries. No matter what industry a client is in, we can connect them with an individual who has the deep expertise and knowledge they need. Our clients feel more supported, and our team feels more supported. We have multiple leadership opportunities within this organization and upward mobility. Our employees feel they are invested in, challenged, developed, and constantly learning and growing. 

As you look ahead, what gives you confidence about Houston’s business outlook, and what are your top priorities at Cherry Bekaert?

We have three key priorities. First, making sure our community continues to feel supported, just as it has for more than 20 years in the Houston market, and as it has been in the past 80 years as Cherry Bekaert throughout our country.

Second, we want our employees to know they are being invested in and given opportunities, monitorships, and support to grow both personally and professionally. 

Last but not least, I want every client to experience that they are being served by a best-in-class advisory firm that always has their best interests at heart and its committed to their success.  

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Cherry Bekaert has a one-firm philosophy of strong collaboration with no central headquarters. We are led through a distributed geography, with leadership located throughout our various offices. We have a clear strategic vision of rapid growth supported by our acquisition efforts and by cultural and strategic fit.

We have completed five acquisitions so far this year, and we make sure every acquisition makes sense. We do not acquire simply to acquire. We make sure every acquisition is culturally aligned. Calvetti Ferguson was one of those acquisitions, and we are proud to be part of Cherry Bekaert here in the Houston area.