Ritchie

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Gregg Ritchie

Chief financial officer and managing director

Pacific Capital Group

Specialty: Tax planning and management

Tax accountants have a reputation as a risk-averse bunch. But not Gregg Ritchie. As a partner at KPMG Peat Marwick, he behaved more like a high-flying portfolio manager than a mere tax preparer.

Much as an investment counselor would, Ritchie presented his clients with a range of possible tax approaches, from the aggressive to the conservative. The client had to balance risk in this case, the risk of arousing the IRS’ curiosity against the amount of money that could be saved.

So it’s little surprise that after a 20 year-plus career with the accounting giant, Ritchie jumped at the opportunity to do some real portfolio management becoming chief financial officer and a managing director at Pacific Capital Group, the investment firm headed up by Gary Winnick.

“Mr. Winnick has a long track record of success in making people around him very wealthy,” says Ritchie, who came on board in September. Just as important, he says, was the ability to operate with more freedom on a much larger financial playing field.

Ritchie, who is 41 and holds a business degree from USC, started out at KPMG as a tax preparer, before turning to comprehensive financial and tax planning for upper-income clients.

“He’s a very creative guy, and very personable, and had some great relationships with his clients,” said John Lanning, KPMG’s vice-chairman for tax services.

That work “part lawyer, part psychologist,” Ritchie says included helping clients figure out ways to sell their privately or closely-held companies at maximum profit.

Ritchie adopted an unusually proactive stance with clients, as opposed to the traditionally reactive approach most accountants have to tax planning. That shift was noted by management, and a small team was formed: the KPMG Capital Transactions Strategies Group, with Ritchie as its national partner.

But his work at KPMG, while interesting, became too restrictive, Ritchie says. The chance to work at Pacific Capital, which makes capital investments on a global scale, was too good to turn down.

“I wanted to see if I could be successful on the outside as an investor, not just looking in from the outside as a consultant,” Ritchie says. “(Winnick) afforded me the opportunity to invest along with him and that’s a powerful motivator.”

R.W. Greene

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