In this interview, Javier Ortiz Gavillán, RSM Puerto Rico Audit Partner, talks about efficiency, intergenerational collaboration and how technology is empowering our role as advisors.  

 

Could you start by telling us a little bit more about yourself? 

I am the youngest of four brothers and was born in Hayward, California, after my parents moved to the US for a few years. My family and I returned to PR when I was 5, and I grew up in a home that mostly talked about sports and God. Imagine, four brothers!! It was an incredibly competitive environment all the time. Thus, since my childhood and throughout college, my commitment to watching and practicing sports taught me multiple life skills that I’ve carried with me ever since. 

I consider myself to be quite shy. Although I can give a presentation in front of people, depending on the subject, and network easily, I am still very much an “outgoing introvert”. I always will prefer smaller crowds and one-on-one conversations.

Tell us the story of how you came to work in the firm and your career path to partnership.

At an early stage of my career and after spending approximately 2 years in a private company, in an accounting position, I realized that I wanted to get back to a CPA firm and have a career in public accounting. This was  when a friend called me and let me know that RSM was looking for auditors.

I began working at the firm as a semi-senior auditor and was promoted to senior auditor after 7 months. Long story-short, after leaving RSM for several years and working for Ernst and Young, I realized that RSM could provide the perfect fit for me to pursue partnership. And since the day I returned to the firm, there were plenty real opportunities for growth that helped me to move forward to the partnership goal. The firm’s culture of openness and flexibility gave me the space to dedicate time for business development, which was one of the key elements for making partnership happen.

In the past few years, RSM Puerto Rico has managed to overcome three natural disasters, two hurricanes (María and Fiona) and an earthquake—all of which devastated the island—and a pandemic that changed the way business is done. What has been your strategy to lead your team through such challenging times? 

Our people is our firm’s main asset. As such, we choose to focus on their wellbeing and in providing them a work environment that, under the circumstances, helps them feel safe. As partners, we decided that this is the right approach, the humane approach, to facing crises and challenging times. Hurricane Maria taught us how to set the basis for future crisis management. In that process one also learns to be innovative because we found ways to remove roadblocks and worries our employees and clients were facing, as best as we could, so that we could continue operating and serving our clients. Another lesson from living through these crises is that we must be agile, both as individuals and as an organization, because sometimes you can have the best ideas but if you don’t act, nothing happens.

What do you uniquely contribute to the team of partners?

Having experienced different organizational cultures in my career path, I can see certain aspects of our business through a different lens. Through my perspective, I bring additional ideas to the table for discussion and consideration. Additionally, I strive to be as efficient as possible with my work. Therefore, I analyze every opportunity to make sure that my business pursuits consistently contribute to the firm’s growth.

From an employee standpoint, I like to group together employees of different generations, aware that each generation needs different things in their careers. This creates a need for collaboration to work effectively together, while providing a learning experience for all generations involved. I also try to teach and coach my teams in a way that members can continue improving their skills with the goal of reducing the time it takes them to complete tasks every cycle.

In the end, part of our success is that each partner has similar yet different experiences that are transformative when combined. 

How are things changing in the practice of your specialization that is reshaping businesses?

Our profession is moving faster to automation, which replaces certain tasks and systems we are currently used to, providing employees the opportunity to work from any location, something that was accelerated by the pandemic. That means technology is transforming our profession and business by providing advanced analytics tools and accounting systems that interface with businesses in real time, among multiple other technological innovations. These trends will continue, and accounting is set to benefit enormously from such technological progress. Contrarily from replacing accountants, technology is empowering us to continue rising the bar and positioning our business ready to embrace the future of the profession.

How do you envision the future of the firm?

I believe the goal will be to continue developing client relationships while growing and mentoring our people. On one hand, continue developing strong and long-lasting client relationships, not only by meeting their needs but by going beyond to continually add value to their experience through insights and collaboration. That’s why we call ourselves advisors. On the other hand, we are taking care of our employees as much as we care for clients. For our employees, we provide an environment that encourages professional development while fostering work-life balance in all levels of our organization.

And what about you as a person outside of work – what do you like to do in your free time?

I have a loving wife, Frances, whom I met at RSM (lt was hard to resist someone with such beautiful eyes! 😊), and two awesome children, Miguel and Javi. Spending time with them is what I enjoy the most. As for hobbies, I enjoy traveling and running. Also, although it is currently expired, I had the USA Track and Field Level 1 Coach certification and have collaborated as track and field coach on several occasions at the university level. One more thing...I have a sweet tooth, and I can’t turn down a chocolate or slice of cake.

This is the seventh delivery in a series of interviews to our partners and leadership, in lieu of the firm’s 45th anniversary celebration and inspired by an internal communication initiative by RSM International.