Pub. 3 2021 Issue 2

M A R C H / A P R I L 2 0 2 1 18 nebraska cpas MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: GEORGE BEHRINGER George Behringer received his Nebraska CPA certificate in 1980 and has been a member of the Nebraska Society of CPAs for 41 years. We recently had the opportunity to zoom with George and wanted to share his story with you. Q: What led you to become a CPA and where did you get your start in the profession? A: I grew up in a family that owned and operated a small business in Erie, Pa. The business was started by my grandfather in 1911. In the late 1950s, my dad and my grandmother taught me how to process the weekly payroll for the eight to 12 employees. I was 14 at the time, and I continued preparing payroll and invoices and paying bills every week for seven years. My younger brothers continue to own and operate Standard Pattern Works in Erie. While attending Gannon College in Erie, I also worked as an accountant at a truck stop. In both jobs, I was impressed by the way my dad and the owners of the truck stop would always follow the advice of the CPAs. While in college, two of my classes were taught by adjunct professors who had their own CPA practices. They encouraged their students to interview with the Big 8 accounting firms. I received offers from seven of the eight and in 1966 selected the Lybrand, Ross Bros. &Montgomery office in Pittsburgh. After 10 years, I became a Coopers & Lybrand partner. In 1980, my family moved to Omaha, and I became the managing partner of the Nebraska practice in 1987. In 1998, our three children had finished their undergraduate degrees, so my wife Nancy and I pursued an international assignment with PwC. After performing my due diligence, I accepted a four-year assignment in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. PwC had just acquired a local CPA firm that previously was owned by another international firm in Saudi Arabia. During my four years, I was responsible for risk management matters (signing off on all new client acceptances in eight Middle East countries) and quality control reviews of audit practices in the eight countries. We also enjoyed getting our family together for vacations in Australia and a safari in Africa. We came back to Nebraska twice each year. After completing my four years, I recruited a replacement PwC partner who was in the Saudi practice for the next seven years. I retired as an active partner in 2002, nine months after 9/11. Q: Describeyour involvement indevelopingNebraska’s strong business relationship with Japan. A: After being appointed Honorary Consul General of Japan in Nebraska in 2010, I searched for existing relationships between Japan and Nebraska, gathering information from the Japanese Consulate in Chicago, Nebraska Department of Economic Development, and the Japanese Saturday School conducted in Omaha for children in Kindergarten through 10th grade. Most of the parents at the school are Japanese nationals working in Nebraska and western Iowa. I became a member of the Omaha Sister Cities Association (OSCA), which includes the sister city in Shizuoka, Japan, and have accompanied Governor Pete Ricketts on two trade missions to Japan. In 2015, I was chairman of the planning committee for the 50th anniversary of the sister city relationship between Omaha and Shizuoka, which is described in more detail below. In 2013, Marubeni and NTT purchased two companies in Omaha for $2.7 billion and Jun Kaneko helped us welcome the new Japanese expats moving to Omaha. I’ve worked with a sister city group in Hastings and assisted with a 1928 Japanese Hall restoration in the Scottsbluff/Gering area. Japan is the largest foreign direct investor in Nebraska and Japan is Nebraska’s No. 1 export market outside of North America. Q: What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishment? A: In 2012, the Omaha Sister Cities Association (OSCA) askedme to form a committee to celebrate and commemorate the 50th anniversary in 2015 of OCSA and its sister city relationship with Shizuoka, Japan. At the time, I was the Honorary Consul General of Japan in Nebraska. OSCA now has six sister cities and we hope a seventh will soon be approved. Eight other members joined me on the planning committee and we star ted planning events and raising funds to commemorate and celebrate the 50th anniversary in 2015. The