Three years later, in 1983, he hung out his shingle. It was his boldest move yet, as he faced the dual hurdles of being a person of color and perceived as an inexperienced youngster. “I made a strategic decision opening the firm,” he said. “I’d noticed there was a demarcation line in Omaha; there were people who lived west of 72nd and those who lived east of 72nd. There were people in Omaha who would not go north of Cuming Street.” Frank knew where he wanted to practice accounting. “I decided I was going to open my firm west of 72nd and south of Dodge,” he said. “I know that sounds trite, but I thought, ‘If a person doesn’t want to work with me because of the color of my skin, so be it. But I’m not going to give them the excuse they can’t come to a certain part of town.’” Hayes augmented this strategy with multiple community service activities, leveraging the power of social networking long before the digital version was invented. “I became a member of the [Omaha] Chamber of Commerce, I participated in Leadership Omaha, I joined a couple of organizational boards. That let people know who I was,” he said. “Then, if they needed accounting or tax services, or any kind of consulting services we were providing, they’d at least give me a shot.” Of course, Hayes’ community service was about more than client recruitment; he was investing time and resources in his fellow citizens and in future generations. “What stands out for me is he is very humble, a good mentor, good coach, and good person to reach out to for advice. He makes anybody he’s dealing with a better person,” said Eric Ewing, executive director of the Great Plains Black History Museum, of which Hayes is a board member. “He’s brought great leadership to the museum and brought more awareness to what the museum does.” Hayes’ shared expertise has advanced organizations, and individuals. He was among a group of involved citizens who founded 100 Black Men of Omaha to provide guidance and mentoring to local Black youth. Also part of that group was Rick Bell, whose son Marcus is now the group’s executive director and CEO, and said the organization still ref lects the mentor mentality of its founders. “One of our mottos is ‘What they see is what they’ll be.’ That truly was the foundation of the organization and we’ve carried that forward with our youth. Not just telling them do this or do that, but actually showing them and living it out in our own lives,” Bell said. He continued, “Frank is one of those guys who is just the epitome of class. When you think about somebody who represents Omaha well, he’s the epitome of someone to truly look up to in business and pushing organizations forward.” “100 Black Men of Omaha pretty much defines who I am,” Hayes said. “We wanted to show young Black kids that if you did things right, if you worked hard, if you maintain your dignity, you can succeed. And then we gave themmodels of that success so as they saw it, they could dream, ‘That can be me.’ It’s truly been the highlight of my life to make this community better.” Frank Hayes has been a member of the Nebraska Society of CPAs since 1984. Visit https://hayes.cpa for more information. This article was originally published in the April/May 2022 issue of B2B Magazine, a product of Omaha Publications. Photo by Bill Sitzmann. Dwain Hebda is an award-winning journalist, editor, and photographer, as well as president of his editorial services company Ya!Mule Wordsmiths. Based in Little Rock, Ark., Hebda’s work appears in more than 35 publications in multiple states. He was recently awarded Best Reporter/Columnist by the readers of AY Magazine; a runner-up Diamond Journalist of the Year by the Arkansas Society of Professional Journalists; and repeatedly awarded by the SPJ and Arkansas Press Association for excellence in the written word. Nebraskan by birth, Southern by the grace of God, he and his wife lavish time on their four grown children and two lovely dogs, Hootie and Cash. Frank knew where he wanted to practice accounting. “I decided I was going to open my firm west of 72nd and south of Dodge,” he said. “I know that sounds trite, but I thought, ‘If a person doesn’t want to work with me because of the color of my skin, so be it. But I’m not going to give them the excuse they can’t come to a certain part of town.’” I S S U E 4 , 2 0 2 2 26 nebraska cpas
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