Rick Wentzel CPA

Leadership role:
Rick is the firm's West Region Higher Education and Not-for-Profit Practice Leader and has more than 30 years of public and private accounting experience. He has served clients in a variety of industries, including higher education, not-for-profit, healthcare, and employee benefit plans. Before joining Grant Thornton in 2009, Rick was a partner at PwC in the Not-for-Profit and Higher Education Group in the Los Angeles office.

Experience overview:
Beginning his career with Coopers & Lybrand in Los Angeles, Rick was the lead manager of the not-for-profit practice. He then worked as the Director of Finance for a large Los Angeles area not-for-profit organization and then served as Controller at Occidental College, before returning to PwC. He has served clients is all aspects in the NFP spectrum; higher education, social service organizations, cultural organizations, religious organizations and foundations.

Rick has assisted organizations in a variety of areas including, process improvement, enterprise risk management, adopting new accounting rules, board training, board governance, internal audit, business office restructuring, fraud investigations, revisions to chart of accounts, strategic planning and work flow documentation.

Education & professional memberships:
Rick received his B.A. in Accounting from Claremont McKenna College, where he also majored in Religion. He is a Certified Public Accountant, a member of the AICPA and the California Society of CPAs, a past member of the FASB Not-for-Profit Resource Group, and a past member of the WASC Financial Task Force.

Community involvement:
He is currently on the board of Atherton Baptist Homes and a board member at the First Baptist Church Temple City, where he previously served as board chair.