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February 20, 2023 / 2023 Power 50

2023 Power 50: 29. Drew Andrews

PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED Drew Andrews is the managing partner and CEO of Hartford accounting and consulting firm Whittlesey.
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Max Downtown restaurant is where Hartford’s most influential business leaders, lobbyists and politicos wine and dine employees, clients and prospects. 

If you head there for lunch you might bump into Drew Andrews, a regular customer who is the managing partner and CEO of Hartford accounting and consulting firm Whittlesey.

It’s a position he’s held since 2008. Andrews is well-known in Hartford’s business community and a major backer of the city, having led the relocation of his firm to downtown in 2013.
 
Since that time he’s helped grow Whittlesey through mergers and acquisitions into a regional player.

The latest deal was in December 2021, when Whittlesey announced that it absorbed Bova, Harrington & Associates, a CPA and financial consulting business in Northampton, Massachusetts. Whittlesey also has an office in Holyoke.

As managing partner and CEO he oversees the firm’s business operations and provides internal leadership.

During the pandemic Andrews helped lead Whittlesey’s embrace of remote work while the firm, similar to others in the industry, saw increased demand for its services amid a lot of uncertainty for businesses.  

His biggest challenge coming out of the pandemic has been finding talent to grow the firm. It’s an issue that forced him to reassess his recruiting strategy. 

“... COVID taught us that we don’t have to necessarily hire people that can drive to our offices,” Andrews told INSIDE Public Accounting in December. “We’ve embraced that more and now we probably have 10 to 12 people who work outside of the areas where our offices are.” 

In that same interview he said a key focus in the next few years will be on automation and artificial intelligence. 

Find out who else is in the 2023 Power 50.

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