Leon Janks, managing partner of Green Hasson Janks (HLB International), was nominated for the 2017 TA & IAB lifetime achievement award
Leon Janks, Managing Partner of Green Hasson Janks, is being submitted for the Lifetime Achievement Award. From his vision to his passion for giving back to his leadership abilities, Leon has dedicated his life to others.
Leon and Accounting
Leon has dedicated nearly 50 years of his life to the accounting profession and the majority of that time to Green Hasson Janks, LLP, and HLB. Along with working at Green Hasson Janks for over 30 years, Leon has been the Managing Partner for more than a decade. In that time, the firm nearly doubled in size from less than 80 employees when he took on the role to approximately 150 employees this year.
A Visionary
Leon has one quality that sets him apart from others, and that is his visionary philosophy. Leon has been the architect behind Green Hasson Jank’s vision of the firm’s future for many years. He has led our Visioning Process the past 11 years, which had led to significant year-over-year growth, surpassing industry standards. His passion for innovation and pushing traditional practices has led us to continually exceed our goals.
Examples of the resulting successes of Leon’s vision include:
- Top-line growth
- Increased client satisfaction
- A productive and happy staff
- A cohesive partner group with an outstanding rapport among one another and the rest of the firm
Leon ranks staff happiness next to client satisfaction and fully supports that an appreciated staff results in an excellent work product and client retention. This is why Green Hasson Janks has been among the “Top 20 Best Places to Work in Los Angeles County,” as awarded by the Los Angeles Business Journal, for eight of the past nine years. Part of this is due to our firm culture of empowering our employees to #BeMore. Leon and the partner group support “being more” as a way of promoting work-life balance through focusing on our passion in both our personal and professional life, such as family and friends, health and wellness, volunteering, passion projects and more.
Passion for Giving Back
Leon is also deeply committed to servicing the community, and in that spirit, he closes the firm one or two days per year so that the entire staff can go out into the community and help those less fortunate. He supports the philosophy of “giving back” and, as a secondary benefit, staff who typically have no interaction (i.e. tax, audit, admin) are able to spend time together bonding, while being of service.
Additionally, Leon is passionate about giving back on a personal level. Having served as the Chairman of the Milken Schools Board and continuing his role as Audit Chair for the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles, Leon never hesitates to volunteer in an event or an activity that benefits causes he supports.
A Natural Leader
Within the past year, Leon took on the role of Chairman, HLB USA. He has worked to increase the involvement of all HLB USA member firms’ participation in their annual conference, and the post-conference comments from this year’s May gathering indicate that he was very successful in his first venture. With the procurement of keynote speakers, an IPA study with interactive participation and registration by 95 percent of the USA firms, he is on a role. He also sits on the HLB International Executive Committee and contributes ideas and feedback for initiatives created at the international level.
In addition to his leadership at HLB and Green Hasson Janks, Leon is a mentor to other accountants. He has helped shaped numerous careers, and his dedication has inspired many others and helped shape them into leaders as well.
Last of all, Leon is retiring at the end of the year after dedicating so much of his life to the accounting field. It is the perfect year to recognize his contributions to the profession and our HLB network success.
It is with these distinguished and admirable character traits that we nominate Leon Janks for this Lifetime Achievement Award.
