Our People
People
When we started the firm, our commitment was to provide clients with accounting, audit, tax and advisory services of the highest quality possible. We recruited heavily from the top staff at the larger accounting firms, amassing an unmatched reserve of technical expertise as well as significant insight and knowledge of the inner workings of nonprofits. As the firm grew, we added breadth to our practice by hiring and training young accountants who had served in key financial positions in nonprofits or who had otherwise demonstrated exceptional promise. Today, we have a professional staff of 18, representing the preeminent group of accountants serving nonprofit organizations in the Northwest.
Benefits to our clients
Our high degree of specialization permits us to staff our engagements with professionals who are fully engaged in the tax-exempt sector and who have devoted large portions of their careers to the service of nonprofits.
Firm Leadership
Gary McGee, Managing Partner
Gary McGee has worked in the tax-exempt community for more than thirty years and represents a broad range of nonprofit organizations including private foundations, charities, U.S. affiliates of foreign charities, associations, and organizations interested in public policy. He has advised the Boards of many of the region’s largest private foundations and public charities on a wide array of accounting issues, federal tax matters, and other legal matters. Gary is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant in Oregon and New York. Before founding Gary McGee & Co., Gary practiced with the New York City and Portland offices of KPMG, working initially with a broad mix of commercial and exempt organization clients, and later as a member of KPMG’s national exempt organizations practice group. Gary holds degrees from The Juilliard School (B.M. and M.M.) and Pace University (M.S., Accounting).
Yee Lee McGee, Partner
Lee McGee, CPA, has devoted her entire professional career to serving public and private nonprofit institutions. Lee joined the firm in 1997 following two years on the accounting staff at Warner Pacific College and graduation in 1994 from the University of Oregon with a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting. While she devotes the majority of her practice to audit and other assurance services, her practice spans the full range of nonprofit and tax-exempt accounting and tax matters, and she leads the firm’s exempt organization tax compliance practice. She advises firm clients on a range of technical accounting and tax matters unique to nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations.
Nathalie Renner, Principal
Nathalie Renner has more than thirty years of experience in public accounting, and joined Gary McGee & Co. in 1996. A graduate of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland with a Masters Degree in Business Administration, she served as a manager with the Bienne, Switzerland office of KPMG Peat Marwick for nine years, and for a brief time with KPMG’s Melbourne, Australia office, before joining Gary McGee & Co. During that time she focused on accounting, auditing, tax and advisory services for closely held businesses, nonprofit organizations, and Swiss subsidiaries of international conglomerates.
Aaron Edmark, Principal
Aaron Edmark joined the firm in 2007 following five years as Director of Finance at the YWCA of Greater Portland, and two years with Banyan Tree, initially as Director of Finance and, later, as Interim Executive Director. Prior to 2000, Aaron was Controller and Director of Operations for Western Youth Development. Aaron graduated in 1995 from the University of Oregon with a B.A. in Finance and Management. He received his M.B.A. in Finance from the University of Portland in 1999.
Nathan Bresser, Senior Manager
Nathan Bresser joined the firm in 2006, following graduation from Portland State University with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting. Prior to joining the firm, Nathan served on the accounting staff of the American Red Cross, Oregon Trail Chapter. Nathan leads the firm’s employee benefit plan audit practice.
Arland Nicewander, Senior Manager
Arland Nicewander, CPA, joined the firm in 2010. A 2010 graduate of Portland State University with a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Accounting, and the Berklee College of Music, in 2001, having received a Bachelors of Arts in Music Business and Management. Arland joined the firm from the Portland Youth Philharmonic, where he had been Controller and Business Manager.