Biography
Jackie Cardello, CPA is President and Managing Partner of GRF CPAs & Advisors, a leading CPA firm with international reach headquartered in metropolitan Washington, DC. While providing leadership and guidance for the firm, Ms. Cardello focuses on strategies that elevate GRF as a premier provider of accounting, assurance, tax and advisory services to nonprofit organizations, small businesses and individuals. She also spearheads initiatives that focus on recruiting and mentoring young CPAs as well as programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion.
An auditor by trade, Ms. Cardello provides guidance to nonprofit organizations including 501(c)(3) charitable entities, associations, private voluntary organizations and various arts, advocacy, community development and other charitable institutions. She also leads the firm’s employee benefit plan audit practice, managing and providing expertise for audits of 401(k), 403(b), pension and health and welfare plans.
Ms. Cardello is the board chair of CPAmerica, a national association of CPA firms in the United States. With a passion for animals and children, she has served in various capacities for organizations such as Tree House Child Assessment Center of Montgomery County and Girls on the Run of Montgomery County. Ms. Cardello is a graduate of the University of Maryland College Park and a member of AICPA, MACPA, GWSCPA and the National Association of Professional Women. She is a founding member of Women on the Move, GRF’s women’s leadership initiative formalized in 2019.
In 2022, she was appointed to the Smith Advisory Council of the Robert H. Smith School of Business at University of Maryland. Ms. Cardello was also recently named to Accounting Today’s 2020 Managing Partner (MP) Elite. Earlier in her career she was recognized by the Greater Washington Society of CPAs with their Women to Watch Award, Emerging Leader category in 2013.
Education and Certifications
- B.S. in Accounting, University of Maryland, College Park
Professional Affiliations
- CPAmerica International, Board Chair
- Smith Advisory Council of the Robert H. Smith School of Business at University of Maryland
- American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ (AICPA) Employee Benefit Plan Audit Quality Center (EBPAQC)
- Greater Washington Society of CPAs (GWSCPA)
- Maryland Association of CPAs (MACPA)
- National Association of Professional Women
- Girls on the Run of Montgomery County
- Tree House Child Assessment Center of Montgomery County