Star accountant Jay Lesemann, the incoming 2017 chairman of the Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce, wants the 1,000-member chamber to be the most powerful resource for small business owners.
“Having been in small business myself for 15-plus years, as well as the majority of my clients being small businesses owners, I want our chamber to be the go-to resource for assistance,” he said.
He will be installed as volunteer chairman of the chamber at the annual dinner at The Peninsula Club Jan. 20.
Lesemann is the former chairman of the North Carolina Association of CPAs, and ran his own CPA firm, Lesemann & Associates, before merging it with Rives & Associates, a regional CPA firm where he is a partner.
Lesemann has a deep background in life, not just business and accounting. He was a single dad, and dealt with all the issues around parenting and holding down a job.
But his most defining moment was a car accident when he was 14 years old. While his best friend died, Jay had a fractured neck, third degree burns, a brain concussion and water in his lungs. He was in a coma and spent more than three months at Vanderbilt Hospital. “My car wreck had a major impact on me. I learned an unusual lesson at a very young age—I was mortal, not immortal.”
He’s a guy you can talk to, about business and life. A former consultant with Price Waterhouse, he was on the NC Association of CPA’s Work/Life Committee. “I was a single dad for a number of years. I always knew it was important to do things with my kids,” Lesemann says.
At his own firm, Lesemann took employee’s family needs into consideration as well, offering flexible work arrangements when needed.
Lesemann will keep things happening at the Lake Norman Chamber. His top priorities as chairman are diversity and inclusion. “I want our chamber to be more representative of our business environment,” Lesemann says. “We are a regional chamber—comprised of many ZIP codes. We must continue to think larger than our backyard.”
Lesemann sees few limits on the chamber’s growth in the years ahead. “If we provide the services business owners need and want, then we’ll have double-digit growth. When we stop providing value, that is when we lose members.”
