Kate Gilman

Friday, Feb. 26, 2010 | 6 a.m.

Kate Gilman

Age: 34

Current job: Principal and shareholder, Ellsworth Gilman Johnson & Stout CPAs

Education: University of Iowa, B.B.A. in accounting and an international business certificate

About Kate Gilman: When CPA Kate Gilman took her first accounting course, something about the basic logic of debits and credits immediately clicked. “It was so logical in my brain, but people told me I couldn’t be an accountant because I didn’t look or act like one – I like hot pink and rhinestones, plus, I was young and female, so I had two more strikes against me,” said Gilman, who went on to refute her critics’ misconceptions by co-founding Ellsworth & Gilman CPAs in 2003 at the age of 29, and then orchestrating a successful merger with Johnson & Stout CPAs in 2008. Gilman specializes in all taxation areas of real estate development, homebuilders, construction, nonprofit organizations, multi-state tax, international tax and section 1031 like-kind exchanges, and also instructs classes in Las Vegas and Reno for other CPA firms and nonprofits regarding the new IRS Form 990. Besides having a penchant for numbers, Gilman also has a passion for community service, serving as the president of the board of directors for the Community Counseling Center of Southern Nevada; as a board and committee member for Habitat for Humanity Las Vegas; and as a board and committee member and classroom instructor for Junior Achievement of Southern Nevada, among others.

The most important issue facing the valley: I think getting people to feel a sense of community. People talk about Las Vegas being transient, but I think people coming from other places need to realize that this is our community and everybody needs to help make it ours..

My mentor and why: My parents. My mother was really active in the community and my dad opened his own business. I have taken different pieces from both of them.

Favorite Web site: www.amazon.com

Hobbies: Football. I love to watch football. And I like to golf and read and spend time with my friends and family.

Fantasy job: I’m living it. I wrote a paper in the third grade and said I wanted to take people to lunch – be a businesswoman and network, and that’s what I thought they did.

One-word description of self: Unique