Working extensively with HHM’s management advisory services, Trip Farmer guides businesses through strategic growth decisions such as mergers, acquisitions, and succession planning. He manages facilitating deal structuring, investor and bank packages, forecasts and financial modeling, reorganizing, and evaluating various opportunities. He emphasizes the firm’s forward-thinking approach to a CPA’s role. “Too often people put a CPA in a box, thinking, ‘I call them once a year and they do my tax return’,” he says. “Once clients understand all we offer I hear them say, ‘We didn’t realize what we didn’t have.’ That is very rewarding.” As a Certified Construction Industry Financial Professional (CCIFP) – one of only 16 in the state – Trip has expansive knowledge of the construction industry and real estate development. Even so, he works with clients in various other fields including manufacturing, hospitality, and technology. They range from emerging growth startups to long-term, family-owned businesses. “I enjoy the variety because I learn from each business, and we collaborate together within the firm to meet the client needs,” he explains. His role as a connector goes beyond HHM, leading the firm membership in BDO Alliance USA. Trip enjoys reading, watching Federer vs. Nadal tennis matches, and traveling (he even walked the Great Wall of China). But, he mainly spends his spare time with his wife and their children, who provide him with many adventures.