By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
VonLehman & Co. celebrated the opening of its new headquarters with a ribbon cutting at the Wright’s Summit Office Complex in Fort Wright Thursday.
VonLehman & Co. president Brian Malthouse (center with scissors), joins employees and community leaders in a ribbon-cutting for the company’s new headquarters in Fort Wright (photos by Mark Hansel)
The firm moved 106 employees from the former headquarters in Fort Mitchell, into the second and third floors of the Fort Wright complex.
Elected officials, project partners and community leaders joined company employees and executives to recognize the move to the new facility.
“On behalf of city council, our residents and our existing business community, I would like to extend a very hearty welcome to the VonLehman team,” said Fort Wright Mayor Dave Hatter. “”We’re a fairly small city of roughly 6,000 people and 2,200 households. We are very fortunate to have such a prestigious and successful firm choose Fort Wright for their headquarters and we wish them nothing but continued success in the years to come.”
VonLehman invested more than $3 million to expand and relocate its facility to Fort Wright. It will continue to operate its Indianapolis office and its Cincinnati office in The Tower at the Kenwood Collection.
“This relocation comes at an exciting time for VonLehman and the Northern Kentucky region,” said Campbell County Judge Executive Steve Pendery, Chair of Northern Kentucky Tri-ED. “We’ve been working closely with VonLehman since the construction of the new complex began in 2015 to ensure that this space can help them serve clients, train employees, and grow.”
Andy VonLehman provided a brief, and occasionally light-hearted, history of the company founded by his father in 1946 at Thursday’s ribbon cutting.
VonLehman provides accounting, tax and strategic business advice to closely-held businesses, not-for-profits and governmental entities.
The company was recently ranked 156 in Inside Public Accounting’s Sixth Annual Ranking of the Nation’s Top 200 Accounting Firms—a 20-spot improvement from past years. The IPA 200 is regarded as the benchmarking gold standard in the accounting industry.
Andrew “Andy” Von Lehman provide a brief history of the company founded by his father.
“Joe VonLehman started the organization in 1946 after working a couple of years at a national CPA firm,” VonLehman said. “He retired at 62 in 1982 and gave us a forwarding address of a post office box for where we are supposed to send his monthly retirement check.”
After a few years in Covington, Joe VonLehman moved the company offices to the Covington Trust Building in Fort Mitchell. The company remained in Fort Mitchell for 67 years, until the move to the new headquarters at the Wright’ Summit Office Complex.
Andy’s VonLehman’s sister Pat was the first of the children to work for the company, followed by all six of her brothers.
“I think we were viewed as my dad’s future labor pool, with his vision for workforce development,” Andy VonLehman said.
After a few short-lived mergers in the late 70s and early 80s, the company experienced decades of consistent growth, refined its business model and developed specialties in the manufacturing, construction and health care fields.
VonLehman said his father was really just a guy who wanted to earn a living and provide for his family.
“If he was here today, he would be popping the buttons on his shirt with pride, as I am,” VonLehman said. “He never started out to do anything like this.”
Von Lehman President Brian Malthouse said the move to Fort Wright was designed to meet the company’s current needs, as well as to accommodate future growth.
“Designed for collaborative efforts and allowing for firm expansion, our new headquarters reflects the firm’s forward thinking direction, commitment to its employees, and investment in its community,” said Malthouse. “We are not your typical CPA firm, we do things differently. We want to be very entrepreneurial. We want to have all of the collaboration in the world.”
VonLehman will ramp up to about 110 people during its peak business season, which begins later this month, and has room for 145 employees at the headquarters.
“Our growth depends on exceeding our clients’ expectations every day and keeping our employees challenged and fulfilled,” Malthouse said. I’m proud to say our leadership team is succeeding.”
VonLehman is a partner in the building, which has about 12,000 square feet of space still available for lease.
Malthouse said the location of the facility, just off of Interstate 75 at the Kyles Lane exit, provides a high-visibility location for businesses looking to locate or relocate in Northern Kentucky.
Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com
You might also be interested in NKyTribune’s story/video about the history of the company.
VonLehman Presented by Inside Northern Kentucky.
