Allan is a Price Waterhouse & Co. alum. In 1993, he started his own accounting firm, Ratafia & Co., CPAs, PC. In the late 1990’s, Allan developed a unique marketing and practice management system to efficiently manage the work flow so he could keep his staffing needs to a minimum and realize higher hourly fees. In 2003, Allan co-founded Build Your Firm. Allan’s practice development system enabled him to build his own practice into a highly successful firm with hundreds of clients. The net result is that his practice runs efficiently (generates more than $300k in fees per full-time staff), they never work nights or weekends, and operates with profit margins more than twice the industry standard (higher than 70%). Today, Allan oversees his accounting practice, teaches his practice development system to thousands of accountants each year, plays softball and football recreationally, enjoys skiing in Vermont and takes several weeks of vacation each year.

Dawn graduated from Elon College with BA in Psychology. She has over 18 years of diversified marketing experience across a broad range of industries including banking, publishing, internet media and professional services industries. While she enjoys in all areas of marketing, she has a particular interest and expertise in new media technologies, internet marketing, website development and social media marketing. Prior to Build Your Firm Dawn was Marketing Communications Manager for a bank where she was responsible for mass media communications, direct mail marketing and Web initiatives for the bank. Prior to the bank, she was Director of Marketing for eBuild.com, a division of business-to-business publisher Hanley-Wood, LLC. While there Dawn was part of the team that was responsible for launching Hanley-Wood’s Web division and bringing the company’s award-winning magazines online, including industry leader BUILDER Magazine. In her spare time, Dawn enjoys spending time with her husband and two sons. Her favorite way to spend free time is reading, cooking for family and friends or tending to her ever-growing garden.