UHY Advisors’ LeighAnn Costley Wins Guiding Star Award from Executive Women of Goizueta

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) October 19, 2010 -- Contacts: Mitch Leff (404) 861-4769 and Ann Warren (770) 328-8384

ATLANTA, October 15, 2010 – The Executive Women of Goizueta (EWG) has awarded its Guiding Star Award for 2010 to LeighAnn Costley, a principal in the Atlanta office of UHY Advisors and leader of the firm’s Southeast tax practice. The award was presented today in Atlanta at the 2010 Executive Women of Goizueta conference. EWG is a networking group for women who have graduated from Emory’s Goizueta Business School.

The Guiding Star award honors an up-and-coming woman who embodies the Goizueta School’s principles of balanced achievement - someone with outstanding corporate and community leadership, personal achievement, and excellent mentorship. The conference, under the theme of “Building Talent to Deliver Growth,” offered attendees professional development, empowerment and networking. More than 250 people attended the conference this year.

“We are delighted to present LeighAnn Costley with our Guiding Star Award for 2010, recognizing her involvement and service to the community and her commitment to her family,” said Laura Balser, president, Executive Women of Goizueta.

UHY Advisors provides a full range of financial, business consulting and tax services, focusing on public and private companies in the Fortune 1000 and middle market. The Atlanta Business Chronicle recently ranked UHY Advisors among the city’s Top 25 Accounting Firms.

“With her combination of professional abilities and community service, LeighAnn Costley is an incredible example -- for men and women,” said Frank Fenello, managing director of UHY Advisors in Atlanta.

LeighAnn Costley joined UHY Advisors in Atlanta in 2009. She has more than 16 years of experience providing corporate and personal tax planning, compliance and consulting services to clients and has an extensive knowledge base regarding the federal and state taxation of individuals, trusts, partnerships, and corporations. Costley specializes in serving private businesses and their owners in the manufacturing, real estate and professional services industries.

Giving Back to the Community

Costley’s devotion to supporting the community made her a stand out candidate. Most significant has been her involvement with Kate’s Club (www.katesclub.org), a non-profit that empowers children and teens facing life after the death of a parent or sibling. She joined the Kate’s Club Board of Directors in 2005 and since then has been the Chair of the Board, Treasurer, co-chair of the Governance committee and chair of the Fundraising committee.

Under her leadership as Chair, the Kate’s Club staff increased from one employee to three, including the first non-founder Executive Director and first licensed Program Director. The revenue growth has nearly tripled from $114,000 in 2006 to a projected $415,000 in 2010. The organization moved to a larger facility in Midtown in 2008, dramatically increasing the number of children served (a 24 percent increase from 2008 to 2009).

She has also participated in the Atlanta Women’s Foundation “Women on Board” program, is a graduate of the Pathbuilders Achieva Program (formerly the Georgia 100 Mentoring Program), and is a United Way Tocqueville Society member.

Costley, 36, resides in the Druid Hills area of Atlanta. She is a former Director at Deloitte Tax LLP, where she led the Atlanta office’s Private Client Advisors group.

She has a Master’s of Science in Taxation from Walsh College in Troy, Michigan and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Costley is a member of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), the Georgia Society of CPAs, the Michigan Association of CPAs and she is licensed in Georgia and Michigan.

About UHY Advisors

At UHY Advisors, Inc. (www.uhy-us.com) we deliver professional financial, tax, and business consulting services to mid-sized and larger companies we refer to as the dynamic middle market. As professionals we are constantly evaluating opportunities to propel incremental growth, avoid financial pitfalls, and reduce costs. We call our philosophy “The Next Level of Service.” Our clients tell us it’s what sets us apart. UHY Advisors, Inc is one of the Top 20 professional services firms as ranked by Accounting Today.

UHY Advisors, Inc. provides services through wholly owned subsidiary entities that operate under the name of “UHY Advisors” from offices across the United States. UHY Advisors, Inc. and its subsidiary entities are not licensed CPA firms.

UHY LLP is full service national accounting firm with international resources and a broader range of services that include: SEC audits, Internal Audit and Sarbanes Oxley Reporting as well as Turnaround and Transaction Services.

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