Frank B. Arford

Frank B. Arford, M.S.A.’72
Outstanding Alumni Award

Frank Arford has enjoyed a distinguished career. Following his recent retirement, he now consults with CPAmerica International and is helping to organize the CPAI international business conferences. Prior to retirement, he was the CEO for Crowe Horwath International, the ninth largest international accounting network with 160 firms in 110 countries. While CEO, Arford focused on re-organizing the network’s management function by establishing a global management committee, implementing a universal, global brand and establishing a standard, global audit program and process.

For 35 years prior to his CEO position, Arford worked for Crowe Horwath LLP, most recently as its chief operating officer. As COO, he had many accomplishments, including improving the firm’s profitability, leading several firm-wide initiatives to improve staff retention rates, articulating the firm’s core ideology and culture, providing oversight for the firm’s risk management programs, and establishing a broad-based, phased leadership development program for the firm’s annual succession planning efforts.

Prior to his term as COO, Arford was the partner-in-charge of Crowe’s Chicago area Financial Institutions Group for 13 years. In that role, he developed and implemented strategies to promote Crowe’s banking specialty and grew the banking practice from 10 clients to more than 150.

Prior to being the partner-in-charge of the Chicago bank group for Crowe, he was a bank audit and tax client engagement partner managing a ledger of bank clients for Crowe.

Arford has held leadership roles within AICPA. He and his wife Joanne volunteer at Loaves & Fishes, and he is an active member of the Bethany Lutheran Church.