By Jessica Salerno-Shumaker, OSCPA senior content manager
While an impressive career of advocating for Ohio CPAs resulted in numerous legislative wins and meaningful reform, for Barb Benton, it all comes down to one thing.
“The many wonderful people I’ve had the chance to work with meant the most to me over the years,” said Benton, CAE, senior vice president at OSCPA, who will retire in January 2025.
Benton’s entrance into politics, and later the accounting profession, both happened by chance.
“I never intended to enter politics,” Benton said. “I didn't know much about it beyond what I learned in government classes.”
She started working with the Ohio General Assembly when she was just 19. Thinking it would just be a summer job in the House Minority Leadership Office, she quickly realized she loved working in the political arena. After a few months in the Ohio House, she worked six years in the Ohio Senate, working her way up. She worked for Senator Tom Van Meter, Senator Lowell Steinbrenner and Senator Dick Schafrath, among others.
“It was a great incubator for me to learn about the political world,” Benton said. “Working to help legislators enact legislative priorities; helping with numerous political campaigns; understanding all the moving parts and pieces of the whole legislative process; and establishing relationships with great friends and colleagues, many of whom still work in and around state government.”
After a busy seven years with the Legislature and four campaign seasons, she decided it was time to move on from life as a Senate staffer – just as an opening became available at OSCPA. She began working with The Ohio Society in 1987 under then CEO & President Vic Feldmiller.
“It was easy advocating for OSCPA, because CPAs are so held in such high regard,” Benton said. “I loved working with my OSCPA fellow staff members, leaders and members to accomplish good things not only for the CPA profession but also for businesses and Ohio taxpayers.”
During her tenure with OSCPA Benton worked to help secure numerous wins. Working with OSCPA members and legislators, some of the major issues she successfully advocated included for two rounds of significant tort reform changes in both 1996 and the early 2000’s; implementing federal tort reform in the 1990’s – including a veto override; implementing the 150 hour education requirement in the mid-1990’s, adopting peer review for CPA firms, creating the option of businesses forming as Ohio LLCs and LLPs in our state, making public accountants a dying class, enabling CPA candidates to start taking the CPA Exam early (at 120 hours of education); tax reform in 2005; protecting the BID from being watered down; working with the Legislature and DeWine administration during the pandemic to help businesses keep their doors open; and multiple, very contentious rounds of municipal income tax reform. She led multiple Statehouse coalitions over her tenure, including a coalition of over 200 organizations and businesses to enact tort reform in the early 2000’s and a coalition of over 300 organizations and individual businesses to get municipal tax reform across the finish line in 2016.
As the staff at OSCPA grew over the years, so did the scope of the advocacy issues the society got involved with.
Working with then OSCPA CEO Clarke Price and the board and in an effort to get ahead of the looming term limits for legislators, Benton started the OSCPA Endorsement program in 1994. She said it benefitted all involved, helping candidates learn up front about the accounting profession’s legislative priorities through a questionnaire and personal interviews, giving OSCPA a better opportunity to understand a candidate’s philosophical priorities, and helping OSCPA members know, through OSCPA endorsement, which state and statewide candidates best met the priorities of the CPA profession and the broader business community.
“The endorsement program really helped us hit the ground running after new elected officials were sworn into office post-election,” she said.
During the Great Recession, Benton worked with a team of CPA experts to quickly compile a Budget Advisory Task Force Report for then Gov. Ted Strickland and legislators. The Report treated the State of Ohio like a financially challenged client, offering guidance on how to best manage a difficult budget. Numerous recommendations were adopted into law, including mandating performance audits of government agencies, increasing the rainy day fund, and tackling government inefficiencies to name just a few.
Benton also made her mark on a personal passion: bringing young talent back to Ohio after they leave the state for college or work. This idea was the catalyst for the creation of the Forever Buckeye law that took effect in 2012 and is still in place today. It ensures the in-state resident tuition rate will always be there for any Ohio high school graduate who leaves Ohio but returns to continue their college education. The law change removed the punitive 12-month waiting period for Buckeyes to again be eligible for in-state tuition rates.
Over the years Benton said she appreciated the opportunities given to her by Price and current OSCPA President & CEO Scott Wiley. In the late 1990s she was able to take advantage of a college tuition reimbursement program from OSCPA and attended classes at night, eventually earning her bachelor’s degree in psychology, summa cum laude, from Otterbein University.
Professionally, she participated in national panels with the American Society of Association Executives and is a past president of the Ohio Lobbying Association (OLA), a recipient of OLA’s President’s Award for contributions to the profession and was the national recipient of the American Society of Association Executive’s 2019 Professional Performance Award. She served as vice-chair (2007-2008) and chair (2008-2009) of the Government Relations Section Council and was an active member of the Public Policy Committee, Power of A Committee and the ASAE Political Action Committee. For the CPA profession itself, she became known as an expert on interstate mobility, and for over a year was “loaned” by OSCPA to AICPA, NASBA and The Accountants Coalition to work together nationally to help other states to adopt mobility laws of their own.
“Politically, I'll miss the strategy,” Benton said. “The legislative process is like a game of chess, trying to think three moves ahead. But it's the wonderful people I’ve had the privilege of working with that make it all worthwhile.
Reflecting on her 38 years with the Society, Benton highlighted the value of teamwork, noting that working alongside OSCPA and legislative colleagues and friends helped drive meaningful change for CPAs and Ohio's business community. She added, “I want to give special thanks to all the dedicated, hardworking, passionate OSCPA staff, members and volunteers who inspired me every day and made OSCPA such a great place to work. I will miss you all. How lucky am I to have worked at an organization that makes it so hard to leave.”