Heather Williams, 39

Every day is different.

That’s what Heather Williams says she likes the most about being a certified public accountant and tax shareholder at Sarasota-based Kerkering Barberio & Co. “Every client is different and every project is different,” she says. “I like that my day is never the same. What I do today is going to be totally different tomorrow.”

Williams joined Kerkering Barberio in 2010 and was named a shareholder in 2016. At 39 years old, she’s one of the firm’s youngest shareholders. Achieving the rank of shareholder has been one of her long-term career goals. “I’ve been determined,” she says. She’s been working toward it her entire career. She also credits her colleagues for helping her grow and attain that goal.

Now Williams has her sights set on some new goals. For one, she wants to help the staff at her firm grow in their careers and achieve their goals, too. She also wants to maintain her focus on business development for the firm and the individual, estate and trust area in which she specializesn. Plus, she wants to continue to lead by example at Kerkering Barberio.

In her profession, Williams says it’s all about relationships. When she goes to networking events, she makes an effort to talk with a few new people each time, for longer than a cursory, 30-second conversation. “I try to get to know them a little better,” she says. The people she talks with may not turn into new clients immediately, but a relationship has been established that can be built on.

The other part of the relationship equation that’s important to Williams is the people she works with on a day-to-day basis at the office. She says, “I like getting to work alongside the professionals I work with.”