For decades after its formation 1981, HHM CPAs toed the line of traditional public accounting firms. Leaning on the timeless principles of expertise, integrity and hard work, the company spent years providing conventional CPA services to business of all sizes.
Over time, something else began to percolate within the renovated downtown freight depot HHM calls home. Behind every bookkeeping task, tax return and audit, an irrepressible entrepreneurial spirit pushed the firm to explore opportunities beyond the traditional model of a CPA firm.
Fast forward to today, and HHM does more than accounting, offering a range of specialized services encompassing mergers and acquisitions, business valuations, succession planning, tax planning and the proverbial “more.”
This excited attorney Beverly Edge, who was serving as outside counsel to HHM while working at Gearhiser, Peters, Elliott & Cannon in Chattanooga.
“Interesting things were always happening at the firm,” she says.
As HHM expanded, its partners continued to serve clients, creating a need for a senior executive who would oversee the firm’s administrative and operational functions.
“HHM has grown to such a size that it would be difficult for its partners to take care of its everyday operations in addition to serving clients, which is what they do best,” Edge explains.
A casual conversion after a client meeting in 2019 between Edge and Donnie Hutcherson, HHMs managing partner, opened the door for Edge to fill the role.
“We talked about it in passing, and as soon as I returned to my office, I called him,” Edge says.
HHM was looking for someone with legal experience to take the role. Edge was looking for a new challenge after nearly two decades with Gearhiser Peters, where she handled mergers and acquisitions, real estate transactions, aircraft transactions and general representation of businesses.
It was Scenic City match that seemed destined to happen. Not only did Edge and HHM have several mutual clients – which she says allowed her to develop working relationships with the partners at the firm – but Edge had also assisted with HHM’s expansion into Memphis, giving her a familiarity with the company’s innerworkings.
Given the alignment of stars, Edge could only say yes when HHM offered her the job.
“I enjoyed working at Gearhiser Peters, and my partners there are like family, but I knew I would make a change at some point,” she says. “I thought it was several years down the road, but when the opportunity presented itself, I couldn’t pass it up.”
Edge accepted the role of chief operating officer in early 2020. Since then, she’s relished traveling the new avenues along which her work is taking her. This includes overseeing the renovation of an historical building in Cleveland, where HHM plans to open an office next year.
“Working with the architects and general contractors has been a fun part of my job,” she says. “I’ve been spending a lot of time on that project.”
Edge also is still tending to many of the same legal tasks she managed for HHM when she was serving as outside counsel, including doing what she calls “tuck-ins” of smaller firms in Memphis.
HHM opened its Memphis office with three people and has since grown to 50, giving Edge plenty of day-to-day operations to oversee.
Edge has also become active in the local community as part of her work at HHM. In addition to serving as the firm’s representative on the executive council of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, she’s joined the dean’s advisory board at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
“I knew civic involvement would be part of my job. That was one of the many things that excited me about coming to HHM,” Edge notes. “Between raising a family and full-time practice, I didn’t have time to do those things when I was practicing law.”
Edge first became interested in practicing law while working for attorney McCracken Poston in Ringgold, Georgia, where she grew up.
Although she majored in accounting at UTC, she envisioned herself become a criminal defense attorney like Poston, who had handled a number of high-profile cases.
After graduating from the University of Georgia School of Law and then clerking for the judges of the Lookout Mountain judicial circuit, Edge opened her own practice.
It didn’t take her long to realize she’d miscalculated her interest in criminal law.
“I realized I wasn’t enjoying my work and moved to Gearhiser Peters in 2001,” Edge remembers.
Although the opportunity to join HHM was unexpected, it was not the last prospect the firm offered Edge. After less than two years as chief operating officer, HHM recently made Edge a partner.
“Beverly has not only helped us to manage and grow this firm, but she’s also handled compliance, which becomes more and more important the larger we become,” Hutcherson says. “Her immense impact has enhanced every area of the firm.”
Edge is celebrating her success with her husband, Chris Edge, a local educator, in their Southside home at The Lofts on Main. With their two sons having reached college age and beyond, they spend their free time visiting local businesses and restaurants.
“The Chattanooga Choo Choo is my backyard,” she smiles. “I love it.”
Edge also says she enjoys working out. But her thoughts are never far from her new professional home.
“I miss working with clients,” she says of her former life as a private practice attorney. “So, I think of my partners at HHM as my clients. And I’m always excited on Sunday evenings and ready to go back to work the next day. I have a renewed energy.”