Arkansas Business

Jillian Yant

Jillian Yant acknowledges what one of the people who nominated her for inclusion in the New Influentials noted: She didn’t take the conventional path into public accounting.

Yant graduated from Texas High School in Texarkana and earned her bachelor’s in management from the University of Central Arkansas. She began her career selling group health insurance, but “I didn’t feel like I was really reaching my potential and came to JPMS just kind of looking for a different path.”

Yant began at JPMS Cox as an administrative assistant to two of the accounting firm’s partners. A partner urged Yant to return to school for a degree in accounting, and “having that encouragement meant so much,” Yant said.

She worked full time while earning her bachelor’s in accounting from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Yant took a job on the tax staff about two years after joining JPMS, went on to pass the CPA exam and was named a tax manager after four years. She loves her work at JPMS Cox and envisions a long career there.

Yant has helped lead the firm’s school supplies drive for the Little Rock School District and has taught young people through her involvement in Junior Achievement.

Her family’s emphasis on hard work has informed her life, Yant said. “I am so thankful for the things I do have because I can look back and see how hard I worked, the sacrifices I made and the support that I have of my family and my husband.”