A high school bookkeeping class nudged Tom Leonard Jr. in the direction of his current vocation. But it took the advice of his public accountant father to help him narrow his collegiate path: aeronautical design doesn't provide as much job security as accounting.
"I enjoyed it, and it came pretty easy to me, so I decided to give it a go in college and never looked back," says Leonard, a certified public accountant.
He did scratch his aviation itch by earning his private pilot's license before graduating in 1996 from Philadelphia's La Salle University with a bachelor's in accounting.
Leonard, native of Washington Township, N.J., joined PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP out of college and became a partner in 2008.
He worked in the firm's Philadelphia and Florham Park, N.J., offices before transferring to Little Rock for the first time in 2002-04. After a three-year stint in Pennsylvania, Leonard returned to Little Rock in July 2007.
His civic endeavors include work with Habitat for Humanity, the United Way and the Arkansas Food Bank Network. Leonard and his family also established the Danielle Marie Scholarship Fund at La Salle University in memory of his sister to provide tuition assistance to deserving business majors in financial need.
.jpg)
