Shifting gears: CalCPA Chair Jennifer Ziegler has navigated twists and turns with a steady hand at the wheel.

• Author: English, Damien B.M.
• Position: California Society of Certified Public Accountants - Interview

By the time 2015-16 CalCPA Chair Jennifer Ziegler turned 18, she had established her credit and bought a dream car all on her own: a classic Datsun 280Z. "When I got home my Mom said, 'I'm not going to pay for you to go to college if you're going to drive a nicer car than me.'" That was just fine with Ziegler, who says buying that car jump-started a long and successful work career. "In a way, cars have shaped my destiny," she says.

But this was only one of a few defining moments and encounters that pulled (or pushed) Ziegler along through her professional and personal life path. The first came a little earlier in her life.

From Oregon to California

Ziegler is from Roseburg, Ore., located in the Umpqua River Valley in the southern part of the state. It's the county seat and the most populace city of Douglas County. "It's a logging town. My grandfather owned a logging company. Both my parents were (University of Oregon) Ducks."

But Ziegler's time in the Beaver State was somewhat short lived. She moved to Santa Clarita in Southern California at age 10 when her mom landed a job there. "Santa Clarita has exploded since then," she says. "It used to be an itty-bitty town, and now it's huge." She's spent the rest of her life in Santa Clarita, but still goes back to visit Oregon every year.

Ziegler says growing up in Santa Clarita was a pretty rural experience, and mostly blue collar. But it was here where she had another one of those moments that helped chart her path.

"I remember one time the high school coach broke us up into groups and said, 'Statistically, based on this area: You're going to college, you're not going to finish school, you're going to get pregnant young,' and so on," she recalls. "I was in one of these other groups he said wasn't going to make it to college and I thought, 'Oh no! I'm going to college!' It was a very defining moment. It really pushed me."

And that's exactly what happened, as years later Ziegler studied for a bachelor's degree in business administration with an emphasis in accounting at California State University, Northridge.

College, Career & Kids

Ziegler's mom was true to her word, and Ziegler worked full time during the day and attended college at night. But she doesn't remember that situation as being particularly tough. "I just did it because I had to do it."

Originally a pre-med student, Ziegler had another life-path defining moment when she registered for classes. "Back then, when you went in to register for classes, you pulled tickets that told you where to go and what line to stand in. The ticket I pulled was abbreviated 'BIO' and the registrars mistook it to stand for 'business.' So they allowed me to start taking classes at the business school," she says.

"I found that I related more with the business people than the biology folks. So I changed majors."

And with that, she was off on a new course.

While going to school, Ziegler worked at a small, wholesale, Hawaii travel destination business in the San Fernando Valley. She started as a file clerk and left as the financial person. "We would travel to Hawaii every year to check out destinations. I would spend my time on the phone selling the properties, since I knew about them, while I was doing my other work," she says. "It was a fun job."

Once out of school in 1991, Ziegler applied for a job doing internal audit for UCLA. She took and passed the Uniform CPA Exam before taking that job. "I took two months off to do that because, back then, it was only offered in May and November. Then I took the job at UCLA, and it was a great job." UCLA loaned her to KPMG to supplement the medical center audits and, eventually, KPMG offered her a job in 1992 and she ended up at KPMG in auditing.

Ziegler audited public companies for a while, and then she found out she was pregnant. "I told myself, 'OK, something has to change.'" It was at that point that she met CalGPA member John Costello, which turned out to be another chance encounter with big implications. "A friend introduced me, I thought he was a smart guy and he offered me a job. And that's how I ended up in litigation," she recalls.

Ziegler's meeting with Costello started her career in litigation at Gursey | Schneider, LLP, where she eventually ended up becoming a partner. "Litigation is fun," she says. "It's always different. It's like figuring out a puzzle. It means always dealing with different people. I like the change and the challenge."

At Gursey | Schneider, after Ziegler became partner, it became clear her mentor Don Gursey was dying. "So John and I decided to move over to Hemming Morse with (former CalCPA Chair) Paul Regan." She was a partner there for five years and then Costello passed away. "It was then that I decided I wanted to do my own thing," and that's when she moved over to Berkeley Research Group, where she's worked for nearly three years.

The Roaming Forensic & NBA Robbery

As managing director with Berkeley Research Group in the Century City office, Ziegler specializes in providing accounting expertise in the area of forensic accounting, litigation support, expert witness testimony and fraud investigations.

"I work on a contract basis," she...