Fast 15: Chris Brown

Chris Brown, CPA, says he’s more people-person than accounting guru.

During his career at one of the state’s largest accounting firms, he thrives on the relationships he forms with customers and colleagues, as well as potential recruits with whom he engages on college campuses.

Brown learned people skills early on from his dad, a small-town pastor.

From a very young age, he took inspiration from how his father interacted with the congregation.

“On Sunday morning, he’d be going down the row shaking hands, and I’d be right behind him,” Brown said.

His father’s ministry brought the family from El Dorado — where Brown was born — to Colorado, back to south Arkansas, and then to Mountain View, where he attended high school and met his future wife, Magen.

The couple attended Arkansas Tech University in Russellville together, got married in 2008, and graduated two years later.

Brown went straight to work at Beall Barclay, where he has built a career that includes participating in the CCH Connections User Conference Emerging Leaders Program this past October. Brown was chosen, along with 19 other tax and accounting young professionals from throughout the country, to participate in the event in Las Vegas.

The couple enjoyed the slow pace and small-town feel of Mountain View, but did not return due to a lack of career opportunities.

As a compromise, Brown works in Fort Smith, but the family lives in nearby Alma, a much smaller town.

“We’ve put down roots in Alma, and I’m hoping to have an impact on that community, as well as on Fort Smith through my job,” he said.

Brown is the worship pastor at Southside Baptist Church and plays guitar, sings and writes music.

“That’s my true calling,” Brown said, but the accounting is the main source of income by which he provides for his wife and two little girls, Kinlee, 3, and Konner, 1.

He’s a Razorback fan and in his spare time also enjoys hunting and fishing.