Strategic Partner for Accounting
Founded in 1972, Cray Kaiser is a certified public accounting firm with three full-service locations in the Chicago metropolitan area. We act as accountants and business consultants to a variety of family-owned businesses in the Midwest. Our aim is to give clients not just a service, but a competitive advantage. Our focus on family-owned and closely held businesses requires a more intimate knowledge of a client’s unique business attributes and environments. Typically, this requires a more hands-on approach to evaluating the issues and determining effective solutions for these clients. Whether you need a certified audit, help filling out a government form or a critical viewpoint on your business finances, Cray Kaiser can give you an edge.
Location:
1901 S. Meyers Road | Suite 230
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181
Deanna L. Salo
Phone Number: 630-953-4900
Address: 1901 S. Meyers Road | Suite 230
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181
If you ask Deanna Salo about her 35-plus-year career with Cray Kaiser, she will share stories of the mergers and acquisitions she has overseen and how she assists in shareholder disputes. But first, Deanna will reflect on the impact that she and her team members have with each engagement.
In her mind, every engagement is linked to a person or family. The firm’s people-centric approach is one of the main reasons why Deanna has her career rooted in CK.
A CK Principal since 2001 and Managing Principal since 2021, Deanna executes assurance, strategic and tax planning services, while focusing on the value she can bring to the family and owners of family-owned businesses. Deanna also performs M&A engagements for the buyer and seller sides.
Leading Cray Kaiser’s relationship with EFBC, Deanna is a past chair of the Strategic Partner Committee and presently serves on its Finance Committee and Curriculum Committee.
Karen Snodgrass
Phone Number: 630-953-4900
Address: 1901 S. Meyers Road | Suite 230
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181
Karen Snodgrass oversees Cray Kaiser’s tax division, with expertise in closely held and family-owned businesses. In her tax planning work, she minimizes liability at the entity and individual level by helping clients consider the tax implications of their decisions.
The leaders of family-owned businesses, whose personal lives mingle with their business lives, share their financial heart and soul with Karen. For her, that’s an honor. So, she does more than meet tax goals; she informs and educates them.
Karen is committed to sharing knowledge. Having successfully navigated tax codes for 20-plus years, Karen leads seminars on tax law updates at the firm. Based on her ongoing analysis of the effects of new laws, the firm’s reputation for excellence in tax services is unmatched.
With a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame, Karen gives presentations on tax and business finance topics to groups like EFBC.
