SUZANNE FORBES

MANAGING PARTNER, JAMES MOORE & CO., GAINESVILLE

James Moore & Co.’s 300-plus employees provide accounting and business advisory services to clients nationwide. The firm also provides free educational webinars, podcasts and videos to the public. “In 2024, we volunteered nearly 1,200 hours and donated over $115,000 to local organizations,” Forbes says. “I became a partner in 1995 and was elected managing partner (now known as CEO) in 2019.”

EDUCATION: Stetson University (BS, MA)

FIRST JOB: I worked at an ice cream parlor and sandwich shop, where I made sundaes — and a really mean root beer float! This helped me learn at a young age how to work with the public. I met a lot of different people — and if you wanted to make good tips, you had to know how to make people from all walks of life happy!

DREAM ALTERNATE CAREER: I’d probably be a dive master and run a scuba diving operation in the Caribbean, or work with my husband as a travel and diving journalist. That way I could show everyone the beauty of the water and marine life and emphasize how important our fragile ecosystem is. Having grown up around that, it would mean a lot to share that experience and knowledge with people.