Meet Troy Stentz, EA, director of operations at SP Group, P.C. (www.spgrouppc.com)
Tell us a little about your business. – SP Group, P.C., is a public accounting firm founded in 2003, based in Lincoln, but serving clients across the Midwest and beyond. We provide tax planning and tax preparation services for our clients as well as audit and assurance services, accounting, bookkeeping and payroll services.
How did you get started in the business? – My family’s former business had been a client of Dave Swan, CPA, the managing shareholder for SP Group, P.C., for many years. When we sold the business in 2015, I asked Dave out to lunch to let him know I was looking for a new position and asked him to keep me in mind if he had any business clients that were looking for a person with my experience. A month later, Dave called me up with an opportunity to join the team at SP Group and I’ve been with the firm since 2015.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced professionally? – While there have been many “big” challenges during the course of my career in the traditional sense, I think the biggest challenge is the change in the way the world operates now compared to when I was in college. That challenge is our devices that allow us to remain connected to the office at all times. By my nature, it is difficult to disengage from that.
What has been your most important achievement professionally? – I’m very proud of the opportunity to have been mentored by a lot of great teachers and leaders. In turn, my most important achievement has been to return their generous gifts by mentoring others. I get deep satisfaction from observing personal and professional development in the people I have worked with over the years.
Tell us a little about your family. – My wife, Lisa Rosar, and I have been married for 31 years. She is a registered nurse and a native of Colorado that came to Lincoln to attend the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where we met and fell madly in love during a very rainy spring in 1987. Her family back in Colorado gives us plenty of reasons to return to the Denver area for regular visits. My parents and my brother and his wife all live in Lincoln.
What do you see as one of the biggest turning points in your life? – It may be a cliché answer, but I was very lucky to find the love of my life and someone that was so compatible on a pretty chance encounter. A lot of twists and turns have happened in my life since that time, but the one constant through it all has been my supportive and loving wife.
What is the most unique or interesting thing about you that most people probably don’t know? – I work in the field of tax and accounting, but my college major was English and I enjoy reading and writing just as much as I enjoy numbers and math. I won the Vreeland Award for Creative Writing at UNL as an undergraduate and used the prize money to buy an engagement ring.
Who inspires you? – My parents, each and every day. They were very young when they had me so I feel blessed to have known them for so many years now and to be inspired by their generosity to me and my brother, and also to their many friends and volunteer activities.
What local nonprofit organization(s) are you passionate about or involved with, and are there any special reasons why? – Meals on Wheels. Beyond just delivering a meal to someone, you get to be a friendly face they see that day.
What is your favorite local restaurant? – The Oven. Other great local restaurants have come and gone over the years but The Oven has always been consistently great.
If our readers would like to contact you, how should they do so? – (402) 420-7758; tstentz@spgrouppc.com; www.spgrouppc.com.