Withum is proud to announce that Kelsey Thomas, Senior Manager in the Firm’s Transaction Advisory Team, was selected as Opus Connect’s 2025 Woman of the Year. This annual recognition honors a member who demonstrates exceptional commitment to the Opus Connect community through consistent participation, leadership and meaningful support of peers.
Kelsey was recognized for her commitment to advancing the industry and its community through an M&A lens. Throughout her over 15-year career in public accounting, Kelsey has distinguished herself through seasoned expertise and impactful leadership within the deal space. She has championed initiatives spanning business development, client service and value-driven insights.
“Kelsey represents the standard we value within our community. She has been instrumental in facilitating our Women in M&A programming and consistently strengthens the broader Opus Connect network.”
Lou Sokolovskiy – Founder & CEO of Opus Connect
Kelsey has been a driving force in the growth of Withum’s Transaction Advisory practice. Since joining the Firm, her leadership has doubled both team size and business line revenue, and she brings extensive experience leading complex buy-side and sell-side due diligence engagements for private equity, family offices, strategic acquirers and founder-led businesses. Reflecting her commitment to inclusivity and empowering others, Kelsey launched and continues to lead the team’s M&A Empow’her’ment video series, a platform dedicated to amplifying and celebrating women’s achievements in the M&A space.
Opus Connect is a lower middle and middle market M&A community that connects transactional professionals across private equity, private debt, investment banking and related service providers through curated events and relationship-driven programming across the U.S.
Opus Connect recognized Kelsey during its March 2026 Women in M&A Roundtable event.
Pat Walsh Pat was recognized for his relentless dedication to elevating Withum’s position as a top 20 advisory, accounting and tax firm. This recognition reflects Pat’s leadership and the Firm’s consistent year-over-year growth and strategic expansions into new markets under his guidance. His commitment and contributions to the profession have earned him numerous accolades, including…
Kimberly Ravenell, tax partner, was recognized for her commitment to client service and mentorship. With more than 30 years of experience advising high-net-worth individuals and closely held businesses, she provides tax planning and compliance guidance. Kim has played a key role in guiding her team and clients through significant industry and regulatory changes while supporting…
Advancing Audit Innovation Sameer has played a key role in advancing Withum’s use of audit technology, helping teams adopt new methodologies, improve efficiency and enhance consistency across engagements. A trusted resource for technology implementation, he has been instrumental in the Firm’s adoption of Caseware Cloud and Dynamic Assurance Solutions (DAS) applications. Driving Firmwide DAS Adoption…