Earlier this week marked the 25th anniversary of the merger of Kenneth Leventhal & Company into Ernst & Young on June 1, 1995. For those who were working at KL&Co. at the time it was terribly traumatic to learn first that our collegial organization was going to be merged into the much larger international CPA giant, as was the uncertainty as to what would happen to us individually and collectively. As unique and successful as Kenneth Leventhal & Company was as a boutique CPA firm specializing in real estate, populated by a cast of incredible and brilliant characters from partner level all the way down to staff assistant and administrative personnel (even our washouts went on to have highly successful business careers), it was a transaction that had to happen because the world was changing. As repeated in most every line of business and industry, consolidation was inevitable. Kenneth Leventhal & Company did not have the resources to become a service provider who could serve multinational clients seamlessly around the world, nor did it have the resources to finance the technological explosion that would put a computer on every desk and complex technological systems that would revolutionize the practice of accounting. Heck I remember when I started with KL&Co. there was just one electronic calculator in the entire Los Angeles office, which was so coveted that people had to sign up to use it.
Actually, the initial period of the merger turned out not to be traumatic at all. That's because the merger was effectively two transactions in one. Yes, giant EY did acquire the much smaller KL. But within that merger we acquired EY's lesser real estate practice. For example in Century City, the KL tax department had roughly 30 professionals, but we were joined by only a handful of EY real estate tax professionals, plus we stayed in our existing offices. So it was just like KL hired a few more people.
Most importantly, the newly christened EY Kenneth Leventhal Real Estate group was an independent business unit outside the overall framework of the Ernst & Young hierarchy, and life was little different from that at Kenneth Leventhal & Company. Indeed, we all viewed the overall Ernst & Young organization as "them", compared to "us", with common references to "big EY" or "the other side." We continued to have our own telephone and voice mail system, a fact not communicated to many people on the EY side who thought they were leaving messages for us, but which we never received. This separate structure continued on for five years until Ernst & Young itself completely reorganized itself and the real estate group was integrated into the firm's various industry lines.
Things certainly did change after EY's reorganization, but the KL influence within EY remains strong to this day. When Stan Ross retired as EY Global Real Estate leader, he was succeeded by KL alum Dale Ann Reiss. When Dale retired she was replaced by KL alum Howard Roth. When Howard retired he was replaced by KL alum Mark Grinis. And many KL managers, seniors and staff assistants are still in leadership positions as partners at EY today. So by that measure alone, the merger of KL into EY was a successful one.
And obviously the merger had a profound effect on me personally. When I retired in late 2018 I had been with Ernst & Young for 23 years, slightly longer than my 22 years with Kenneth Leventhal & Company. However none of you have any idea about the two most important impacts the merger had on me personally.
For one thing the merger almost killed me, literally. In April, 1995 while the merger was being put together, I was assigned to do some due diligence related to the transaction. Typically while working in the KL Century City office, I would drive the surface streets to my home in the Hollywood Hills, as this was the best rush hour alternative. But one night while working on the merger I finished after rush hour ended, so I drove home the longer, but at that hour faster, way home, on the freeway through downtown and up the Hollywood Freeway. As I was driving a few hundred feet before the Hollywood Blvd. exit a vehicle moved quickly across four lanes of traffic to exit at Sunset Blvd. In the process he clipped my car, sending me crashing into a bulldozer parked off the side of the freeway. Luckily I was driving a Volvo. The Volvo died and I didn't, though I'm sure to this day the hit-and-run driver presumes he killed me. I was conscious and tried to get out of the car but the driver side door would not open, but I did manage to exit on the passenger side door. I wandered in a daze on the side of the freeway yelling for help. A stranger ran up to me from the nearby street and asked if I had a cell phone. He took the phone and called 911. Sometime before the ambulance arrived I passed out as I don't remember the ambulance ride to Cedars Sinai. But at some point the Good Samaritan took my cell phone and my wallet. I was in the ICU for two days and recuperated for several weeks at home with six broken ribs and a smashed nose, but otherwise in good condition thanks to the Volvo. And I'll always remember all of you who visited me in the hospital and conveyed good wishes during my recovery.
The other surprising impact (pun intended) of the merger is that it was the direct cause of my becoming a minor celebrity. (For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, check out this video which has had 700,000 views on various platforms.) So how did the merger turn me into a food writer and personality? Well, Kenneth Leventhal & Company was based in Los Angeles and I had an office based position, so my only travel was for firm meetings and training sessions. If I taught a small training session it would be in the Century City conference room, or if attendees came from multiple offices someplace like Cal Poly Pomona. Ernst & Young was based on the east coast and similar sessions would be in places like Washington DC or Atlanta. The KL annual partner manager seminar would be held in places like San Diego and Palm Springs. The equivalent EY event rotated among cities like Miami, Orlando, Chicago and Dallas. KL firm meetings were always someplace in Southern California. At EY they were all over the place. Inasmuch as I had always searched for Chinese communities to visit and Chinese restaurants to eat at wherever I went, a whole new world opened up to me at EY. This gave me a national perspective on Chinese food which few people could duplicate, and provided me the material to write well over a hundred articles over the years. So what was a traumatic moment 25 years ago ended up shaping a secondary avocational career which I would never have dreamed of.
And obviously the merger had a profound effect on me personally. When I retired in late 2018 I had been with Ernst & Young for 23 years, slightly longer than my 22 years with Kenneth Leventhal & Company. However none of you have any idea about the two most important impacts the merger had on me personally.
For one thing the merger almost killed me, literally. In April, 1995 while the merger was being put together, I was assigned to do some due diligence related to the transaction. Typically while working in the KL Century City office, I would drive the surface streets to my home in the Hollywood Hills, as this was the best rush hour alternative. But one night while working on the merger I finished after rush hour ended, so I drove home the longer, but at that hour faster, way home, on the freeway through downtown and up the Hollywood Freeway. As I was driving a few hundred feet before the Hollywood Blvd. exit a vehicle moved quickly across four lanes of traffic to exit at Sunset Blvd. In the process he clipped my car, sending me crashing into a bulldozer parked off the side of the freeway. Luckily I was driving a Volvo. The Volvo died and I didn't, though I'm sure to this day the hit-and-run driver presumes he killed me. I was conscious and tried to get out of the car but the driver side door would not open, but I did manage to exit on the passenger side door. I wandered in a daze on the side of the freeway yelling for help. A stranger ran up to me from the nearby street and asked if I had a cell phone. He took the phone and called 911. Sometime before the ambulance arrived I passed out as I don't remember the ambulance ride to Cedars Sinai. But at some point the Good Samaritan took my cell phone and my wallet. I was in the ICU for two days and recuperated for several weeks at home with six broken ribs and a smashed nose, but otherwise in good condition thanks to the Volvo. And I'll always remember all of you who visited me in the hospital and conveyed good wishes during my recovery.
The other surprising impact (pun intended) of the merger is that it was the direct cause of my becoming a minor celebrity. (For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, check out this video which has had 700,000 views on various platforms.) So how did the merger turn me into a food writer and personality? Well, Kenneth Leventhal & Company was based in Los Angeles and I had an office based position, so my only travel was for firm meetings and training sessions. If I taught a small training session it would be in the Century City conference room, or if attendees came from multiple offices someplace like Cal Poly Pomona. Ernst & Young was based on the east coast and similar sessions would be in places like Washington DC or Atlanta. The KL annual partner manager seminar would be held in places like San Diego and Palm Springs. The equivalent EY event rotated among cities like Miami, Orlando, Chicago and Dallas. KL firm meetings were always someplace in Southern California. At EY they were all over the place. Inasmuch as I had always searched for Chinese communities to visit and Chinese restaurants to eat at wherever I went, a whole new world opened up to me at EY. This gave me a national perspective on Chinese food which few people could duplicate, and provided me the material to write well over a hundred articles over the years. So what was a traumatic moment 25 years ago ended up shaping a secondary avocational career which I would never have dreamed of.
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