Heather Smith Linton, CPA, MBA, CFP, CVA, CDFA heather@lintoncpa.com NC Certificate 14805 Heather founded Linton & Associates in 1989 to serve clients differently from other accounting firms, "to take a holistic team approach to clients," she says. "We've done that. We really do take the long-term view. We do try to save taxes in the short run, but not at the expense of good, long-term financial planning." Heather earned her MBA from UNC-Chapel Hill and her bachelor's summa cum laude from the University of Delaware. She is active in the community, serving on boards including Durham Technical Community College Foundation and the local Wachovia Bank board. She has served on the boards of the Durham Chamber of Commerce, Durham Communities in Schools, and the Durham Arts Council. She is past president of Chapel Hill Country Club, Leadership Triangle and the North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants. Heather is an author of two nationally distributed books: The Complete Guide to Protecting Your Financial Security When Getting a Divorce, and Streetwise Guide to Business Valuation. Heather is available to speak to interested groups about a variety of financial issues. Heather lives in Durham and enjoys golf, pool, cooking, travel, hiking, yoga, reading, live jazz and relaxing with family and friends. Her great weakness is the New York Times crossword.   Charles H. Lancaster, CPA charlie@lintoncpa.com NC Certificate 16526 Charlie uses his more than 20 years of accounting experience to serve closely held enterprises of all sizes. The firm's head of business services is a former corporate controller, and many clients think of him as a virtual member of their management team. "If clients call us when they are making decisions, that's a satisfying day," Charlie says. "When we see a business that is really successful, and we've helped them get to that point, that's satisfying." Charlie analyzes the value of businesses, sets up accounting systems and even helps enterprises recruit full-time financial staffers. He is knowledgeable about corporate and partner taxation. Charlie is familiar with the needs businesses of every type, from professional practices to manufacturers to service businesses and retailers. He understands the special challenges at each point in a company's life cycle between startup and cash-out. And as an owner of Linton & Associates himself, he understands how business issues are also family issues. Charlie earned his bachelor's degree in business administration from UNC-Chapel Hill. He lives in Chapel Hill with his wife, Lisa, and daughters, Claire and Emilee and is active in civic affairs there. Charlie has taught accounting at area universities and enjoys racquetball, skiing, windsurfing and running.

Gwen Adams, CPA gwen@lintoncpa.com NC Certificate 17314 Gwen has more than 25 years of experience in both industry and public accounting. She uses that background to serve individual and small business clients across the full range of tax and accounting needs. Gwen also enjoys helping clients set up their retirement plans. An owner of Linton & Associates herself, Gwen specializes in helping small businesses choose and use computerized bookkeeping and accounting systems so that they "have their information immediately at their fingertips all the time, not just quarterly," she says. "They feel more in control of their own business. They feel empowered." Gwen earned her bachelor's degree in accounting from Virginia Tech. She lives in Apex with her husband, Robert. They have three children: Emily, a senior at UNC-CH; Barbara, a freshman at Appalachian State University; and Thomas, a high school sophomore. In her free time, Gwen enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with family, including their exchange student from China.   Ginger Walsh Long, CPA ginger@lintoncpa.com NC Certificate 28279 Ginger loves finding a tax strategy for clients that covers Linton & Associates' fees several times over. She does that often, especially for new clients who come to Linton & Associates because their finances have grown complex. "It's really gratifying when I catch those things that a client didn't think of, when I'm able to find information that really helps save them taxes, or maybe to change the way that they do things to be better off down the road," she says. Many people who initially resist hiring a professional end up "so happy to have someone just taking care if it," Ginger notes. Ginger specializes in QuickBooks software consulting. She also teams up frequently with Heather to ensure that clients negotiate a fair settlement during a divorce. "If people have any kind of income and assets and they don't have somebody looking at that with them, they can be left in a very serious situation," she says. Ginger has been with the firm since 1998 and lives in Carrboro with her husband, Derek Long, where they operate Burning Tree Productions, their own video production business. She spends lots of time with her son Elijah, who is learning to shoot video himself. She loves to play volleyball and the piano.