Robert Butler joins Grant Thornton as Tax Services leader of the New England cluster’s Not-for-Profit practice

Robert Butler Jr., 49, has joined Grant Thornton LLP as Tax Services leader of the New England cluster’s Not-for-Profit practice. He is a managing director based in the Boston office.

Prior to joining Grant Thornton, Butler served as controller of Brandeis University overseeing the general accounting office, sponsored programs accounting, accounts payable and payroll, working closely with senior management, the audit committee, the budget division, financial systems and reporting, and all departments and committees throughout the University.

Butler’s career includes building and leading the exempt organization tax practice at KPMG LLP where he and his team provided audit support, compliance and regulatory services to higher education institutions, healthcare organizations, and other types of not-for-profit entities throughout New England and Upstate New York. He also worked for the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, focusing on public oversight and proper governance of public charities.

“The combination of Rob’s experiences working within an administration of a higher education institution, providing professional services to not-for-profit organizations and enforcing regulatory compliance enables him to provide extensive and well-rounded perspectives to higher education and not-for-profit clients. He has been on different sides of the boardroom table,” said Donald Jeffery, leader of Tax Services for Grant Thornton’s New England cluster.

Butler is a certified public accountant in Massachusetts, and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants. A frequent speaker at not-for-profit seminars, he has also developed many tax, accounting and finance share forums for clients and Brandeis University departments and board meetings. He was a member of several college and university controller consortium groups.

Butler received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Merrimack College and a master’s degree in taxation from Northeastern University.