John W. Kaiser, Jr.
John is our tax partner. He holds a Bachelor's degree from DePaul University and a Master's degree from Northwestern University. Prior to founding Cray Kaiser in 1972, he was tax manager of a large Chicago CPA firm. In addition to his duties with the firm, John is on the Board of Directors of the DuPage County Estate Planning Council. Since June 2004, John has been on the Board of Trustees of Sharing Connections a Section 501(c)(3) organization providing furniture, clothing and household goods to low income families and currently is serving as President.

John has given tax lectures to various organizations on such topics as problems of closely-held corporations, Sub-chapter S corporations, and the purchase, sale and liquidation of businesses.

Roger L. Reitz
Roger received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois-Chicago in 1973 and has worked in public accounting all but two years of his career. Committed to community and public involvement, Roger is a member of his local chapter of the Rotary Club, has been a member of his community library board for over eleven years, served on the Board of Directors for a Catholic girls' high school and has served on the Board of Directors at his tennis club in River Forest.

He has been involved with various professional organizations over the years, but is most proud of his involvement with the Accounting Principles Committee of the Illinois CPA Society. This committee is one of the senior technical committees within the Society and is charged with reviewing and commenting on proposed changes to standards affecting all practice units in the profession. He is also an accredited as a Certified Valuation Analyst.

Deanna L. Salo
Deanna joined Cray Kaiser in 1986, after graduating from the University of Arizona with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting. With over 20 years of public accounting experience, she identifies and executes assurance services and tax planning services to the overall client-base. Deanna works with our clients in assessing procedures and controls relating to privacy and confidentiality, performance measurements, systems reliability, information security, and outsourced process controls. Special engagements include mergers and acquisitions, handling both the buyer and seller’s side of the transactions.

Deanna became a partner in Cray, Kaiser Ltd. in 2001. She participates in various community organizations such as: Executive Board Member with both the DuPage Area Education to Careers and Technical Preparation and Empowering Women Network, Inc. and Chairperson of the DuPage Student Leadership Academy.

Her responsibilities with Cray Kaiser include training and supervision of our staff of 30 employees. She is involved in all facets of the services the firm provides to clients, including audits, reviews, compilations, various tax services and consulting services.

James K. Scherzinger
Jim is the Director of Real Estate Services for Cray Kaiser and has been a shareholder since joining us in 1990. He has over twenty years in the practice of public accounting in the Chicago metropolitan area performing audit, tax, valuation and consulting services in the real estate industry. Jim holds a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Illinois-Champaign.

Memberships include the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Illinois Society of Certified Public Accountants, and the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts. Jim is also the Director of the Real Estate Investment Association.

James H. Slager
Jim joined the firm in 1986, after more than five years experience with other CPA firms. He graduated from Calvin College in Michigan with a Bachelor's Degree in Business/Economics. He provides tax, consulting, and accounting services to a wide range of clients. He is accredited as a Certified Valuation Analyst. Jim is also a member of the Estate Planning Council of Greater Joliet, the Rotary Club of Joliet, and is a 2003 graduate of the Joliet Region Chamber of Commerce Community Leadership School.

As a part of Cray Kaiser's membership in the AICPA Employee Benefit Plan Audit Center, Jim is the designated audit partner with firm-wide responsibility over our ERISA employee benefit audit practice.