By ALLISSA KLINE
akline@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1612

The largest accounting firm in Western New York will undergo a leadership transition next month when longtime partner and Vice Chairman Ron Soluri Sr. becomes the new managing director of Freed Maxick & Battaglia CPAs PC.

Soluri, who was hired in 1973 when it was known as Silverstein & Freed, will succeed Robert Glaser May 1. Glaser, who led the firm through tremendous growth for 20 years, will retain his position as chairman of the board, but he will no longer oversee day-to-day operations.

The pair say they have worked together to expand Freed Maxick - which used to employ a couple dozen people in the early 1980s and now has 250 in three offices - since Glaser joined the firm in 1981. Soluri plans to continue that growth in the form of new services, more employees and new offices, including a site to be determined in Syracuse.

"I think the next five years will be very important," he said. "We'll be hiring people, taking advantage of opportunities put in front of us and creating sustained growth for our organization ... and my No. 1 role will be to provide the leadership to get us there."

The decision to move Soluri to the top was made official last June when Glaser, who turns 65 in September, undertook an internal review to determine which partner would succeed him as managing director.

Partners at Freed Maxick unanimously called for Soluri, who concentrates in litigation support, acquisitions, sales and contract negotiations, tax, accounting and auditing.

Now he is turning his focus to the firm's future.

He anticipates expanding personnel by 7 percent annually and building upon the company's health-care and internal auditing practices. He said it is prepared to open a Syracuse office, using existing personnel, as soon as it finds the right location.

Glaser will still be in charge of handling the firm's mergers and acquisitions, as well as its relationship with the RSM McGladrey accounting firm, through which Freed Maxick derives tax and consulting work for midsized companies.

He emphasized that he is not retiring but rather "stepping back" from heavy involvement in the organization, though he plans to assist Soluri whenever necessary to keep growing the firm.

"We've worked together for so long that the transition will be seamless to a lot of partners," Glaser said. "It's just time, in our governance, to do this."

Freed Maxick was ranked last month by industry magazine Accounting Today as the 81st largest CPA firm in the country with revenues of $35.7 million for 2010, up 2.9 percent from the year before.

The company's long-term succession plan calls for Soluri to become chairman when Glaser officially retires, the firm said.