People: Brian Alwine, CPA, ABV, ASA, has joined HBK Valuation Group LLC’s Naples, Fla., office as a senior manager … Chris Brooke, FRICS, is the new president of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS); he succeeds John Hughes, FRICS, who led RICS throughout its 150th anniversary year … Crowe elected a number of new partners and principals, including Brian Kerby, a managing director in the firm’s Transaction Services Practice and a healthcare specialist … Megan Zietsman has been named the new chief auditor and director of professional standards at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and will assume the role in early 2019; she’s currently a partner at Deloitte & Touche’s professional practice network in the U.S.

Firms: Canfield, Ohio-based HBK CPAs & Consultants has signed a merger agreement with the Spire Group of Clark, N.J.; Spire has 50 team members, five of whom are joining HBK as principals … MNP, Canada’s fifth largest national accounting and business consulting firm, will merge with TW Hawes Inc. effective Jan. 1, 2019 … UHY Advisors, based in Chicago, has expanded its office in the mid-Atlantic region through its merger of the professional services firm Berman Goldman & Ribakow LLP (bgr CPAs), which is located in Columbia, Md.; the merger was effective December 3 … Rochester, N.Y.-based Mengel Metzger Barr & Co. acquired a local practice, Tom Walter CPA, of Canandaigua, N.Y. …Chestnut Ridge, N.Y.-based GKG CPAs has joined New York City-based PKF O’Connor Davies, which deepens its expertise in transportation, food manufacturing and processing, employee benefit plans, and not-for-profits; the deal adds six partners and about 40 employees … Rehmann, based in Troy, Mich., is expanding its presence in Florida by combining with Lamn Krielow Dytrych & Co. (LKD) of Jupiter, Fla.; both firms focus on the financial services industry … Lexington, Ky.-based Dean Dorton is expanding beyond Kentucky by adding Massey Consulting of Raleigh, N.C., a firm specializing in accounting software products and services … The Bonadio Group, Rochester, N.Y., celebrated its 40th anniversary with a gala for its employees—congrats!

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