Crowe, Chizek Forms Holding Company

"The holding company structure will provide us with strategic and operational flexibility that is not currently available to us," said Mark Hildebrand, CEO of Crowe Chizek. "The restructuring establishes the holding company as a single parent company with varied entities, allowing us to better coordinate strategic alliances and better integrate Crowe Group subsidiaries and joint ventures. We believe this will benefit our clients by allowing us to deliver more diverse and integrated professional services in the long term, while at the same time maintaining the appropriate separation among different entities that will be necessary in the future."

Under the new structure, the accounting and consulting practice currently known as Crowe, Chizek and Company LLP will become a subsidiary of Crowe Group LLP. As such, the subsidiary will become a limited liability company and will change its name to Crowe Chizek and Company LLC. Other entities, such as Crowe Capital Markets, will become subsidiaries of Crowe Group LLP, as well.

Also announced today is the launch of a new brand identity program for Crowe Group's wholly and majority owned entities, including new logos and a new Web site. The new identity program will incorporate the well-known Crowe name, along with a common color scheme and graphic signature.

The firm's brand identity has remained the same since the 1970s, despite the fact that the firm has changed dramatically since that time. As a result, the restructuring and branding programs were designed to bring more clarity to the breadth and depth of services available to clients of Crowe Group entities.

"We found that the logo and identity no longer represent all that we offer -- we're not just a regional accounting firm anymore," said Hildebrand. "We've evolved into an integrated family of entities that offers varied services to clients, including Crowe Chizek as the 8th largest accounting and consulting firm in the country, Crowe Capital Markets as a leading investment banking firm, Crowe Wealth Management as a fee-only financial planning and advisory firm, just to name a few. We believe the new brand identity better expresses the dynamic organization that we've become, reinforcing our ability to develop innovative, customized and global business solutions for our clients."

The new logo for Crowe Chizek also incorporates elements of the Horwath International brand, signifying Crowe Chizek's status as a leading member of Horwath International, one of the world's largest networks of professional services organizations.

"Our Horwath affiliation helps us provide our clients with world-class assurance, business advisory, risk management, tax and technology consulting expertise, through more than 110 firms in 280 cities around the globe," said Frank Arford, COO of Crowe Chizek. "We designed the Horwath brand elements into the Crowe Chizek logo to help make clients more aware of these international capabilities."

The new Crowe Chizek logo adopts Horwath International's indigo blue and amber color scheme and its "pinnacle" graphic, symbolizing the highest level of quality and service attainable. The pinnacle was designed to resemble a comet, symbolizing speed and innovation, and as a mountain, signifying a landmark of stability and integrity.

The rollout of the new brand will be conducted over a period of several months, as all materials begin to incorporate the new brand signatures. Services to clients will remain largely unchanged.

The new logo for Crowe Chizek and Company LLC can be accessed by visiting www.crowechizek.com/newsmedia.

Crowe, Chizek and Company LLP (www.crowechizek.com), which has offices in Indianapolis, South Bend, Elkhart and Fort Wayne, provides innovative business solutions in the areas of assurance, consulting, risk management, tax and technology. Founded in 1942, Crowe Chizek is one of the top 10 public accounting and consulting firms in the United States, serving clients worldwide as a leading member of the Horwath International network of accounting and consulting firms.

Source: Crowe, Chizek and Company