If you polled 100 people on the street, how many do you think would have stayed on the same career path for 33 years? Count one for Richard Caporaso.
Caporaso, 54, has spent his entire career as an accountant dealing with the insurance industry. He will become managing partner at KPMG in early April following several years as partner, giving him the capabilities to move the firm in a direction of growth for the future.
“My job will be to make sure we are providing outstanding service, commitment and personal satisfaction for our clients,” Caporaso said.
A native of Waterbury, he graduated from Villanova University in 1975 with a degree in accounting. He had been tempted to follow the engineering path of his father, but decided in high school to go his own track.
Caporaso’s first job out of school brought him to Arthur Anderson in Hartford where he focused on familiarizing himself with the insurance partners in the area. In 1986, Caporaso was promoted to partner and continued at the firm until spring 2002. At that point, Caporaso was recruited by KPMG as Arthur Anderson dissolved its professional services.
“It was a blessing because I knew many people at KPMG,” said Caporaso. “I was able to join in the practice right away because I was familiar with the Hartford and New York insurance partners.”
In 1992, the firm transferred Caporaso to New York while he continued to serve Hartford clients. He will be rejoining the Hartford office as he accepts his promotion.
“It will basically be coming home for me,” he said. “I’ve always enjoyed the opportunity to mentor and help other people in the firm. It’s the most satisfying part of the job for me. I’ll be responsible for the success of our whole office on a larger scale.”
The Fairfield resident and father of three also juggles responsibilities as treasurer of the board at Christian Heritage School and as treasurer and chairman of the finance committee at his church.
“I can’t get away from numbers,” Caporaso said.
He has plans to power KPMG through any potential economic downturn that may appear in Hartford’s future.
“Our challenge is to make sure we are focusing on consistently doing the right thing, providing superior client service as well as helping employees stay focused and providing them with challenging opportunities,” Caporaso said. “As long as we do that in a consistent way, we’re going to persevere.”
Emily Boisvert is a Hartford Business Journal staff writer.
