Jennifer Chase-Williams, CPA, MBA
At McLaren & Associates, behind every first-rate accountant stands another first-rate accountant. With over 30 years of experience Jennifer Williams is the firm’s strong right arm, bringing to the table a profound understanding of tax issues—especially those concerning the ramifications of stock options and other employee incentive programs. Her depth of experience and selfless dedication has proved invaluable to the firm and its clients.
Born in the west side of Worcester, MA, Jennifer graduated from New York University, received her MBA from Clark University, and was invited into the Beta Gamma Sigma Society, the international honor society serving business programs accredited by AACSB International (The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business).
When she served as the Loan Specialist and Director, Jen exemplified The Center for Women and Enterprise mission "to empower women to become self-sufficient and prosperous through Entrepreneurship." She helped many of the Center’s clients develop business plans and secure funding for their businesses. “I love being in service to entrepreneurs and their growing companies,” she says, which is clear in her consultations with clients regarding the tax implications of their business decisions, and in her work as a former instructor at Clark University where students learned about taxation, entrepreneurship, accounting, and financial analysis.
Owning and managing five day care centers in Central Massachusetts gave Jennifer firsthand experience in running a business, and she enthusiastically shares the lessons learned. Taking a hands-on approach to clients' needs, she works with the McLaren and Associates team to uncover options that others miss. Clients say this not only reduces their taxes, it helps them to better run their businesses.
Jen is a member of the AICPA, MSCPA, and the Business Networking International. She is also a winner of the Worcester Business Journal’s "40 Under Forty" award and a lifetime member of the Abigail Adams Society (she’s even portrayed Abigail Adams in “1776” on stage at Theatre at the Mount!)
While most important to Jen is her family—she is devoted to husband Jeff and sons Emery Chase Markles and Gordon Nathaniel Williams—she takes seriously her commitment to others. “I love our team here at McLaren & Associates, and I’m proud of our dedication to helping our clients. I need to be in service, and at McLaren & Associates I can do that by providing extraordinary forensic and strategic tax services.”
Guilty pleasure? “I like watching episodes of the original Law and Order” but she also confesses she likes “Our fourth of July ritual: Watching the movie of 1776 (with William Daniels, Blythe Danner, and Ken Howard) and crying like a baby at the sheer beauty of this piece of theater and its portrayal of the struggles and compromises endured to gain our freedom from Great Britain.”