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Thomas Sisson
Office Managing Member - Birmingham Warren Averett
Professional Background
Thomas E. Sisson, often known as Tommy, has been an integral part of the Firm since 1981, bringing over four decades of experience in the accounting and consulting field. As the Managing Member of the Birmingham office, he has dedicated his professional life to providing valuable insights and solutions to closely-held corporations and pass-through entities. His vast knowledge and expertise cover a broad spectrum of necessities for businesses, particularly in the areas of consulting concerning formation, acquisition, and ongoing operations. By addressing the challenges that these entities face, Tommy ensures that his clients have a solid foundation for success.
Tommy's practice is well-rounded and includes comprehensive advisory services concerning year-end tax planning strategies, which are essential for effective business management. He provides tailored planning and advice concerning particular business transactions, ensuring that his clients are well-prepared for any financial landscape that may arise. His experience working with service businesses and professional practices, alongside various closely-held enterprises, showcases his versatility in handling management consulting needs.
In his role as Managing Partner at the Birmingham office of Warren Averett, Tommy leads a talented team in delivering exceptional service to clients, prioritizing their growth and operational efficiency. He is also a vital member of the Firm’s Executive Committee, where his insights and contributions facilitate strategic decision-making to guide the Firm's overall direction. With a focus on fostering relationships and investing in the success of clients, Tommy has positioned himself as a trusted advisor and leader in the accounting industry.
Education and Achievements
Tommy Sisson’s educational background is rooted in strong finance and economic principles. He pursued a Bachelor of Arts degree in Accounting and Economics at Birmingham-Southern College. This solid foundation in both accounting and economics has equipped him with the analytical skills and knowledge necessary to excel in his field. By leveraging the strategies learned during his time at Birmingham-Southern College, Tommy has successfully navigated the complex landscape of business consulting and accounting practices, ensuring that each client receives the highest level of service and insight.
Tommy’s accolades and contributions to the industry have made him a well-respected figure among peers and clients alike. His role as Managing Partner at one of the southeast's leading accounting firms demonstrates not just his expertise, but also his commitment to nurturing the next generation of accounting professionals.
Achievements
Over the years, Tommy has garnered a reputation for excellence and dedication to his clients’ success. His leadership role at the Birmingham office of Warren Averett illustrates a career marked by integrity and commitment to quality service. His adeptness at addressing the diverse needs of closely-held corporations shows his capability to understand market trends and economic challenges, which he translates into actionable strategies for his clients.
Tommy's contributions to management consulting have helped numerous businesses thrive through informed decision-making and tailored financial practices. His active involvement in the Firm’s Executive Committee ensures that he remains at the forefront of accounting and consulting advancements, continuously seeking new ways to improve services offered to clients.
In addition to his professional responsibilities, Tommy's commitment to education and mentorship serves as a testament to his values. He is not only focused on delivering results for his clients but also on impacting the professional journeys of those around him positively.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.