“It was not any great vision – other than to provide good service to small to medium sized businesses.” That’s how Ron Blue describes the inception behind the original firm that grew into what Blue & Co. is today. From humble beginnings of five partners in 1970, to over 70 directors and more than 500 employees spanning three states, Blue, the firm, has grown well beyond what Blue, the man, ever dreamed of.
Ron Blue graduated with an undergraduate degree in marketing and joined an accounting firm simply because he needed a job. “I chose accounting because it was a profession that would provide a job when I got out of school,” joked Blue. He completed his MBA at Indiana University and started independent accounting work with four other individuals who graduated from the same program.
After graduating, Blue and some of his fellow MBA graduates worked with what he referred to as a ‘big firm’. It was a firm that turned into one of today’s ‘Big 4’ accounting firms. Ron Blue couldn’t help but feel entrepreneurial and wonder about the opportunities he could create if he paved his own way. In a discussion with his fellow MBA grads, Blue asked, “Why don’t we start our own company?” They left their jobs at the ‘big firm’ and Ron Blue began his practice in Indianapolis while his other partner began in Elkhart, Indiana.
“Traditionally firms were named for their partners,” Blue described. As Blue & Co. has over 70 directors, there is no way to keep up the branding for every director. Ron Blue saw that issue arising as soon as he went into business with his fellow MBA grads. “I joined a person named Gordon Wilson, so first of all there was Wilson & Blue.” Blue went on to retell all the variations of the names the firm went through as new partners joined, “and then Dave Windley, then Wilson, Blue, Winemiller & Windley.” Believe it or not, Ron Blue rattled off a few more. “Then Blue, Windley, Winemiller & Durkott.” This was a marketing nightmare and this naming trend could go on forever. “Because I had been the first there, it became Blue and Company. It just made a lot more sense and it certainly has been much easier to market.” Editorial note: Blue & Co.’s current marketing team also agrees.
Ron Blue is proud of the legacy he left behind at Blue & Co. He admits that he was not involved with the firm for a long time, but the blueprints he used to build the firm have kept it thriving for so long after his departure. “I think the values that we had to start with carried on and are still carrying on in the firm,” Blue says. He created Blue to be a business, not an accounting practice, with the goal that the business would outlive the founder.
After Ron Blue left the firm, he spent his time with a ministry and made ten trips to Africa in two years. Blue has also become an accomplished author in the world of financial literacy, writing Master Your Money in 1986 which has sold over one million copies and printed 35 editions. He has also written more than a dozen other books that have been published to provide financial literacy education for all people, from children to seniors. In his ever-so-humble spirit, Blue says “I’ve not had another book that has done as well as [Master Your Money], but I do continue to sell some books.” Ron Blue has also built a financial planning and wealth management firm and operates the Ron Blue Institute for Financial Planning through Indiana Wesleyan University.
At Blue & Co., we cannot thank Ron Blue enough for his leadership and values that have built our firm and brought us to where we are today.