Bert N. Mitchell to Receive Honorary Degree at Adelphi's 2013 Commencement

Founder and chairman emeritus of Mitchell & Titus, Bert N. Mitchell will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree at the 117th Adelphi University Commencement ceremony scheduled to be held on Sunday, May 19, 2013 at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, 1255, Hempstead Turnpike, Uniondale, NY.

Mitchell & Titus is the nation’s largest minority-controlled CPA firm. The firm ranks among the 100 largest CPA firms in the United States and has offices in New York City, Newark, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Chicago.

Mr. Mitchell received B.B.A. and M.B.A. degrees from Baruch College, City University of New York, where he has also been a member of the accounting faculty. He is a graduate of the Owner-President Management Program of the Harvard Business School.

He has served on the boards of directors of BJ’s Wholesale Club, Inc. and The Rouse Company, and has served as chairman of the board of Ariel Mutual Funds.

Over the last 40 years, Mr. Mitchell has been active in various leadership positions within the accounting profession. In 1987, he was elected president of the New York State Society of CPAs, a 30,000-member organization—making him the first African American to head a state society of CPAs in the United States.

Mr. Mitchell has served as a member of both the board of directors and the governing council of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He was a founding member and chairman of the board of the National Association of Minority CPA Firms. He served for 10 years as a member of the State Board of Accountancy for the State of New York, where he has also served as chairman. He has also served as president of the Accountants Club of America, and chairman of The International Accounting Group.

Active in community affairs, philanthropy and politics, Mr. Mitchell has served on the boards of directors of over a dozen not-for-profit organizations and educational institutions, including the Greater New York Fund-United Way, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ Consolidated Corporate Fund’s Leadership Committee, the Baruch College Fund and One Hundred Black Men, Inc. He has also served as a member of the Visiting Committee of the Harvard Business School.

Mr. Mitchell has been a member of various publicly appointed commissions and committees, including the Mayoral Commission on Black New Yorkers and the Commissioner’s Advisory Group of the Internal Revenue Service.

Mr. Mitchell has received numerous awards and citations, including the AICPA Gold Medal for Distinguished Service—the accounting profession’s highest award, the National Association of Black Accountants Outstanding Achievement Award, 1990, 1977, and Harvard Business School’s Alumni Achievement Award, 1995.

Mr. Mitchell was named one of the top 125 People of Impact in Accounting over the last 125 years in the June 2012 edition of the Journal of Accountancy.

A native of Jamaica, West Indies, Mr. Mitchell now resides in Boca Raton, Florida, with his wife, Carole. They have two adult children.

For more information, please contact the Commencement Office at 516.877.4695 or visit the Adelphi Commencement website.