For Nilus Hanawalt, success in business begins with relationships and trust. As a partner at Stokes & Hanawalt PLLC, he focuses on helping individuals and businesses in the community navigate complex tax laws and plan for the future.

A defining moment in his life came the day he met his wife.

“While it was obviously an important moment for me personally — as we have been married for over five years now — it was also an important moment for me professionally,” he says. “I was working for a large CPA firm in Orlando when I met her but decided to leave the firm a while later to go and work with her dad, which is where I work today.”

Nilus says losing his father when he was a young man deeply influenced the way he leads and lives his life.

“My dad was someone I admired greatly and looked up to,” he says. “Losing him when I was just graduating from college left me without the person I trusted most for life advice. As a result, I’ve spent more time trusting my own judgment by profiting from the examples that he set in the past.”

When asked how he hopes to be remembered, Nilus says, “A big part of being a successful CPA is the relationships you build with your clients. While I would always want to be remembered as knowledgeable, I think being thought of as personable and appreciative of your clients is equally important. I would want people to say that I was a trusted advisor that cared about his clients.”

His motivation comes, not from titles and achievements, but from helping others.

“As a tax professional, a lot of the work I do deals with things that many people are uncomfortable or anxious to deal with themselves,” he says. “This gives me an opportunity to put people’s minds at ease about things that can be very difficult to navigate without a CPA. Helping my clients and building lasting relationships is very rewarding and is a big part of what motivates me.”

Outside of work, Nilus enjoys challenging himself in new ways.

“I recently ran a half marathon in Longyearbyen, a town in Spitsbergen, Svalbard,” he says. “Longyearbyen is the world’s northernmost settlement.”