About Us
Kelly Penticost
Jordan Martin
Carl Davis, CPA – Managing Partner
Carl has practiced accounting since 1985. His experience includes nine years at big four firm Deloitte where he was involved in audit and tax assignments for a variety of industries. In addition, he has served in CFO and COO roles in private industry, including manufacturing and hospitality.
Carl began his public practice in 2005. Davis, Brown & Company PLLC was formed in 2008 when Craig Brown joined the firm. Carl works in all areas of the practice, with the most focus on corporate, partnerships and self-employed taxation. He also works on attestation projects including compilations and reviews.
He is a 1985 honors graduate of Western Kentucky University and passed the CPA examination in his initial attempt. He and his family have lived in Sumner County since 1986 and have been active in a variety of community organizations.
Craig Brown, CPA, MBA – Partner
Craig began his accounting career in 1994. His experience includes six years in manufacturing, seven years in retail and service related businesses as well as three years in private practice. He has served as Controller, CFO and Vice President of Finance during his career.
He joined Davis, Brown & Company PLLC as a Partner in 2008 and has been heavily involved in the growth and continued success of the firm. Craig also works in all areas of the practice, with the most focus on individual taxation, business consulting and systems design and implementation.
He is a 1994 honors graduate of High Point University and a 2005 graduate of the MBA program at Belmont University. He and his family moved to Hendersonville in 1998.
Sonja Schuette, CPA – Partner
Sonja began preparing individual, business, estate and trust tax returns in 2009 while she lived in Sierra Vista, Arizona. She became an Enrolled Agent in 2013 and her enjoyment of taxation led her to earn her CPA license in 2015. Upon being licensed Sonja and her family moved to Portland, Tennessee working at a CPA firm in downtown Nashville. Sonja joined our firm at our Portland office in January of 2017 where she provides various accounting services for individuals, small businesses, and farmers.
Matt Denney, CPA – Partner
Matt began his career as a CPA in 2005 and honed his skills serving privately held businesses for national and regional firms until January 2021 when he joined Davis, Brown & Company PLLC as a partner. He has a broad range of experience serving clients in the healthcare, manufacturing, retail, construction, and real estate industries. He guides his clients through the complexities of the tax code and counsels them on matters related to tax planning, business acquisitions, and personal income taxation.
A native of Hendersonville, Matt completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of Tennessee before returning to begin his career in downtown Nashville. In his tour through the complex world of public accounting, he has worked with a wide range of clients; from Fortune 100 companies and multi-national investment banks, as well as small to large privately held businesses in the southeast.
Matt resides in Gallatin with his wife (Lindsay) and three children (Caroline, Andrew, and Luke)
Ann Love Ayre, CPA
Ann Love practices primarily in taxation, focusing on corporations, individuals, estates and trusts. After graduating with honors in 1979 from Western Kentucky University, her career includes five years experience with Deloitte, and twenty years practicing in Hendersonville, the last 13 of which she had her own practice. She sold her practice to Carl Davis in 2005 and continues to practice in the firm. She is a life-long resident of Gallatin, TN.
Andrew Still, CPA
Andrew began his accounting career in 2014 in the Nashville area. His prior experience included working with large regional accounting firms as well as 4 years working with foreign clients while living in Canada. He has a broad range of knowledge in individual, business, corporate and foreign tax filing requirements.
Andrew completed his undergraduate accounting degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and his Master of Accountancy from Belmont University. He is originally from Dickson, TN but now resides in Gallatin with his wife (Amanda) and four children (Nash, Wolf, Navy, and Ever).
Kelly Penticost- Firm Controller
Kelly began her accounting career in 1999 which includes general ledger, inventory, and management experience in the manufacturing and healthcare fields. In 2002, while working full-time, she obtained an Associate’s Degree from Nashville State Community College in Computer Accounting. She graduated from Lipscomb University in 2005 with a Bachelor’s degree in General Accounting and a minor in Ethics. Kelly joined our Hendersonville office in 2019 where she provides project management, bookkeeping, administrative needs, and tax preparation services to our clients.
Jordan Martin – Senior Accountant
Jordan is a graduate of Hendersonville High School. She attended Volunteer State Community College before transferring to Austin Peay State University to obtain a degree in Finance. Her prior experience includes calculating retirement benefits for the TN Department of Treasury. Jordan works on bookkeeping and assisting in the administrative needs of both our Hendersonville and Portland offices.
Peyton Becker, CPA, MBA
Peyton Becker is a Goodlettsville native and an accountant at Davis Brown and Company PLLC. He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a business degree in accounting in 2022. Prior to being with the company full time, he interned with Davis Brown and Company during his last year at Tennessee Tech. He focuses primarily on preparing tax returns and bookkeeping.
Shannon Gibson – Front Office Coordinator
Shannon joined the Hendersonville Office in 2022 bringing with her office management, client services management, tax office management, and bookkeeping experience. She oversees the Firm’s tax processing workroom and manages the Front Desk along with answering the phone. Shannon also provides bookkeeping services to clients and is Quickbooks® Online Certified. She is busy mom of 4 kids and a few fur babies.
Destiny Christian, M.ACC – Accountant
Destiny is a proud Sumner County, TN native, she began her academic journey at Vol State before earning both a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Accounting from Middle Tennessee State University. Destiny entered the accounting field in 2023 as an intern with Davis, Brown & Co., and quickly advanced to a full-time role as an accountant in 2024. Her expertise includes preparing tax returns, managing sales and liquor tax filings, handling bookkeeping, ensuring Tennessee state compliance, and much more. Outside of work, Destiny enjoys watching soccer and spending time with family and friends.
Marianne Murphy – Director of Payroll Operations
Marianne currently serves as the Director of Payroll Operations. She graduated from Broome Community College in Binghamton, NY with an Associate’s Degree in Criminal Justice and earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, TN.
She has over 10 years of payroll experience and joined First Pay in 2023, bringing a unique and well-rounded perspective to our payroll operations.
Let Us Help:
Dear Friend,
I have a feeling I know why you’re reading this right now.
You need more time in your day. Running a business is extremely demanding and there just isn’t enough time in the day to keep all the plates from spinning out of control. What you need most right now is more proactive help. You need the benefit of business advising to straighten up your business finances and tax strategy. As soon as possible. In fact, yesterday would have been ideal to get our business advising expertise. Am I close?
We get it. We’ve worked with plenty of businesses who have to cobble together 9 different software programs to keep everything straight, or who just wash their hands of it all and put everything on the credit card … and then try to clean up every year after the fact. And they know that this is no way to properly monitor profit margins, cash controls, account management, tax strategy, and all of the myriad components of an effective financial system for a business. They need business advising support.
Perhaps this is your story too. Or perhaps you’ve reached a stage of development in your business that you want to pass the baton of accounting to another expert business advising team so your team can focus on what they do best: making sales and taking care of customers.
Or are you just starting your business and want to begin on the right foot?
Whatever the reason, we want you to know that our business advising team has been diligently and effectively taking care of the accounting needs of countless organizations in a wide variety of industries—discreetly and expertly handling the ongoing financial management of tax burdens, payroll, bookkeeping, and other comprehensive accounting services while providing expertise in business planning, coaching, and strategic consulting that many businesses need.
Because here’s a certain truth as it relates to taxes and your business: The State and Federal Government would love to have more of your business’s hard-earned money in their accounts. And yes, even though it’s painful, none of us begrudge paying our legal and fair share of taxes. But the problem is that regular business owners, like you, are missing out on legal and safe deductions to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars in unclaimed refunds every year.
It doesn’t have to be this way. You don’t have to hand more dollars over to the government than they require just because you don’t know their rules as well as they do. You don’t have to live in a constant state of anxiety over the state of your books, feeling guilty about the time you should be devoting to keeping your business profitable.
In fact, to help you find answers to your questions, I’ve compiled some resources in the last couple of years for business people like you in response to the specific tax and accounting questions I’ve received from my clients.
Click the button above to take your first step.
Talk again soon,
Davis, Brown and Company PLLC
PS — When you fill out the form, we’ll also add you to our weekly email series on “Real World” Strategy for small business owners. Our readers enthusiastically forward these to their colleagues and peers all the time, because they’re not your standard tax and business advising tips.
PPS — Already want to come in? I don’t blame you … many people are fed up with trying to manage their financials on their own. Our schedule is very full … but if you call us at (615) 822-0231, we’ll give you two options for coming in right away. We will NOT make dealing with an accountant as painful as dealing with your books has already been!