Irene R. Marshall, an audit partner at Mitchell & Titus L.L.P., is currently the only African-American female partner in a regional or national certified public accounting firm in Philadelphia. A C.P.A., she is in charge of the Employee Benefit Plan Practice at Mitchell & Titus, a member firm of Ernst & Young Global Ltd. She also is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee and chairperson of the firm’s Quality Control Committee. “The only challenge I can say there is in not just being the only African-American female partner in the firm but just being a woman in general, is making sure that my voice and opinions are heard.”

Bert Mitchell, the firm’s founder and CEO, and Michael Horsey, managing partner of the Philadelphia office, were instrumental in her ascension from staff accountant to partner, but her parents influenced her work ethic by demonstrating that hard work yields success. Marshall tries to instill that drive in the women she mentors as co-founder of Mitchell & Titus’ s Women’s Initiative Program. “It is very important for women to enter the accounting and finance profession. We want to see women in key positions in public accounting and Fortune 500 companies,” she says. “If women do not continue to enter the profession in consistent proportions to men, the opportunities to see them in those positions will be limited.”

Marshall graduated magna cum laude from Lincoln University with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance. She later established a lecture series at the school to educate students about career opportunities in the field. She donates her expertise to Highway Word of Faith, a religious organization in Pennsylvania and Delaware, and is a member of the Women’s Initiative Committee at the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania.