Watts Says "Happy Retirement" to Long-Time CFO, Jim Cahill

March 28, 2024

On March 27, 2024, Watts had a luncheon to congratulate Jim Cahill on his retirement.  Both Edward Watts and Tina Mellott had more than a few kind words to say about Jim.  Ed mentioned he was most impressed not only with how well regarded Jim is by his staff, but also by people outside of the firm, like our bank manager and outside accounting firm.  “Jim’s budgets were always spot on and that’s not an easy task.  Not everyone is well versed in this aspect of the business, but it is so very important.  It always made loan processing and financial audits easier knowing that Jim was spoken of so highly by these people and had built up a level of trust with the bank.”  Tina Mellott continued to say that Jim has always been a good mentor, encouraging her to take on more advanced work throughout the years, making the transition into her current role seamless.  “Jim was always a good listener and took my suggestions seriously.  He never made me feel like what I had to say wasn’t relevant, and actively encouraged me to further my education, positioning me for growth in the firm.  When we hired for Jim’s role, we had been using a patchwork of Excel and various job cost tracking systems to do the accounting.  I was part of the interviewing process, and what really made me lean towards Jim was that he was so down to earth, and also came with a lot of higher-level accounting experience I just didn’t have at the time.  Ed Sr. knew I would be working closely with this person and took my suggestion into consideration.  He was a very welcome addition to the team.  During the first few months of him coming to Watts Jim and I worked tirelessly together to implement a new fully integrated accounting system, which was sorely needed.  It went so well, I’ve been able to get us through several more software conversions over the years without much down time at all, and I owe it all to Jim’s guidance.”  

Jim plans on spending his retirement traveling a bit and playing guitar, and we wish him the best as he enters this next chapter of his life!