Brian Rust

Controller, Director of Finance & Accounting

Brian Rust is the Controller and Director of Finance & Accounting for Synergy, providing supporting services to Synergy’s clients, staff, and executive leadership. In this role, he is responsible for the company’s financial functions including accounting, internal audit, treasury, financial planning and analysis, and tax compliance. Brian brings 15+ years of accounting, financial, and business management experience with him to the Synergy leadership team. He began his career in 2004 at two of the nation’s largest financial institutions, Golden West Financial and Wachovia Bank. Over the course of 4 years, he served in a variety of business development, operational, and leadership roles during a period of rapid market growth, a $26B+ merger, and growing regulatory uncertainty. In 2008, he left his role as a Mortgage Banking Director at Wachovia to start two successful professional service companies located in Central Florida. As the financial crisis continued to grow, he and his wife built a boutique brokerage and consulting company to serve the need for the disposition of distressed real estate assets. Those two companies experienced rapid growth and success in the market, and eventually diversified their service capability to include asset management and compliance services. In 2014, they sold their businesses and joined the team at CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA), a top 10 public accounting firm with $1B+ in annual revenue and over 150,000 clients. He spent the next 6 years with CLA, delivering financial reporting, tax compliance, financial audit, and strategic consulting services to privately held businesses operating across a wide range of industries and growth stages. Brian is a native Floridian, having grown up in Clearwater, FL. He graduated from the University of Central Florida with a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting. He chose the accounting profession because he loves helping business owners tackle the strategic and operational challenges they regularly face as they make the entrepreneurial journey from startup to enterprise. Having started and grown his own businesses before, he appreciates the need to translate the language of accounting into actionable steps that his business partners can implement in their operations. He and his wife, Maria, have three clever and intelligent children, and they enjoy investing their spare time into being together as a family. You will frequently find them exploring Florida’s parks, beaches, and lakes. Brian is located in Synergy’s Corporate Headquarters in Orlando, FL.