When Jeff Rogers moved to Bellevue in 1999, the city was beginning to emerge as a regional business hub. Major companies like Microsoft were establishing a strong corporate presence, shaping Bellevue’s identity as the center for commerce on the Eastside. During this time, local visionaries such as Kemper Freeman were transforming the landscape through retail developments, restaurants, and community events like Snowflake Lane. Amid this growth, Jeff founded OneAccord with a small team focused on a mission: Building Value, Built on Values.

From the start, OneAccord prioritized growing through relationships over trendy marketing or national ad campaigns. Opportunities came through relationships, word-of-mouth, and partnerships with people who shared their values. That approach has fueled steady, organic growth, with trust and compassion forming the backbone of the company’s culture. The firm recently celebrated its 25-year milestone with a special event at the Bellevue Club.

“Whenever we bring in new people, the conversation starts with our three foundational core values: truth, compassion, and service,” Jeff explains. “If someone doesn’t genuinely align with those values, they’re simply not the right fit, regardless of how impressive their résumé might be. Experience like owning a business, managing a full P&L, leading teams, or going through an exit is valuable, but those are skills and milestones, not values.”

In 2024, OneAccord acquired Eighth Avenue Advisors, a growth and operations consulting firm founded by Nick Anderson in 2022. Following the transition, Nick became CEO and 50% partner of OneAccord, bringing 25 years of banking and consulting experience along with a natural alignment of values, the partnership felt seamless.

“Nick brings a particular strength in cutting through complexity and distilling information down to what’s essential, making it clear and actionable for the people who need to hear it,” Jeff says. “Having truth alone isn’t enough. The truth must be delivered in a way that someone can hear it, which is where compassion comes in. From there, we can begin to form a plan.” Jeff explains.

“And service means we’re always asking, ‘Are we truly serving all stakeholders well?’” Nick adds.

  

Nick’s story is marked not only by leadership and vision, but also by resilience. Widowed in 2016 after the sudden loss of his first wife, Darlynn, he remarried Ariana in August 2023, blending their families of two boys and two girls.

Jeff reflects, “There’s been difficulty in Nick’s life that far surpasses what most people would perceive. If they saw the beauty of his family today, they’d see how intentional he and Ariana have been in building their businesses together and bringing their kids into the learning process. That’s one of the attributes I admire most about him.”

A Seattle transplant, Nick proposed to Ariana on the dock at Meydenbauer Bay, and their kids are involved in sports and school programs like Running Start through Bellevue College. Their daughters have both been involved with community traditions such as Snowflake Lane and one daughter recently earned her real estate license, continuing a legacy of entrepreneurial spirit. Ariana runs her own interior design firm, Ariana Designs & Interiors (ariid.com), which is also based on the Eastside.

Entrepreneurship runs in Nick’s family. He recalls his mother and aunt running a successful Northgate salon for 20 years, growing it into a thriving business with 20 chairs. When they decided to close in the mid-1990s, they simply shut the doors, walking away from something that could have been sold for a significant value. “She spent two decades building it, and then it was just gone,” Nick recalls.

That memory fuels his commitment today, especially amid the “great generational wealth transfer,” often referred to as the silver tsunami.

He sees firsthand how many businesses, whether small or large, risk losing the value they’ve created if they aren’t thoughtfully prepared for transition. While OneAccord’s clients are typically larger than his mom’s salon, Nick and his team are passionate about serving all entrepreneurs. Even when a business isn’t the right fit for their services, they make a point to offer guidance or connect owners to trusted resources in their network.

“Deals will come and go, but it’s the relationships that matter most. There are thousands of incredible businesses in this region, with many owned by baby boomers who are looking to exit themselves. The challenge here is that there aren’t enough qualified buyers to take over and effectively run these companies. Whether by design – or default - an exit or transition will eventually happen, so business owners might as well be in the driver’s seat and design it. Most privately owned companies weren’t built with an exit in mind, so thoughtful planning is essential to protect employees, customers, and the legacy owners have created,” Jeff explains.

At OneAccord, the team guides owners through this process relationally, working alongside businesses to help them stay locally owned, preserve their culture, and prepare the next generation to carry them forward, turning areas of uncertainty into opportunities for lasting value.

A frequent challenge they encounter is owner dependency, which is when the daily operations and key relationships rely so heavily on its owner that performance drops if they step away. Through strengthening people, processes, and systems, OneAccord crafts a strategic roadmap that allows companies to achieve their goals, which in turn readies them for an eventual transition.

When speaking with them, it’s apparent that their warmth and empathy extend into their work, fostering an environment where business owners feel supported while navigating complex transitions.

One area that Nick really lights up is talking about their future goals. “It’s important and exciting that OneAccord becomes partner owned, like law firms and CPA firms tend to have many partners in those firms who own some equity in the company. That excites me! Our goal is to be there in three years. When Jeff talked about those first 25 years being organic relationally driven growth, I see the next 25 years as being equally relational but also very strategic. There's a growth plan, and the first destination for that is partner ownership. In fact, a few of our partners live in and around Bellevue already,” he says.

Nick is equally passionate about the ability to serve local companies, organizations and business owners. “Oftentimes these are owned by families who are living right here in our community. To be able to help them pass their companies down from generation to generation in ownership and with leadership in their company - It excites me to continue to be able to do that over the next 25 years,” he says with a smile.

Jeff and Nick both have big hearts for the next generation. Nick imagines OneAccord to be a place where local college graduates who are looking to go into a career of consulting, business strategy, or business operations would really love to work as their first job right out of college.

“I’d love to be a steppingstone for those young folks even if they want to go build a crew of their own after a few years. I’ve watched Jeff give so much of himself over the years to the next generation and that’s a very admirable quality,” Nick says.

“And on the other end of the demographic spectrum, we'd also like to be a place for those who are successfully retired or have left their careers but are still looking for meaningful work and have so much wisdom and experience left to give,” he adds.

OneAccord is now proudly headquartered in Kirkland and is affectionately dubbed their “Intergalactic Headquarters.”   They are very intentional about keeping their business rooted on the Eastside. Even with Nick leading the way, Jeff’s influence will always remain a defining part of OneAccord’s foundation.

Their connection to Bellevue runs deep. Jeff’s daughters all grew up in Bellevue, and he spent years coaching youth sports through Bellevue Boys & Girls Clubs and Lake Hills Soccer, exposing his kids to diverse experiences and instilling a sense of community. Spurred by Amy’s vision, they have taken their family to Uganda for mission trips to help build schools and expand their own perspectives beyond the Bellevue bubble.

Nick, a Seattle native, has made Bellevue his home. As Nick reflects, “I just love this community so much, and I want to feel proud and happy when I see a client out to dinner and when they invite us to sit at their table and do life with them. That’s what makes all of this worthwhile.”

For Nick and Jeff, the work is never just about the numbers, it’s about the people they serve.