“I’d go through cancer again before I’d go back to not having confidence.”

Accounting ARC

With Arpan Grewal

Center for Accounting Transformation

When Kelly Mann left her public accounting job, she had no clients, no roadmap, and no guarantee of success. But what she did have was a vision—and a willingness to take risks. Today, she is the CEO of AuditMiner, a groundbreaking software company that simplifies 401(k) audits for CPA firms across the country. 

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“I was always told to stop being a bull in a china shop,” Mann recalls. “But I realized I was okay with being a bull—I just needed to leave the china shop.” That realization set her on the path to entrepreneurship. 

In 2020, Mann was preparing to launch AuditMiner when she was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. Facing both a global pandemic and a personal health battle, she nearly gave up.