2024 Virginia CFO Awards: Small Business: Joel Flax, Cohen Investment Group

Joel Flax hadn’t planned on serving as a chief financial officer after retiring from a full-fledged career as an accountant and tax advisor. But it also wasn’t the first time he made an unexpected career shift.

In college, he had wanted to be a sportswriter. But shortly after graduating from William & Mary with a psychology degree and getting his first job in writing, he decided to find something better suited to his talents.

“I discovered that I couldn’t write,” he remembers. “I would write something and read it afterwards, and go, ‘Eh, it’s horrible.’”

He was good with numbers and intrigued by real estate, though, so Flax got his real estate license and trained as an accountant.

In 1978, he joined assurance, tax and advisory services firm Dixon Hughes Goodman (now Forvis Mazars). He stayed there for almost 40 years, becoming a partner and Virginia real estate leader for the firm, serving as a firmwide resource on real estate and related taxes.

A member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants, Flax served as chairman of the AICPAC Real Estate Conference Committee for eight years and as a board member of the Hampton Roads Association for Commercial Real Estate.

After he retired from Dixon Hughes Goodman, Flax recalls, “My wife said, ‘You need to find something to do. You’re not going to sit around the house.’” One of his contacts, the founder of Cohen Investment Group, a commercial real estate investment firm in Virginia Beach, happened to be looking for an acting CFO.

Flax joined the firm in 2016, going on to become executive vice president and chief financial officer. He has relished the new challenges and opportunities that have come with this unexpected chapter of his long career. His role involves analyzing properties, conducting cost-segregation studies, working with third-party property management on accounting and collaborating with Cohen’s internal accounting team on year-end accounting procedures and Schedule K-1 tax documents for investment clients.

Flax has found it satisfying to be involved in the process of improving assets to generate good returns for investors, which frees him from the time pressures inherent in accounting work. He has also found that moving into a CFO role from a CPA role has sparked his appreciation for the importance of collegial relationships in the work of investing.

“The CFO is not the person behind the curtain working on numbers with your head down,” he says. “You’re also working with people, and you’ve got to be able to do both to be successful.”

Transitioning into a more people-oriented position as an older employee has its particular benefits: “Most satisfying is meeting and working with younger people. They keep you vibrant and relevant. And at the same time I’m able to give them knowledge, and we’re able to work as peers. It’s been very rewarding.”

Flax’s colleagues appreciate the wealth of experience and the positive attitude he brings to the firm. Cohen’s office and corporate accounts manager, Rhendi Ross, describes Flax as “a remarkable person who genuinely deserves this recognition” as a 2024 Virginia CFO Award winner.

“I felt strongly that Joel deserved this award because of his exceptional leadership, extensive knowledge in finance and real estate-related transactions and his genuine care and commitment to all of us here at Cohen Investment Group,” she says. “His dedication to maintaining and sharing his expertise in finance is truly admirable.”

Also admirable is Flex’s dedication to his family and community. He is proud of always having been present at his son’s and daughter’s sports games and ballet recitals, and of serving as president of Beth El Temple Foundation.

“I just think it’s everyone’s responsibility to leave a positive mark,” he says.