Jan Vereen
Auction Co-Chair

Jan Vereen grew up and went to college in the San Jose Bay Area. Her first job was with Villa Montalvo Center for the Arts, a non-profit organization in the Saratoga foothills where she worked as the assistant to the Executive Director, the former conductor of the Honolulu Symphony. They coordinated art exhibits, art classes, lectures, theatre productions and an artist-in-residence program. After she was hired, their CPA decided to have her do the bookkeeping. Jan had no prior experience, but discovered that she had a knack for it. She wanted to understand what she was doing so she went back to school to study accounting.

After several years at Villa Montalvo, Jan worked for a real estate developer of high-rise office buildings where among her other responsibilities was the bookkeeping and accounting for his business. This led to the establishment of relationships with the owner’s CPAs. After six years, Jan left to raise a family. The CPAs she had met started referring clients to her for part-time work while she was staying at home. Through referrals and word of mouth this eventually grew into a full-time business.

Since the late 1970’s Jan has been working as a self-employed bookkeeper/accountant. Her many clients have included attorneys, real estate owners and developers, a mushroom farm, doctors, contractors, interior decorators, and retailers.

In 2008 Jan and her husband moved from San Francisco to Bellingham. Thanks to modern technology and the internet Jan is still able to do some part-time accounting for four long-time clients from the Bay Area. Immediately after moving to Bellingham, they became involved with the Bellingham Festival of Music. Jan’s husband served on the board until two or three years ago and she currently works on the auction committee as one of the co-chairs and recently joined the board herself.