Arthur Ayres joined the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau (PHLCVB) in May 2017 as the Vice President of Finance where his primary responsibility is long-term financial planning and analysis aimed at identifying risks, opportunities, and options for the PHLCVB. He is charged with overseeing treasury, accounting practices and internal control systems, maintaining relationships with financial institutions and stakeholders, and liaising with outside legal counsel relative to financial matters and corporate, freelance and consulting contracts. He is also responsible for overseeing the IT infrastructure and systems.

He possesses over 27 years of experience within the finance industry, having spent eleven years at KPMG, LLP.  As a Senior Manager, he maintained primary responsibility for supervising, reviewing and managing engagement profitability for financial statement audits and audits of federal grants for publicly and privately held entities. His professional portfolio included managing audits of not-for-profit and governmental entities with endowment and investment holdings in excess of $1 billion. Prior to working at KPMG, Arthur was a Senior Auditor with Eisner, LLP in New York which followed an 8-year tenure at the American Foundation for the Blind.

Arthur has significant years of proven leadership in managing a professional auditing staff. His public accounting experience includes managing multiple teams and projects simultaneously, as well as interaction with C-level executives and presentation of audit results to audit committees and governing boards.

In addition, Arthur is a member of several professional organizations including the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA), and the National Association of Black Accountants. He sits on the PICPA Council, and he also serves on the boards of Temple University’s School of Tourism and Hospitality Management Board of Visitors, the African American Museum in Philadelphia (AAMP), the Medgar Evers College Auxiliary Fund, the Peter Spencer Family Life Foundation, the Charles T. Davidson Scholarship Fund, and as Chairman of the Finance Committee for the Mother African Union Church (Wilmington DE).

Arthur is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), who graduated Magna Cum Laude and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and Entrepreneurial Management, from the City University of New York Graduate Center (CUNY), in New York, New York. He matriculated at Medgar Evers College (CUNY) – Class of 1993. He later received his Master of Arts degree in Economics from Brooklyn College (CUNY) in Brooklyn, New York. He is licensed in New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.