Zac Riddle is a certified public accountant and is currently employed as Assistant Controller with Medical Properties Trust, Inc. in Birmingham. Prior to joining Medical Properties Trust, he was employed with BBVA Compass Bank and KPMG LLP. He serves on the boards of REV Birmingham, McWane Science Center, Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Canterbury United Methodist Church trustees and March of Dimes Alabama Market.
Riddle is a 2005 graduate of The University of Alabama with a Bachelor of Science in business and commerce administration and a computer-based honors program minor. He received his Master’s degree in accountancy from the university in 2006. At UA, he is the current National Alumni Association District 4 Vice President, a member of the Division of Community Affairs Advisory Board and Student Life Leadership Council and on the Beta Delta Chapter board of trustees for the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity. As an undergraduate, he was the 2004–2005 chair of the Blackburn Institute and recipient of the Sullivan and Bloom Premier Awards. He lives in Birmingham with his wife, Elizabeth, a speech-language pathologist, and their four children.
Can you share a bit about your background and your relationship to the Blackburn Institute?
I grew up in Trussville, Alabama, and graduated from Jefferson County International Baccalaureate School in 2001. I started at The University of Alabama in August 2001 and was accepted into the Blackburn Institute in the spring of 2002. As a Blackburn student, I participated in all of the Blackburn events, travel experiences, and symposiums that my schedule allowed. I was elected student chairperson for the 2004-2005 academic year and appreciated the opportunity to represent Blackburn students to the Advisory Board and the University. I graduated with a BS in C&BA (accounting major and computer-based honors program minor) in 2005 and stayed at the University for a one-year Master of Accountancy that I completed in August 2006. I served on the Blackburn Institute Advisory Board from May 2011 through December 2014, and attending Blackburn Symposium has been an annual occurrence almost every year since 2002.
I began my professional career in public accounting at the international accounting firm, KPMG LLP, where I worked in the audit practice and served public and private companies mostly in Alabama. I obtained my license as a certified public accountant in 2007. In 2012, I took a job with BBVA Compass, where I managed the regulatory reporting function of the financial reporting group, including regular communications with regulators at the Federal Reserve Bank and auditors. At the time, BBVA Compass was the U.S. branch of the international Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria headquartered in Bilbao, Spain. In 2015, I left the bank and began work in the accounting group at Medical Properties Trust (“MPT”), a self-advised real estate investment trust formed in 2003 to acquire and develop net-leased hospital facilities. From its inception in Birmingham, Alabama, MPT has grown to become one of the world’s largest owners of hospital real estate. My current role is assistant controller at MPT.
On a personal note, I am married to Elizabeth Watson Riddle, whom I met at UA. Elizabeth is a 2003 and 2005 UA graduate in the areas of communicative disorders and speech pathology. We live in Mountain Brook, Alabama and have four children: Camilla (17), Watson (15), Emmaline (12), and Adelaide (8).
In addition to the serving as the Chair of Fellows Officers for the Blackburn Institute, I serve on the UA National Alumni Association Board as the Vice-President of District 4 (which covers Jefferson and Shelby counties), as a member of the Division of Community Impact Board of Advisors, and on the Student Life Leadership Council. In Birmingham, I serve on the boards of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, McWane Science Center, REV Birmingham, and March of Dimes Alabama Market. I am also a member of the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham.
What’s one experience in Blackburn that has shaped you the most?
The Burt Jones travel experiences were some of the most meaningful experiences I had as a Blackburn student. Not only did we have good conversation with various stakeholders in the communities that we visited, but being away from other distractions on campus allowed the Blackburn students (and others on the trips with us) time to discuss what we had heard and learned each day on the respective trips. There are many highlights from those experiences, but at the top of my list are a private concert from singer/songwriter and Muscle Shoals, Alabama, native, Mark Narmore, at the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and breaking bread with community members in Marion, Alabama, with fried catfish as the main course of a delicious community meal.
In those conversations and discussions, a constant reminder was who is not in the room or who was not at the table. We were asked to consider what voices were missing from the conversation and to recognize that the loudest voice doesn’t always tell the full story.
The 2005 Frank Nix Lecture was also a highlight of my time as a UA student, and the opportunity to share in the introduction of former Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is something for which I’ll forever be grateful.
How do you and the other officers plan to work together to support Fellows?
I am excited for the opportunity to work with outstanding incoming officers Royce Dickerson and Sydney Gabrielson to continue the good work of the outgoing officers, Trey Hayes, Taylor Falls, and Kyle Van Frank. I see great benefit in the incoming officers spanning several years of Blackburn student classes from me in 2002 to Sydney in 2017 and Royce in 2019. Additionally, we are each living in different cities and in different life stages, so we will use that as an advantage to connect with a broad group of Fellows. Networking through the generations and instilling a lifelong commitment are vital parts of the Institute’s values, and I look forward to working with team to continue to provide opportunities for continued connection points among Fellows.
What role do Fellows Officers play in advancing the Institute’s mission?
The Fellows network and active participation among Fellows is critical for the Blackburn Institute to be successful in the part of its mission to serve as agents of positive change. As Fellows Officers, we need to continue to create points of connection to the Institute throughout the Fellows network so that we facilitate a diversity of opinion (and hear from a broad cross-section of Fellows) and support the call to action. More connection with and learning from other Fellows not only makes the Institute stronger, but it also pushes us to continue to create positive change.
The Fellows Officers also have a responsibility and opportunity to assist the Institute staff and Advisory Board in development work so that resources continue to grow to support the work of Fellows throughout the network.
If you could share one message with current and future Blackburn Fellows, what would it be?
I encourage Blackburn Fellows to find opportunities to connect with the Institute and stay involved. I know that there are many competing commitments for our time and attention, but we are stronger and at our best when we have more Fellows in the room, more people at the table, and more voices in the conversation.