Former CPA here too, was in management a long time before I “baristaFIRE’d” to being a teacher. Adjuncted for awhile but I think you’re treated like shit as adjunct no matter the school or department. I now teach at a teaching college as tenure track. Our college and department routinely hires tenured business instructor EdDs plus practitioner experience because of the reasons you describe. We’ve taken on people as NTT with a promise to go TT after terminal degree is obtained.

Are we common in higher Ed? No, and the pay is not great. But teaching skill is valued more than the number of academic feathers. There are still minimum scholar requirements, and promotion and tenure does require evidence of continuing academic engagement and prowess, but in every department of my universe teaching skills are valued, taught, and skill development is funded.

I got a PhD, and am actually in the minority of terminal degrees in my department - much larger proportion of EDD.

So I say if teaching is the most important thing to you, find a school where it is also important to them, and they probably will value your EDD over a PhD. If you want to be at a particular school, find out what they value and offer it to them.

If it’s the former, message me privately, we actually have a TT slot opening up next year and your qualifications and goals seem well aligned. The problem with higher Ed job matching vs business is that the matching isn’t as easy as looking at 10 firms in town and picking fit that way — without even thinking about moving. Seems that in higher Ed Mohammed has to go to the mountain.