Associations
FROM: JUL-AUG 2004 ISSUE
CGA-Newfoundland and Labrador
Sandra Bishop, CGA, is currently serving the second year of a two-year term as CGA-Newfoundland and Labrador’s president. Her goals this year include continuing development of the strategic plan and expanding both student recruitment and the promotion of the Atlantic Image Enhancement campaign.
Bishop, who has lived in Newfoundland all her life, is currently the manager of financial operations with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Department of Finance, debt management division, in St. John’s. She has held the position for ten years and prior to that, worked for a CGA public practice firm. Her two sons Brian, 30, and Robert, 25, and one-year-old granddaughter, Kaitlyn, live in Edmonton.
Bishop received her designation in 1998 and became involved with CGA-Newfoundland and Labrador immediately after receiving her designation. She has served on several committees and was first elected to the board of governors in 1998-99, also serving on the CGA-Canada national education committee in 2000-02. She has been on the executive of CGA-Newfoundland and Labrador since 1999.
Serving with Bishop on the CGA-Newfoundland and Labrador executive are A. Terrance Hutchings, B.Voc.Ed., CGA, first vice-president;Claude Howell, B.Comm., CGA, second vice-president;Trevor S. McCormick, B.Comm., CGA, secretary; Kevin J. Antle, B.Comm., CGA, treasurer; C. Wade Rogers, B.Ed., FCGA, National Education Committee representative; David R. White, B.Comm., FCGA, CGA-Canada board representative; and Gordon D. Cook, FCGA, National Professional Standards Committee representative.
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Recognition in the Bahamas
The president of CGA-Bahamas has a message for CGAs working in the cooler northern climes of Canada.
“It is very important that Canadian CGAs know that they have affiliates in other jurisdictions and Canada is not the only place where the designation is known and recognized,” says Louis Butler, BA, CA, CGA. “In the Bahamas, CGAs have had practice rights for years.”
Butler left the Bahamas briefly to complete a BA in accounting at Valdosta State University in Georgia, and then qualified as a CGA in 1996.
He is now a senior manager with the accounting firm of Moore Stephens Butler & Taylor, and a principal of B & T Corporate Managers Ltd., a licensed financial services provider. He has more than 14 years of public practice experience in the audits of banks and trusts, shipping, investment companies, mutual funds, and retail businesses, and also handles his firm’s management consulting and corporate services divisions.
Butler currently lives in Nassau. He is active in the community, serving as co-chairman of the Drug Action service and an evaluator for the Bahamas Junior Achievement, and hails from the only Bahamian family to boast four sons who are all accountants. Butler has one son, Jamal, 15.
One of the challenges facing CGA-Bahamas, says Butler, is to further the development of the Northern Caribbean CGA region, an area with a relatively small number of members. By networking with members and students from the Turks and Caicos Islands, as well as the Cayman Islands, Butler hopes to increase the area’s overall participation in CGA-Bahamas.
The Association would also like to eventually incorporate Jamaica into this region, says Butler, in order to capitalize on the area’s potential as a lucrative market for CGA International, in terms of student and member recruitment.
Butler is also one of three CGAs who sit on the 11-member Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA), the local professional body, to which he was elected in June 2003, and also represents the Bahamas on the International Forum Committee.
Serving with Butler on the CGA-Bahamas executive are Mary Mitchell, CGA, past president; Roger Forbes, CGA, vice-president; Richard Sands, FCGA, second vice-president;Tim Brown, CGA, secretary and treasurer; and Maxwell Sweeting, CGA, director.
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Up to the Challenge in Bermuda
There aren’t many CGAs who can say they got their start in the Association on a dare, but Colin Daniel, CGA, is an exception. Daniel, who was appointed president of CGA-Bermuda in December 2003, said he was challenged to “put up or shut up,” and rose to the occasion by joining the board of CGA-Barbados in 1994. Daniel obtained his CGA designation in 1990, after receiving the first CGA-Canada International student bursary the previous year.
Daniel and his wife Kathryn, a graphic artist, live in Pembroke with their eight-year-old son, Nicholas. The family is originally from Barbados, but spent three years in Whitby, Ont., before moving to Bermuda in 2001. Daniel is currently the financial controller at BCS Agencies Ltd., which operates as the exclusive agent for IBM in Bermuda. Prior to that, he spent two years as the financial controller for Bermuda Investment Advisory Services. From 1998 to 2000, during his family’s stint in Canada, Daniel worked as a manager of financial reporting at the Bank of Montreal.
One of Daniel’s main goals as president is to spearhead CGA-Bermuda’s ongoing campaign to obtain public practice rights for all accounting professionals in Bermuda. Another challenge facing CGA-Bermuda is the resolution of legacy review issues with offshore affiliates.
Daniel first got involved with the Association in 1994 in Barbados, where he served as a board member from 1994 to 1998. During that period he held various positions within CGA-Barbados, including secretary and second vice-president. After moving to Bermuda in 2001, Daniel served as vice-president of CGA-Bermuda until December 2003, when he assumed the role of president. Daniel is also a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Barbados, and was awarded his fellowship with that organization last year.
Serving with Daniel on the executive are William Igham, CGA, past president; Michael Crichlow, CGA, secretary; Gary Pitman, FCGA; Wendy Irwin, CGA; Bruce Wilkie, FCGA; John Kesseram, CGA; and Jose DaSilveira, CGA.
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High Profile in B.C.
Len Pietrzykowski, FCGA, and president of CGA-BC for 2004 says he has four major priorities for the year ahead: advocacy and promotion; the Association’s issues program; implementing the new strategic plan; and building better services for members.
“With the strategic plan, we’ve set some high goals to achieve by 2008,” he says. “The matter of building better member services is a very important one for me, as our members are our customers and we are always working on their behalf in everything we do.”
One initiative underway for members is the completion of Web-based CGA Direct, which gives members access to many online services.
As president, Pietrzykowski has been travelling a lot, speaking to students, business groups, and community organizations across the province on issues that affect British Columbians.
“Our advocacy and promotion program is designed to give our designation the highest profile in the province. We did a survey that showed 94 per cent of British Columbians hold CGAs in higher regard than any other professional group and ahead of our competitors,” he states proudly. “We are the largest professional accounting body in B.C. and have had full public practice rights since 1951.”
Pietrzykowski’s own career began in a small public practice office in Victoria, B.C. in 1967 — the same year he entered the CGA program. “I completed my exams in 1974, but my certificate is dated 1975 because I had to complete a public speaking course,” he recalls. “I had moved to Courtenay and a course wasn’t available at the time; I didn’t appreciate how important that course would prove to be until I became involved in CGA-BC years later,” he says.
A dedicated public practitioner, Pietrzykowski worked at a firm for 10 years, and then became the comptroller for a local insurance agency. But he was drawn to public practice. Within two years, he started his own practice, which became Pietrzykowski Bay & Associates Inc. in 2001. “I have enjoyed my career and encourage others who want a rounded and challenging experience in accounting to try public practice,” he says.
His involvement with CGA grew over time, as he held a number of positions in the Upper Vancouver Island chapter. He received the J.M. Macbeth award in 1993 for outstanding participation in chapter work, and was elected to the CGA-BC Board of Governors the same year. Pietrzykowski then chaired the Practice Review Committee for two years, was a member of the Appeals Committee, and was elected second chair in 2001. At the national level, he is a member of CGA-Canada’s Board of Directors and the Finance Committee.
Serving with Pietrzykowski on the CGA-BC executive are Rita Estock, first vice-president; Moe Jones, second vice-president; and past president, Colin Bruintjes.
Pietrzykowski says he has always found the dedication of the Association’s members and staff to be inspirational. “They demonstrate such great respect for the designation; it has motivated me to become increasingly involved,” he says. “It was a great honour for me to receive my FCGA in 2003,” he adds.
Pietrzykowski and his wife, Fran, celebrated their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary in October 2003. The couple has two daughters,Lauren, 25, and Jennifer, 22, and one grandson, aged three. “I have lived all my life on Vancouver Island and while I have visited many nice places in Canada, I still can’t wait to get home to the Comox Valley,” he says with a smile.
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