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Early Achievement Award

Open to members within their first ten years after achieving the CA designation, this award recognizes a member's contribution to the success of their own business, employer, or clients, and/or a member's ongoing commitment to and excellence in professional, community, or other volunteer work. The award goes to a maximum of three CAs or ACIAs annually, and candidates are nominated by other CAs.

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By Ashley Hetherington and Michelle McRae, Editor

Every year the Institute grants awards for early achievement to CAs who have made significant professional accomplishments and community contributions within ten years of earning the CA designation. Three CAs have been chosen for this year’s awards: Rizwan Gehlen, CA; K. Scott Jeffery, CA; and Allan Wiekenkamp, CA.

Rizwan Gehlen, CA

Though he grew up in a family of engineers, Rizwan Gehlen knew from an early age that he’d end up choosing a different career path. Drawn to business, he ultimately made the decision to become a CA after completing an accounting co-op term at Ellis Foster while attending Simon Fraser University.

“It was my first introduction to the accounting field,” he recounts, “and the interactions at the firm made me realize that accounting was the right choice for me.”

After graduating from SFU with a bachelor of business administration degree in 2000, Rizwan continued articling with Ellis Foster in Vancouver. The following year, he moved to the Vancouver office of Ernst & Young LLP (E&Y), where he completed his articles.

“I was fortunate to article at both firms,” he says. “It exposed me to a wide range of experiences, which helped me develop as a CA.”

After earning his designation in 2002, Rizwan worked in public practice for another two years, managing a group of real estate investment and development funds, including some of the largest real estate investment portfolios in Canada. The experience proved invaluable when he left E&Y in 2004 to serve as director of finance for Park Place Seniors Living, a small company that was looking to expand.

Under Rizwan’s oversight, the company has grown substantially over the past six years—from operating four long-term care homes to operating 15 properties with over 1,500 beds. It’s now a multi-faceted company that operates seniors’ retirement residences, assisted-living facilities, and residential complex care homes in BC and Alberta.

“The growth has happened quickly,” says Rizwan, now the company’s VP of finance. “We have had to take steps along the way to make sure we expand carefully. This is healthcare—we’re dealing with people’s lives.”

As the company has grown, Rizwan has helped develop an information technology infrastructure and overseen initiatives to expand the role of IT in delivering care.

Committed as he is to ensuring that residents continue to receive the highest standards of care, Rizwan found it particularly gratifying when Park Place Seniors Living received an accreditation award in 2008 from the Canadian Council on Health Services Accreditation, the organization that oversees and sets national standards for residential care facilities and acute-care hospitals across Canada.

“We were thrilled not only to be accredited, but also to be nationally recognized as leaders in the healthcare field,” he remembers. “It was the check we needed to confirm that we were managing our growth well.”

Currently helping to provide input for a province-wide funding model for the residential care sector in BC, Rizwan has advocated on behalf of the sector at the local and regional levels, provided information and recommendations to government, and developed and presented a funding model for long-term care facilities to the CEO of the Fraser Health Authority.

These efforts are part of an overarching com-mitment to giving back.

“Coming from a family that immigrated to Canada in the mid 1970s, I witnessed the sacrifices my parents made as they built a life for us,” he remembers. “They taught me the importance of hard work, and the importance of giving back to the community.”

In 2005, Rizwan helped the Pakistan-Canada Association raise $1.2 million in relief funds after an earthquake devastated Pakistan, and helped organize the transport of blankets and tents to damaged regions. Today, he serves on several boards and committees of the BC Muslim Association, most recently leading a team that is developing a new school here in BC.

Rizwan also serves on the board of the Vancouver Aquarium, and participated in the 2009 Ride to Conquer Cancer, a two-day, 260-kilometre bike ride from Vancouver to Seattle, to raise funds for cancer research.

But his proudest accomplishment, he says, is having helped to establish a youth centre for Muslim children in Surrey in 1999, while he was attending university. This centre continues to be a vital hub in the community.

“It’s the kind of resource that wasn’t around when I was a kid, because our community was very small back then,” Rizwan explains. “It’s great for kids to have a facility like this in their community.”

Today, his own two young children are part of this community, as he and his wife Imrana are raising their family in Surrey.

“I have an amazing support system,” Rizwan says of his loved ones. “I couldn’t do what I do without the support of my parents, my wife, and my family. They give me the energy to stay
involved.”

He also gives credit to his mentors John Sims, FCA (Ellis Foster), Scott Palmer, FCA (E&Y), and Al Jina, LLB (Park Place), thanking them for the support and advice they’ve provided at various stages in his career.

“I’m honoured to receive the Early Achievement Award,” Rizwan says. “I’m always busy, so it’s nice to stop, pause, and accept the recognition.”

K. Scott Jeffery, CA

Growing up, Scott Jeffery always knew that he wanted to be a CA.

“I knew that I wanted to be a professional, ” Scott says. “My dad [Don Jeffery] is a CA, so I saw the designation as a stepping stone to being successful in business. I didn’t know which industry I wanted to work in, but I knew I could figure that out later.”

Scott enrolled at the University of BC after high school, but rather than pursuing an undergraduate degree in commerce or accounting, as one might expect, he chose instead to earn a bachelor of arts degree, majoring in history.

“I wasn’t ready to jump on the CA path yet,” he says.

After graduating from UBC in 1998, Scott started taking the prerequisite courses for the CA program. To fast-track his career development, he took courses through the ICABC’s Graduate Admission Program (now known as DAP), the BC Institute of Technology and UBC simultaneously, and finished all of his prerequisites in one year.

When it came time to find an articling position, Scott says he was fortunate to receive several offers. “The final choice was an easy one for me,” he says of his decision to article with KPMG LLP in Vancouver. “The firm was a good fit, and I connected with my interviewers during the recruiting process.”

These interviewers worked in KPMG’s resources group, which Scott joined in 1999.

“They were a dynamic group,” he says. “I could see that they enjoyed their work and had a lot of fun with each other. It had the ‘work hard, play hard’ environment I wanted to be a part of.”

During his articles, Scott was assigned to several clients in Vancouver’s mining sector, and had the opportunity to start developing expertise in this arena.

“The mining industry in Vancouver plays a huge role in the local business community and has so much to offer,” he says. “There are a lot of high-profile transactions, you’re exposed to international opportunities, and it is filled with some of the most interesting individuals you will ever meet—you encounter some real risk-takers and brilliant entrepreneurs. It’s a great sector to be a part of.”

On one of his earlier assignments, Scott had the chance to work with Ron Larter, CA, a partner in KPMG’s tax group and the firm’s lead resource tax partner in Vancouver. It proved to be a fortuitous opportunity, as it led to Scott’s recruitment into the tax group after he qualified as a CA in 2002.

Tax has turned out to be a great fit.

“I enjoyed tax even before I started articling,” he says. “While I was completing my prerequisite courses, I was drawn to the problem-solving nature of tax. Then when I started working in this area, I realized that every day is different—that every day brings a new challenge—and I love that aspect of my job.”

Having been promoted to the partnership in October 2009, Scott now has the best of both worlds, serving as the lead domestic tax partner for KPMG’s mining group in Vancouver.

He has quickly become a leader among accounting professionals in the mining industry. In 2006, he co-founded the Vancouver Exploration and Mining Industry Network (VEMIN), a networking organization for young professionals in the mining sector. The group facilitates networking events, brings in guest speakers, and organizes social functions. So far, VEMIN has over 100 members, and its events have drawn participation from the chief executives of some of Vancouver’s largest mining companies. Scott remains active with the organization.

“Today, Vancouver is one of the leading centers for mining and exploration companies in the world, and it is important that the next generation be engaged,” he explains. “Our goal with VEMIN is to help ensure that the mining sector in Vancouver remains strong, and that it continues to thrive.”

Scott’s people skills have not only helped contribute to VEMIN’s success—they have also benefited KPMG. In addition to helping with the firm’s campus recruiting efforts and with the training of new hires, he led the development of a comprehensive training program for summer students rotating through the tax practice in 2007, and served as a Level 1 course instructor for the CICA’s In-Depth Tax Course. Recognizing these skills, KPMG appointed him “people leader” for the mining and industrial markets segments of its tax practice in 2007—a role that gave him oversight of staff and human resources.

Today, in addition to his roles at KPMG and VEMIN, Scott serves as assistant editor of the Canadian Resource Taxation book, and contributes to Resource Sector Taxation, a quarterly journal. In 2009 and 2010, he also served as a panellist at the Fundamentals of Canadian Mining Taxation Course in Vancouver.

“The most challenging aspect of my job,” he says, “is not having enough hours in a day to do all the things I want to do.”

Nevertheless, Scott still manages to find time to volunteer with the United Way and with Movember, a global campaign to raise funds for prostate cancer.

“I’m very humbled and extremely honoured,” he says of receiving the Early Achievement Award. “I have many people to thank for their support over the years—my family, especially my parents and grandparents; my fiancée, Laura Smith, CA; and my mentors at KPMG: Clark Hollands, FCA; Dale Peniuk, CA; Ron Larter, CA; and Walter Pela, CA.”

Allan Wiekenkamp, CA, TEP, CFP

By his third year of study as a science major at the University of Victoria, Allan Wiekenkamp knew that he would end up changing fields.

“I knew I didn’t want a career in science,” he remembers. “Being a doctor or working in a lab just wasn’t for me.”

It was a casual conversation with one of the patrons of a Sidney-area marina, where Allan worked during the summers throughout university, that first got him thinking about the CA profession.

“After work one day, a retired CA invited me to join him for a drink,” Allan recounts. “He asked me what I was going to do with my life, and when I didn’t have an answer, he suggested that I become a CA. He said it would be my ‘ticket to the game.’”

Allan took this advice. After graduating from UVic with a bachelor of science degree in 1995, he attended the University of British Columbia’s Graduate Admissions Program to complete the prerequisite courses for the CA program. He earned his CA designation in 1999 while articling with Bestwick & Partners Chartered Accountants in Nanaimo.

“If you had told me when I was a kid that I’d be an accountant when I grew up, I’d have laughed!” Allan admits. “But I found something that’s right for me: the foundation for entrepreneurship and a career in financial services.”

While attending a UFE preparation course during his articles, he met his future wife, Candice (also a CA), to whom he gives credit for his success on the UFE.
“I wanted to study more,” he says, “because it gave me a reason to spend more time with her.”

Soon after qualifying as a CA, Allan moved to the Langley office of Deloitte & Touche LLP, where he worked in audit. Then in 2001, he accepted a senior accounting position at the Bermuda branch of Ernst & Young LLP (E&Y), working in the private client accounting group, which specialized in trust and ultra high-net-worth accounting.

“Up until that point, I’d spent my CA career working in audit,” he says of the move. “I was ready for the next challenge.”

Allan was promoted to manager in July 2003, and earned his trust and estates practitioner (TEP) designation, with honours, in 2005. Shortly thereafter, he found himself at a bit of a crossroads.

“Early in 2005, the firm announced that it was going to exit all non-core services, which meant that my department was either going to be shut down or sold,” he recounts. “It took me about 30 seconds to go from shock to realizing that there was a business opportunity here.”

Convinced that the department should go out on its own, Allan launched FORS Limited (Family Office Reporting Solutions) in late November 2005. At 32 years old, he found himself managing director of a company with five employees and a break-even budget at best.

The gamble paid off. Under Allan’s leadership, FORS experienced dramatic growth over the next three years. By 2008, the staff had increased to 11 employees, revenue had increased by a whopping 400% from the first-year budget, and the firm accounted for over $20 billion of client assets. Along the way, Allan earned a reputation as a leader in Bermuda’s trust accounting and investment reporting sector.

Still, he says his biggest source of pride came from creating a “people-first” work environment.

“I consider myself a people manager—a skill I learned from my days at E&Y,” he explains. “At FORS, we’ve tried to focus on work/life balance and building trust with our employees.”

Allan believes in balanced living, especially now that he and Candice have two young
children. He sold FORS in 2009 to a group of investors looking to expand the brand and business internationally, and he and his family are moving back to Nanaimo, BC this month.

“On to the next step,” he says.

That next step includes launching a new consultancy firm, Sum Consulting Ltd., reconnecting with friends and former colleagues, and getting involved once again in the Nanaimo community, where he used to volunteer with Literacy Nanaimo and the United Way.

Life outside of work has always included volunteerism. In Bermuda, Allan volunteered as treasurer for a local charity, served on the executive committee of the local branch of the Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners (STEP), served as treasurer of the STEP board, spoke at STEP conferences, and wrote for STEP’s international journal. He also mentored young CAs who’d relocated to Bermuda.

“When I think back, I’m thankful to the many people who have influenced me,” he says of his life thus far. “I’m thankful for my wife’s support and understanding; for my parents having instilled in me the importance of family values and supporting me from the beginning—including when I lived at home during my articles; and for the advice of my partner and mentor at E&Y in Bermuda, Derek Stapley, CA.”

Allan also thanks that retired CA from the Sidney marina.

“That was a crucial juncture in my life that put my career on the right path,” he says. “I’m grateful that I went for that drink!”

Photos of Rizwan Gehlen and Scott Jeffery by Kent Kallberg of Kent Kallberg Studios Ltd. in Vancouver.