News & Updates

VSCPA member Toni Lee-Andrews, CPA, began her career in 1990 even before she graduated from Mount Olive College in Mount Olive, N.C.

A person's career is determined largely by his or her skill set, but personality plays a big role, too. And when it comes to the audit profession, Lindsay Andrews, CPA, is a perfect fit on both counts.

If you wanted to create the perfect individual to demonstrate the wide range of career paths that come with the CPA credential, you might look to Lori Overholt, CPA, as a model.

As often happens with Virginia Board of Accountancy (VBOA) members, Marc Moyers, CPA, pulled back from the VBOA and his day job at roughly the same time. That timing had him in a reflective state of mind when he recently spoke with the VSCPA.

If there’s a concept that encompasses the career of VSCPA member Melinda Coley, CPA, MBA, it’s helping others find and take advantage of opportunities. From her day jobs in health care finding a way to connect accounting indirectly to helping others to her time on the VSCPA and VSCPA Educational Foundation boards of directors and community volunteering, she’s focused on helping others throughout her career. Coley is the finance director for the government business division at

Editor&rsquo ON CONFLICT DO NOTHING;sNote: This is part of a series of profiles highlighting the diverse interests and careers of VSCPA members. Know a member (including yourself) who would make for an interesting profile? Email VSCPA Communications Manager Chip Knighton .   On the surface, narrowing down a career path from “any job” to “fraud examiner” seems like a daunting task. But that’s exactly what John Merchant, CPA, did. Merchant, a principal at Bond Beebe in Bethesda, Md., graduated

At first glance, accounting and classical music wouldn’t seem to have that much in common. Maybe that’s why Mike Wagner, CPA, made the decision to switch majors at the University of Illinois. Either way, he’s been happy with his decision.

VSCPA member Andrea Kilmer, CPA, is no longer the chair of the Virginia Board of Accountancy (VBOA). Don’t think that means she’ll be taking it easy.

As a licensed CPA and attorney, new VSCPA Board of Directors Chair Lisa Germano, CPA, is well versed in the importance of experience and expertise. Now she’s focusing on the importance of volunteering not only as a way to give back to the profession, but also a way to build both of those qualities with the help of others.

Nishon Evans Finds a Home and a Career in Virginia Nishon R. Evans, CPA, CGMA, is used to moving around, both personally and professionally. But he’s found a home, a community and a cause in Northern Virginia. Evans, a former VSCPA Board of Directors member, is a senior principal analyst at General Dynamics, a Herndon information technology firm that serves the government, defense and commercial sectors. He’s bounced around numerous employers in his career — a normal career path in

Editor’s Note: This is part of a series of profiles highlighting the diverse interests and careers of VSCPA members. Know a member (including yourself) who would make for an interesting profile? Email VSCPA Communications Manager Chip Knighton . Few VSCPA members can speak to the respect the CPAcredential draws than Ryan Losi, CPA. He&rsquo ON CONFLICT DO NOTHING;s only participated in CPA Assembly Day once — hey, that’s today, and you can participate virtually here ! — but his General Assembly

Councilor, Buchanan & Mitchell (CBM) is returning to Washington, D.C., and VSCPA member Pete Reilly, CPA, is in charge of the move. It’s not the first time he’s jumped into unfamiliar waters.

Financial literacy has been a national focal point for the CPA profession for the past decade, and in Virginia, few VSCPA members have been as active in that movement as Phil Umansky, CPA.

When Sallye Williams, CPA, makes a career move, deep down, it’s all about fit. Money and lifestyle are nice, but work based solely on those factors just isn’t as fulfilling. She explains it best using a comparison she heard when she was starting out in public accounting.

He’s a walking, talking history book, an accounting icon, an architect of the VSCPA as we know it. No matter what you do with your VSCPA membership, Sam Derieux, CPA, had a hand in creating it.

There are people out there who are lucky enough to find a job or a professional niche that checks all of their career boxes. Julie Gustavsson, CPA, CITP, is one of them.

Seth Davis, CPA, got a crash course in taxation from a college professor who gave him an internship opportunity. That internship sparked a lifelong career and an inclination to give back to the profession. Davis, a partner and the metro Washington tax market leader at Dixon Hughes Goodman in McLean, is the vice chair of the VSCPA Tax Advisory Committee, which gathers feedback from VSCPA members on tax issues and provides information on tax issues and legislation. He also serves on the VSCPA’s

If there’s one thing that defines the professional path of VSCPA member George Strudgeon, CPA, it’s his willingness to seek out new experiences and go with the flow. It’s what landed him an alma mater, a wife and a career.

Wytheville, population 8,000, might not have the hustle and bustle of Northern Virginia or Richmond. But the town has given VSCPA member Tara Adams, CPA, the opportunity to weave herself and her firm into its fabric, and she’s grateful for the opportunity. Adams, a member of the VSCPA Board of Directors, is a partner with Adams & Delp, a tax and accounting firm in Wytheville that, in her words, does “everything but audit.” Her clients run the gamut from small mom-and-pop businesses to

You'd be hard-pressed to find two industries more different than the financial sector and early childhood education. But VSCPA member Laura Tate-Smith, CPA, made a seamless move from one to the other and fulfilled a lifelong dream in the process.