News & Updates

When VSCPA member Charlie Equi, CPA, began his accounting career, he found an industry in transition. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 had shaken up the federal tax code, and technological advances were changing the way tax professionals did business.

It’s been a long, difficult ride for VSCPA member Christina Monfalcone, CPA, in the accounting industry, involving a deceased mentor, an undesirable work situation and one of the most difficult decisions she ever had to make. But she made it through and emerged as an industry leader in her region, and she’s drawing on her own experience to educate her colleagues.

From ornithology to accounting to software development, Christine Stinson has what can fairly be called a diverse set of interests. But one of her most rewarding activities is volunteering with the VSCPA. Stinson is the accounting program coordinator at Ferrum College in Franklin County and has served on the VSCPA’s Educators’ Symposium Task Force on and off for the past decade. This year, she served as program moderator for the event. She takes on that responsibility as a way of giving back to

For VSCPA member Garland Creighton, CPA, his parents, Garland Sr. and Fredricka, were his rock and his greatest inspiration. Now he’s paying tribute to them and helping others at the same time.

Coming out of college, VSCPA member Hope Cupit, CPA, felt shut out of many career opportunities. So she carved her own niche and embarked on a career that's seen her services prove vital to many Virginia communities. Cupit, 47, is president and CEO of the Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project (SERCAP), a nonprofit organization that helps low-income communities manage and improve their water and wastewater infrastructure and provides lending opportunities and loans for businesses, homeowners

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 . Tough, but fair. That’s the reputation VSCPA member Cindy Easterwood, CPA, has among Virginia Tech accounting students. It’s helped her build a career and a family that’s now entwined at a place that she’d never seen before

VSCPA member Brad Biondi, CPA, was initially attracted to the accounting profession because of the nearly limitless possibilities it offered. He’s followed through on those possibilities during his young career.

Gabriele Lingenfelter, CPA, has hopscotched around the country and the globe on the orders of the U.S. Army. Earlier in her career, she took the constant movement as a chance to reinvent herself, finding a home teaching tomorrow’s CPAs.

George Forsythe, CPA, embarked on his professional career with one singular goal: to become a U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent. That’s not quite where his career ended up — and he couldn’t be happier.

One major part of the VSCPA’s advocacy efforts has been to position CPAs as experts on economic and tax issues on a national level, with a specific goal of getting more CPAs into public office. Member Gerald Geddes, CPA, attacked that goal head-on.

First and foremost, VSCPA member Larry Hurt, CPA, is a people person. That’s a necessary trait in the line of work (commercial banking) in which he spent his entire career. Now it’s serving him well in his current role as the chair of the VSCPA Political Action Committee (VSCPA PAC) Board of Trustees. Hurt, who retired from his last job at Franklin Community Bank in Rocky Mount in 2012 is unusual among VSCPA members in that he never worked in public accounting and got his CPA license after he

The call from the governor’s office came as something of a surprise for VSCPA member Jim Holland, CPA. The answer he gave was no surprise at all. Holland wasted no time in accepting his appointment to the Virginia Board of Accountancy.

It’s now nearly three weeks into retirement for Jimmy Strickland, CPA. Thirty years after he started his own practice out of the sun room in his house in Norfolk, he and his wife, Gale, the firm’s administrator, stepped away from Strickland & Jones.

It’s not an easy thing to maintain a career as a technology consultant. The rapid pace of advancement makes it harder than ever to stay current on current best practices and future trends. It’s the kind of work environment that leads even a successful practitioner to refer to herself as a “perpetual student.”

Accounting and parenthood are extremely fulfilling in different ways, but when you list the benefits of each, "Lots of spare time to pursue creative outlets" probably isn't near the top of either one. That hasn't stopped VSCPA member Clare Levison, CPA, from indulging her love for the written word.

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