CA Profiles

Chester Johnson, FCPA, FCA

Chester Johnson, FCPA, FCA

BC has been very good to Chester Johnson. The second-generation British Columbian started from humble beginnings and established a highly successful career for himself in the province’s forest industry. Many would say that he has been equally good to BC, volunteering his leadership to a number of significant public-sector projects that have helped shape the province over the last 20+ years. 

Chester describes himself, first and foremost, as a “builder.” 

“I’ve always wanted to run things,” he says. “My father told my mother once: ‘He’ll either be a millionaire or he’ll be broke. I think he had it right.” 

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Brandt Louie, FCPA, FCA

Brandt Louie, FCPA, FCA

Brandt Louie received word of his ICABC award and a similar lifetime achievement award from the Food Industry of Canada in the same month, prompting him to wonder: “Do they believe my life is over?”

Hardly. Anyone who knows anything about the business magnate knows Brandt—the president and CEO of H.Y. Louie Co. Limited, and chairman and CEO of London Drugs Limited—has no intention of resting on his laurels anytime soon. 

He’s been profiled in Beyond Numbers (September 2003), Grocer Today (May 2003), and Maclean’s (March 2002), to name a few. With good reason—the saga of his family’s 100-year old business is the kind of rags-to-riches story that movies are made of. 

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Ritchie McCloy, FCA

Ritchie McCloy, FCA

Past Institute CEO Ritchie McCloy, FCA, was a local boy who made his name as a CA and then spent years giving back to his profession. Born in New Westminster, and a graduate of Magee Secondary School in 1954, he articled with the firm of Helliwell, MacLachlan and Co. (a predecessor firm to Peat Marwick Thorne and now KPMG LLP), and became a CA in 1960.

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Beverlee Park, FCPA, FCA

Beverlee Park, FCPA, FCA

“I am very honoured to receive my FCA, and feel so grateful to be recognized by my peers,” says Bev Park. “I have always viewed the FCA designation with such high regard that I am quite bowled over to be elected to Fellowship.” 

Bev has more than 25 years of experience in the Vancouver business community, and currently serves as president and COO of Couverdon Real Estate, a division of TimberWest Forest Corp. She also serves as TimberWest’s interim CEO, having previously served as executive VP and CFO. Her past experience includes working at BC Hydro for six years in various senior financial roles, and working for five years in KPMG LLP’s Vancouver audit practice. 

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Charlene Taylor, FCPA, FCA

Charlene Taylor, FCPA, FCA

“I feel privileged to receive this remarkable honour,” says new FCA Charlene Taylor of her election to Fellowship. 

Charlene is a director at the Office of the Auditor General of Canada in Vancouver, and the first aboriginal woman to hold this title. She works with a variety of government departments and Crown corporations on attest audits, and has been involved in a number of high-profile performance reports, many of which have contributed to changes in the areas of education and child and family services. 

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Hari Varshney, FCPA, FCA

Hari Varshney, FCPA, FCA

Born in a small village in northern India, Hari Varshney had already completed an undergraduate degree at Agra University and a master’s in accounting (scoring the top marks for both) by the time he moved to Canada in 1967 to take up a $1,500 MBA program scholarship at UBC. That’s when fate—in the form of the CA designation—intervened. 

“I went to the recruitment meetings held by the various firms on campus and came away with several job offers,” Hari recalls. “The CA designation is very respected in India and I was intrigued, so I took a position with Arthur Andersen. I will always be grateful to UBC for the scholarship that brought me here.”

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