Becoming a chartered professional accountant (CPA) wasn’t part of Pedro Villa’s plan when he went to university. Now the chief financial officer of tentree – an Earth-first, sustainably made apparel company with a mission to restore the planet by planting trees – and its sister organization veritree, a verified tree-planting platform, Villa initially earned a business management degree from Babson College in Boston. With a major in entrepreneurship and a minor in finance, he originally intended to leverage a position in strategy consulting and learn to launch and grow businesses.
But a move to Vancouver, BC, changed his plans and put a career as a CPA on his radar. Villa had few connections on the west coast of Canada, and what he found was a group of dynamic professionals – and they were all CPAs.
“These CPAs didn’t fit my misconception of the stereotypical “boring accountant,” Villa said in an interview. “They were doing cool stuff and growing and running businesses!”
Villa took the unanimous advice of his peers and earned his CPA designation while working with Deloitte. He spent four years travelling and auditing businesses in the mining, technology, and consumer industries. But Villa knew he needed to put his CPA designation to good use, not just for himself, but for the greater good.
“From a young age, I wanted to have a positive impact on the environment,” Villa recalls as a child wanting to build a waste management company that would clean the garbage of his hometown of Bogota, Colombia. While working in the mining industry caused some cognitive dissonance regarding climate change, he eventually fulfilled this dream by landing at tentree, a Canadian apparel company that redefines what it means to wear your impact, by planting 10 trees with every item sold – and later veritree, a transparent tech platform founded specifically to verify that tentree was upholding its tree planting commitments. “I am part of the leadership team of two companies that place tree planting at the heart of what they do, and that feels great.”
Leveraging the CPA skillset for business strategy
Throughout his career and experiences, Villa says that his CPA designation has been a cornerstone of his success. “The CPA program taught me to identify issues and risk factors,” Villa says. “More than anything, my articling years taught me storytelling, which is handy in management reporting and presentations.”
Being a CPA has enabled Villa to tackle the unique challenges of tentree, an established, inspirational, sustainability-focused apparel brand, such as managing supply and demand in the everchanging consumer space. Since 2021, Villa also leveraged his experience to support the incorporation of veritree, by building the finance and accounting function from nothing into a commercially viable business. Through Villa’s and veritree’s work, hundreds of companies have now embedded verified restoration into their business models – each with their own Impact Hub to actively track and monitor reforestation progress. In May 2025, veritree reached a milestone of 100 million trees pledged across its projects, which stretch from Kenya to the U.S. and to Canada.
Stepping into the CFO role was a big leap for Villa professionally. The breadth of responsibility is much wider and the required level of trust with his CEO is incredibly high. “Part of my job is to give space to my CEO so he can focus on growing the businesses and not having to worry about accounting, finance, and risk matters,” notes Villa. “He needs financial information that is understandable to make decisions. The valuations of our businesses hinge on his vision and his performance so the more time and headspace I give back to him, the better for all stakeholders.”
Leading with Integrity at tentree and veritree
Villa’s breadth of experience across a range of industries has shaped the CFO he is today. As an executive at both tentree and veritree, he shares his thoughts on the importance of leading with integrity and partnership, “To lead you must connect with your team, so they are as engaged as you are towards achieving your goals. You must understand what your team seeks from the experience, and you must do your best to deliver on your promises.”
Above all, Villa’s CPA designation has brought a level of trust and integrity to his role, an essential component for the CFO of organizations built on public trust. “What we do at tentree and veritree requires integrity, and that’s where my CPA kicks in,” he says, noting that veritree’s founding principle was to provide trust and transparency to tree planting claims. “That can only be done through integrity.”
What will your success story sound like? Find out more about becoming a CPA.
All photos courtesy of Bobo Zhao Photography.
Originally published by CBC.
