CalCPA Women To Watch Award Winners Announced During Its Elevate: Women's Leadership Forum

BURLINGAME, Calif., April 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The California Society of CPAs (CalCPA) honored eight top women in the accounting profession during its 2021 Women to Watch Awards hosted during its long-running Women's Leadership Forum called Elevate on April 23, 2021.

The annual Women to Watch Awards recognize female CPAs and financial professionals across all stages of their careers for their leadership, community and public service, advocacy, mentoring of other CPAs and overall contributions to the profession. Awards are given in three categories: Emerging Leader, Experienced Leader, and Trailblazer.

"The women who are receiving the Women to Watch award continue a legacy of leadership, accomplishment and serve as positive role models not just for other women in the profession but for all accountants and finance professionals," said Rich Simitian, CPA, Interim President & CEO of CalCPA and CalCPA Education Foundation. "They inspire future generations to be authentic, inclusive and respectful so that the profession truly benefits from diversity and the innovation, collaboration and value creation that it drives."   

This year's Women to Watch Awards winners serve as strong examples to their peers in the profession and are an inspiration to women thinking about future careers in accounting and finance.

The 2021 Women to Watch Award recipients are:

Emerging Leader Award

• Valeria Ramirez, Senior Associate, RSM US LLP, San Francisco
• Delaney Noll, Senior Associate, RSM US LLP, San Francisco

Experienced Leader Award

• Kathryn Johnson, Partner, RSM US LLP, San Francisco
• Julia Kniesche; Assurance Strategic Talent Consultant, Ernst & Young, San Francisco
• Narina Bchtikian, Senior Stakeholder Liaison; Internal Revenue Service, Los Angeles

Trailblazer Award

• Shannon Nash, Chief Financial Officer, Reputation, Redwood City
• Andrea Drew; Owner, Drew Consulting; South Lake Tahoe
• Loreal Jiles, Director of Research, Institute of Management Accountants, Beaumont

"CalCPA's Elevate is not only a platform to feature these female leaders, but also a powerful mechanism to connect young and emerging accountants with a network of potential mentors and sponsors," said Simitian. "Recognizing women who have accomplished great things as senior leaders in the profession also helps us to close the 'diversity gap' by spotlighting female accountants in executive roles that attract other women and underrepresented groups to the profession."

The need to close the diversity gap was a key finding from groundbreaking research conducted recently by CalCPA and the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), as well as other CPA state societies, The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA), the Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA), the National Society of Black CPAs (NSBCPA) and the PhD Project. This research studied diversity, equity and inclusion across the U.S. accounting profession within three demographic groups: women, race and LGBTQIA. 

About CalCPA
CalCPA traces its heritage to 1903 when the California State Society of Certified Public Accountants was organized. In 1909, it merged with two other state CPA associations to form CalCPA. CalCPA serves more than 45,000 members in public practice, private industry, academia and government, and has 14 chapters across California. CalCPA also offers more than 1,400 live courses, conferences, webcasts and on-demand self-study courses annually. More information is available online.

Contact: David Colgren
Colcomgroup
917-587-3708
[email protected]

SOURCE California Society of CPAs

Related Links

http://www.calcpa.org

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