At the Board Table: Spotlight on the COCPA 2023-24 Leadership Nominees

We asked the recently nominated Board officers, directors, and Educational Foundation trustees to share their insights on top issues facing the profession and the COCPA, what they bring to the organization as leaders, and something about themselves personally. Here’s a look at what they do and what they want you to know.

COCPA BOARD VICE-CHAIR/ CHAIR-ELECT NOMINEE

Shareholder, Soukup, Bush & Associates, CPAs, P.C., Fort Collins

Toby Clary has been a tax practitioner for more than 20 years, following his graduation with an accounting degree from Colorado State University. The vast majority of his clients work in the healthcare and real estate industries, ranging in size from a single-physician practice or a single-family rental property owner to a 50-plus physician group or a large land developer, with everything in between. He is passionate about the profession and its role in the community, and is deeply committed not only to helping his clients succeed, but also to giving back to the profession that has given so much to him. He notes that, like many CPAs, accounting was not his first career choice. While he initially planned on earning a management degree then heading to culinary school, his first accounting course changed his life and put him on the CPA path. “Choosing this career was one of the best decisions of my life and I am so grateful that life has taken me down this path,” he says.

Clary has served in a wide variety of COCPA roles, including on the Board of Directors, as an Educational Foundation trustee, Audit Committee member, and, in 2022, CEO

Search Committee member. He is a 2015 LeadFit graduate and was honored in 2013 as a COCPA Everyday Hero. He is president of the Northern Chapter and previously taught the Society’s popular CPE course, Tax Year in Review and Year-End Planning.

Clary’s volunteerism extends to his community. Among the organizations that have benefitted from Toby’s service and expertise are Partners Mentoring Youth, Northern Colorado United for Youth, North Forty, the

CPAs’ ability to provide clients with the highest level of service, is the top issue that the COCPA must address. “Our profession must find a better way to highlight the value of being a CPA to prospective accounting students,” he says.

Clary brings a pair of super powers to the board table: 1) A firm understanding of the COCPA’s inner workings, gained through his extensive volunteerism within the organization, and 2) a strong understanding – thanks to his statewide travels teaching the year-end tax course – of the challenges facing tax practitioners across Colorado.

“From the sole practitioner to the firm with 100 practitioners or more, there are a lot of commonalities in what we do on a daily basis,” he says.

Cocpa Board Of Directors Nominee

Erin N. Breit, CPA Audit Partner, BDO USA, LLP, Denver

An audit partner with BDO, Erin Breit is part of the ERISA and Employee Benefit Plan Practice. She is the partner liaison for the Denver office’s diversity and inclusion groups, and serves on the AICPA Employee Benefit Plan Expert Panel and the AICPA Employee Benefit Plan Audit AARU Conference Planning Committee. With extensive experience with not-for-profit entities, she has served on several COCPA conference planning committees, including the Not-for-Profit Conference Planning Committee. She is a frequent speaker at various COCPA, AICPA, and Financial Executives International events.

Breit is actively involved in the community and has a passion for empowering women and children. She is the treasurer of the Florence Crittenton Services of Colorado Board of

Directors, a family resource center for teen families, and previously served as treasurer of the Colorado Public Plan Coalition.

While she says she isn’t sure that she has a super power, Breit plans to bring her personal and professional experiences to the table. She is excited to join her COCPA Board colleagues in addressing the issues facing the profession. Among them, related to the talent pipeline challenges currently facing the accounting profession, Breit sees value in improving minority enrollment in college accounting programs and encouraging accounting students to go on to earn their CPA licenses. Breit and her husband, Andrew, have a daughter, Lucy, with whom they like to travel, hike, swim, and play games. She also enjoys cross stitching and cooking.

Cocpa Board Of Directors Community Member Nominee

Amy King

Executive Coach, MEDI Leadership, Highlands Ranch

Executive coach and human resources consultant Amy King has decades of experience helping leaders transform their culture, grow their impact, and drive engagement for lasting results. Previously, she served as senior vice president and chief people officer at Centura Health, where she advanced strategic priorities and the evolution of human resources.

CSU Accounting Advisory Board, the Intuit Professional Tax Advisory Committee, and the National Society of Certified Healthcare Business Consultants.

As a member of the CSU Accounting Advisory Board, Clary sees firsthand the impact of the shortage of students who are choosing accounting as a profession. He says that the shortage, which negatively impacts

Outside of work, you’ll find Toby spending time outdoors with his wife Jill, son Miles, daughter Magnolia, and dog Zoë. Whether skiing, paddle boarding, biking, hiking, fishing, or camping, the Clary family can’t get enough of the Colorado outdoors. “If I’m not with my immediate family, I’m with my second family – my bike collection!” Clary laughs.

King’s deep understanding of the factors that drive organizational culture, influence, and performance has allowed her to positively impact her community through her work on several nonprofit boards. She currently chairs both the Catholic Charities of Denver Board of Directors and the National Doula Certification Board of Directors. Among her previous board engagements are the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce and the MDAB Career Advisory Board for the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business.

Her work with the COCPA includes a previous term as the Board of Directors community member, as well as stints on the Leadership Summit and CEO Search committees. She currently serves on the ESG Working Group. King holds a master’s degree in leadership and organizations, with a specialty in human capacity, from the University of Denver, and a bachelor’s degree in organizational management, with a human resources emphasis, from Colorado Christian University. She holds advanced certifications in dispute resolution, social and emotional intelligence, diversity and inclusion education, and executive and team coaching.

She considers her 25 years of experience, both in higher education and healthcare, to be the super power that she brings to the board table. She says that the talent pipeline into the profession is among the most significant issues that the Board and the COCPA must address.

Whether watching her son play baseball, traveling, camping, or being physically active, this busy mom of two loves spending her nonwork time with her family.

COCPA BOARD OF DIRECTORS NOMINEE

Greg C. Pfahl, CPA Audit Partner, Moss Adams, Denver

Greg Pfahl, an audit partner with Moss Adams LLP’s Denver office, has practiced public accounting since 1997. He provides a wide range of audit and accounting services for public and privately held companies in the manufacturing and consumer products, technology and life sciences, and renewable energy industries. Pfahl assists clients with financial reporting and complex transactions such as initial and secondary public offerings, private offerings, and mergers and acquisitions.

Pfahl serves on the COCPA ESG Working Group and the Public Company Practice Forum. In 2016, he was honored as a COCPA Everyday Hero. He is a former member of the Alzheimer’s Association of Colorado Board of Directors and currently serves on the board of the Colorado Advanced Manufacturing Association.

In addition to acknowledging the declining number of new accounting graduates as a significant issue facing the profession, Pfahl identifies the increasing demand for services – due in part to increasing and changing regulations – as an additional challenge.

Pfahl’s super power: Strategic thinking with a penchant for planning ahead.

Born and raised in Kentucky, Pfahl has lived in Colorado since 2000. When not keeping up with his 9-year-old son Mason’s activities, Pfahl, his wife, and Mason enjoy hiking, skiing, snowshoeing, and four-wheeling in the mountains. Pfahl is a big fan of live music and looks forward to a trip this summer with his extended family to see Dead & Company at the Gorge amphitheater in Washington.