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VSCPA EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION
MEET THE FOUNDATION CHAIR >>
Monique Ford, CPA, aims for firm support
CPAs are taught to avoid risk. One of their
main roles in many organizations is to help manage the risk a company takes on. Careful planning and due diligence are ingrained in the typical accountant; spontaneity and impulsiveness, not so much.
So don’t be too surprised when you hear about the details of the trip new VSCPA Educational Foundation Chair Monique Valentine Ford, CPA, took to Las Vegas in March. Don’t be put off by the fact that she arrived in the city with a boyfriend and left with a husband, or even that she got married in a teepee in a canyon. The careful planning was still there — she just outsourced it to her new husband, Mike.
“I was in Las Vegas for our annual convention for work,” she said. “Mike and the kids had planned to come out and help me celebrate my birthday. The night after we celebrated, we did a helicopter ride over Las Vegas, where he proposed. He had already gotten the paperwork done for a marriage license. He had a minister lined up, a location lined up. He had everything planned from beginning to end. All I had to do was say, ‘Yes.’”
Ford, the chief financial officer (CFO) at Associated General Contractors of America (AGCA) in Arlington, may have a new name, but she should feel right at home in her new role with the VSCPA. Along with new VSCPA Political Action Committee (VSCPA PAC) Chair Elsie Rose, CPA, Ford is the first member to serve as chair of all three major VSCPA boards — the VSCPA and Foundation Boards of Directors and the PAC Board of Trustees — since the Society split the leadership of the three organizations.
Ford chaired the VSCPA Board in 2007–2008 and the PAC in 2005–2006. Even though she now has a new name, the experience and cachet she gained in those positions should help her in raising funds for the Foundation.
“The experience I gained from being the chair of the VSCPA will help me as the chair of the Foundation,” she said. “It will also open doors in getting me in to see some of the larger firms. Being a past chair of the VSCPA, people know me, and I think that will help.”
Raising funds is a major priority for Ford, who wants to maintain the Foundation’s financial stability. And a lot of that depends on help from firms.
“The only way we’re going to grow the Foundation with any significant amount of money is to reach out to member firms,” she said. “The bulk of our contributions still come in form individual donations. We’re still growing, dollar by dollar, and every dollar is important. But to make any significant headway, we really need to get firms to commit to funding the Foundation on an annual basis.”
While Ford is leading the Foundation to support the future of the profession, there’s a personal side to the decision as well. Her oldest daughter, Sara, is in the process of choosing a college. She won’t be going into accounting, a decision Ford attributes in part to her own hectic springs.
“I wish I could convince my own children to go into accounting,” she said, “but they’ve seen firsthand how hard I work, and they don’t want to work that hard. I lead by bad example — it doesn’t need to be that way, but that’s the way I am. It doesn’t need to be an 80-hour-a-week profession. That’s a message we need to get out to students who are choosing their major.” n
>> SUPPORT THE FOUNDATION
Your tax-deductible donation to the Educational Foundation is an investment in the future of the CPA profession. Make a difference for students today!
Donate now at www.VSCPAFoundation.com.
VSCPA educational foundation
VSCPA GRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP ($1,000) Katy Bergey of Harrisonburg, University of Virginia Jake Marshall of Virginia Beach, Old Dominion University Rose Muratore of Reedville, College of William & Mary
VSCPA MINORITY SCHOLARSHIP ($1,000) Chanell Harris of Philadelphia, Hampton University Raven McGriff of Lancaster, S.C., Virginia State University Shai Sumpter of Newport News, Norfolk State University
VSCPA PAST PRESIDENTS/CHAIR SCHOLARSHIP ($1,000) Roger Ford of Atlantic, Old Dominion University
VSCPA PH.D. SCHOLARSHIP ($5,000) Karen Green of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University
VSCPA UNDERGRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP ($1,000) Madeline Kronberger of Ashburn, Radford University Matthew Rosenbaum of Marion, Radford University Jessica Woodard of Richmond, Longwood University
CST GROUP SCHOLARSHIP ($2,000) Gregory Smith of Vienna, Virginia Tech
DIXON HUGHES GOODMAN SCHOLARSHIP ($3,500) Emily Babski of Springfield, Virginia Tech
H. BURTON BATES SCHOLARSHIP ($2,000) Anthony Palucci of Blacksburg, Virginia Tech
KEARNEY & COMPANY SCHOLARSHIP (2,500) Michelle Ly of Culpeper, George Mason University Marietta Medrana of Virginia Beach, Old Dominion University
MICHAEL E. MARES SCHOLARSHIP ($2,500) Taylar Cannaday of Forest, Lynchburg College
MURRAY, JONSON, WHITE & ASSOCIATES SCHOLARSHIP ($3,000) Carrie Schalm of Midlothian, Virginia Commonwealth THOMAS M. BERRY, JR., SCHOLARSHIP ($2,000) Kaitlin Caubo of Phoenix, Md., University of Virginia Christine Gimbar of Blacksburg, Virginia Tech
VERUS FINANCIAL PARTNERS SCHOLARSHIP ($2,000) Andrew Yoder of Harrisonburg, Eastern Mennonite University
VIRGINIA TECH DOCTORAL SCHOLARSHIP HONORING AUSTIN M. CLOYD, MATTHEW G. GWALTNEY & MAXINE S. TURNER ($2,000) Joseph Rakestraw of Christiansburg, Virginia Tech
WALL, EINHORN & CHERNITZER SCHOLARSHIP ($2,000) Paul Fitzsimmons of Lorton, James Madison University
YOUNT, HYDE & BARBOUR SCHOLARSHIP ($2,000) Jean Sweeney of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University
>> 2014–2015 FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The new VSCPA Educational Foundation Board of Directors was installed at the Leaders’ Summit on May 16, 2014.
CHAIR
Monique V. Ford, CPA
CHAIR-ELECT
Randolph Shapiro, CPA
VICE CHAIRS
Thomas M. Crutchfield, CPA Frederick L. White, CPA
SECRETARY/TREASURER
Tina Lambert, CAE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Courtney S. Barrack, CPA O. Whitfield Broome, CPA Dale P. Burgess, CPA Brian E. Deibler, CPA Christopher D. Ekimoff, CPA Heather K. Flanagan, CPA Christine C. Goodrum, CPA Nicholas A. Harrison, CPA Clare K. Levison, CPA Thomas J. Lyden Jr. Kelli P. Meadows, CPA Vugar T. Shahtakhtinskiy, CPA Randall R. Spurrier, CPA Kristin L. White, CPA
