M e m b e r P r o f i le Jim Bauer interviews Nelson Chan
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arlier this summer I had an opportunity to catch up with Nelson Chan, MBA, FCPA, FCMA. Nelson was recently honoured as a Fellow by the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (CPABC). He is currently the Chief Financial Officer for the Capital Region District, Capital Region Hospital District and the Capital Regional Housing Corporation in Victoria, which he has held since 2016. Nelson was born and raised in Toronto and is a first generation Canadian. Raised by immigrant parents who did not have the opportunity for post-secondary education, he believes advanced education can be an equalizer for those less privileged. Nelson completed his Bachelor of Commerce, with a minor in Economics from McMasters University before moving on to his Masters in Business Administration in the United States. He obtained his Chartered Professional Accountant Designation in 2014 and is a certified Lean Six Sigma Greenbelt. He has continued his professional development by completing executive leadership programs at the University of Toronto and Royal Roads University. Although Nelson’s family upbringing encouraged defining a clear path of what you will do, he shared how he has tried a number of different industries, sectors and professions rather than specializing too early. His career began as a video game programmer for Sega Entertainment, then through a serendipitous connection grew into manufacturing operations with Roots Canada, eventually moving onto logistics, collective bargaining and strategy portfolios at Canada Post. It was at the Crown Corporation where Nelson eventually adopted an
affinity for more traditional finance related roles. Nelson feels the diversification of experiences enables him to step out of the stereotypical accountant mindset and focus on operational drivers, root cause analysis and understanding end-to-end business processes that bring greater value to organizations. Nelson shared his perspective that those in financial roles have an incredible opportunity to enable their organizations. While a traditional view of finance can be analogous to brakes in a race car, we need to champion a paradigm shift. Braking isn’t inhibiting the organization, rather, knowing there is a system that manages risk, avoids danger and prevents the race car from crashing, actually enables and allows the organization to go faster. Nelson is also intrinsically motivated by giving back, having served on a number of not for profit boards he is passionate about. This includes multiple Board terms on the Government Finance Officers Association of British Columbia, the Natural Capital Lab, Community Living BC and Royal Roads University, where Nelson has served as Chair and Chancellor since 2019. When asked about the successes of his career and insights he would impart with his colleagues, Nelson shared a few thoughts: • Large transformational changes are overwhelming. Focus on making small incremental improvements, then factor in time to leverage change in the long game. You might be surprised where you end up in a year of small, sustainable and manageable change. • Although time management is important, it is critical
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