16 minute read
Meet the 2022 Life Member Honorees
by ASCPA
Celebrating our 2022 Life Members
By Haley MacDonell and Heidi Frei
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Life Members are recognized for their contributions to the ASCPA and the CPA profession. We are pleased to celebrate three people in 2022 for the generosity of their time, leadership and mentorship. Help us celebrate their accomplishments and service by attending the ASCPA Annual Meeting & Awards Luncheon on May 12. Register here: www.ascpa.com/annual.
Brenda Ann Blunt CPA, CGMA
By Heidi Frei, ABC
Long before she knew what a CPA was, Brenda Blunt found herself drawn to accounting activities. It started when she was given an allowance at the age of six. She learned skills like budgeting for gifts for family members, ensuring she had the correct change to tithe and helping her sister manage her money. Her interest in accounting activities continued, which led her to major in accounting in college and to earn her CPA.
While at Miller, Wagner & Co., Blunt worked in general tax – particularly partnerships. The firm had a young not-for-profit practice and needed to replace the tax manager leading the tax side. “It was intriguing to me,” says Blunt. “So, I raised my hand and said, ‘I don’t want to do this full time, but I’d be happy to figure this out and be the tax person to step into that.’ And, of course, it did become full time and I’m still really happy.”
Brenda is now a partner at Eide Bailly LLP and has become a subject matter expert, and the go-to person, in the nonprofit community. “Drive down any street in our community, talk with any nonprofit leader and you will find a link to Brenda Blunt,” says Julia Patrick, CEO and founder of American Nonprofit Academy. “For decades, this brilliant leader has been at the forefront of wise counsel and the navigation of our most valuable institutions. I think that our state is stronger because of the leadership Brenda has given to so many nonprofits. In fact, I would bet that most of us enjoy a better quality of life as a direct result of Brenda’s hand.”
The ASCPA has been fortunate that Blunt chose to give back to her profession by volunteering with the Society since becoming a member in 1986. It started out with her participation in the 1040K run and providing tax advice at the mall and moved into committee and board service.
Blunt’s drive and commitment contributes to the success and longevity of the ASCPA Not-for-Profit Conference. She has been part of the committee for more than 20 years, served as chair of the committee for two of those years and frequently leads conference sessions.
“Brenda’s reputation in the Valley as a subject matter expert and her willingness to be engaged and involved for so many years definitely helped to develop the reputation of the conference,” says Kathy Gerhart, ASCPA Not-for-Profit Committee member and former committee chair. “Her warmth and her ability to interact and connect at the conference makes it feel like a community. That is a special gift that she has.”
Blunt is a frequent speaker at the conference and always the first to volunteer to present. In addition to the conference, she also teaches
continuing education seminars for the ASCPA and has presented at 75 seminars and conferences. Blunt shares, “Teaching is, in my view, absolutely the best way to learn. And I have been a teacher for my entire adult life.”
Blunt served on the ASCPA board and Arizona CPA Foundation for Education & Innovation, in addition to chairing the scholarship selection committee. Blunt brought her nonprofit expertise to these governance boards. Former ASCPA Board Chair Armando Roman shares, “Brenda’s kind, nurturing and collaborative way of being helps her naturally be a tremendous resource to any mission-driven nonprofit organization, including the ASCPA.”
Mentoring is another activity of importance to Blunt. She presented on servant leadership at the ASCPA’s emerging leaders program, serves on the Grand Canyon University (GCU) Accounting Advisory Council and is a mentor in her firm.
“At the GCU Accounting Advisory Board meetings, Brenda is one of the first board members to speak up when she has an opinion or suggestion,” says Kelly Damron, associate professor of accounting at GCU. “We have used many of her ideas and suggestions to make curriculum changes in our accounting program.”
“Brenda leads by example, encouraging staff to find their passion and become well-rounded advisors, while helping them reach their career goals through education and mentorship,” says Kim Hunwardsen, partner-in-charge of tax-exempt organizations, Eide Bailly LLP.
Blunt shares some advice for the next generation of accountants. “You don’t have to make all your career decisions today. You do need to spend some time and think about where you want to go with your career, but you don’t have to have all the answers today. You just need to know what your next few steps are.”
She emphasizes the importance of taking advantage of opportunities. “Walk through doors when they are open and raise your hand.Particularly women, raise your hand. Leadership probably is not going to come ask you. Men are taught by culture to raise their hand and women are taught by culture to wait and be invited.”
Outside of her nonprofit client work and volunteer roles within the ASCPA, Blunt serves on various boards in the community. David Richardson, CEO of Take Charge America (TCA), shares about Blunt’s role on TCA’s board of directors and audit committee. “She is a brilliant strategist and often seems several steps ahead of me and others when contributing to strategic planning conversations, board policy discussions and potential tax-exempt implications of actions under consideration. What makes Brenda especially effective in her volunteer role is her ability to listen, engage and educate others in such a thoughtful, kind and humble manner.” Blunt reflects on her CPA career up until this point by saying,
Nancy L. Roach CPA
By Haley MacDonell
During her career, Nancy Roach served as the executive director and later CEO of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central and Northern Arizona, a “home-away-from-home” for families with children facing medical challenges. As an ASCPA member, she was the chair of the Arizona CPA Foundation for Education & Innovation, chair of the board of directors and a member of the Not-For-Profit Conference Committee. Leading with empathy and generosity, it was with her support that the ASCPA’s scholarship offerings expanded.
Roach became a CPA because of her fascination for seeing “how it all comes together.” During her final role in the for-profit sector, she was tasked with giving money to mineral owners of an oil and gas company. In one instance, the company owed a mother and daughter, who were living out of their car, over $250,000. She became passionate about helping others and switched to the not-for-profit arena not long after.
While at the Make-A-Wish Foundation, she received a call from the Ronald McDonald House of Phoenix, on their search for a new executive director and requesting that she apply. Though she wasn’t looking for a new job, she met with the intention of sharing her insights, one nonprofit to another. In the end, and after much deliberation, she agreed to move into the executive director role.
She approached the new staff and met with each person on a regular basis for three months, learning everything about the organization and what it takes to be an executive director. It was like drinking out of a firehose, but she had a strong team.
“They knew how to run this House perfectly,” Roach emphasizes. “They taught me how to do it. For that, I will forever be indebted to them.”
Roach and her team saw a great need demonstrated by the families who stayed at their House. She remembers turning away up to 14 families in a single day.
Intent on building a second House, Roach, leaning on her CPA training, asked the Board of Directors to raise the full funding before breaking ground. Luckily, the Board agreed completely. In cycles of fundraising and building, the organization expanded the first House from 26 rooms to 45 and built the nonprofit’s second House at Phoenix Children’s Hospital with 18 rooms.
“I think the CPA designation contributed so much to her, even beyond the ethical standards,” says Mary Jane Rynd, who knew Roach through the ASCPA and nonprofit community. “She is somebody that will always do the right thing. She is a role model in that regard. Her generosity with her time stands out.”
After six years of nonstop fundraising to reach the $6 to $7 million needed, the organization built its second House. It was a great accomplishment, and Roach knew it was time for recali-
bration and rest. Still another hospital, Banner Children’s Medical Center in Mesa, continued requesting a House of their own for over six months. This had the potential to be the nonprofit’s third house.
As she left the original Houses in midtown Phoenix one evening, she met a man, Mr. Bedincort, on the sidewalk who asked to stay. His wife, who had a high-risk pregnancy with triplets, was at the Banner hospital. Roach said they were welcome to stay at the House located at 5th Street and Thomas. The man clarified that his wife was in the Banner hospital in Mesa, the hospital asking for a new House. He made such an impression on Roach that she knew the third house was on the horizon.
“I called the board president the next morning and said, ‘We’re going to build a House at Banner. We need to start raising money,’” she remembers. “God could have hit me over the head with a feather, but he used a crowbar instead. So, that’s how the third house came to be, thanks to the Bedincort family.”
Little moments like that, whether it be well-timed coincidences or the generosity of others, have dazzled Roach during her career. Her tenure with the Arizona Society of CPAs is no exception. While on the board for the
Arizona CPA Foundation for Education & Innovation, she oversaw the expansion of our scholarship program and assisted in revising the application process. Today, the Foundation distributes many scholarships of up to $2,000 for university students and $1,000 for high school students pursuing accounting. “Nancy was intent on ensuring that students were aware of the benefits of a degree in accounting and of becoming a CPA,” said Mark Landy, who worked with Roach on the Executive
Committee of the Society’s board of directors. “Nancy spoke with prospective and current accounting students, making sure that they were aware of the availability of scholarships through the Foundation to help them in pursuing an education in accounting.” ” “I am so grateful to have worked with the people with the state society. It enhanced my career.
In her mind, one of her greatest accomplishments from her time as chair at the ASCPA was the recognition of member Kate Forbes by the AICPA with the Public Service Award for her contributions with the National Board of Governors during the events of 9/11 and with the Red Cross.
“I learned something almost every time I came to a committee meeting or conference,” Roach recalls. “I remember when I got the first call to be on the board, thinking that it was wonderful to be with this group of people who cared so much about the profession.”
Roach, now retired, works part-time for the Foundation for Blind Children. She continues to be passionate about learning and teaching accounting.
Roach says.
Kevin R. Yeanoplos CPA/ABV, ASA
By Haley MacDonell
Kevin Yeanoplos is a mentor, teacher and director of valuation services at Brueggeman and Johnson Yeanoplos, P.C. As a member of the Society, he is a leader in business valuation and served on the board of directors, as chair of the Business Valuation Committee and the Business Valuation and Litigation Services Conference Committee.
“I have known Kevin for roughly 30 years, and he is an amazing individual and professional,” says Ron Seigneur, founding partner at Seigneur Gustafson LLP CPAs. “I am honored to have him as a mentor, a friend and someone that I can always count on for sage advice when needed.”
Early in his career, Yeanoplos graduated with a degree in accounting and set his sights on the CPA designation. In 1983, Yeanoplos remembers coming home to tell his wife that he had passed the CPA exam on the first attempt. It was a moment of pride, and the designation bolstered his credibility, especially when testifying in the courtroom.
“Someone once said to me that ‘A CPA is what you do, but not who you are,’” Yeanoplos says. “I’ve tried to take that to heart, because there’s frankly so much more to our existence than what we do for a living.”
As a side gig, Yeanoplos was once a music journalist, passionate about interviewing performers such as Dave Schools, the bassist for Widespread Panic.
“Challenging life experiences helped me to understand what the people I interviewed were feeling and what they were thinking,” Yeanoplos recalls. He remembers his interview with Schools, who had just experienced the loss of a bandmate to cancer. In moments like that, Yeanoplos – and musicians such as Schools – appreciated the chance to connect on life’s ups and downs, like human kindness and loss.
In life, learning and teaching drives Yeanoplos. “The challenges we face give us knowledge and wisdom,” he explains. “Life is completely meaningless if we don’t share them. What good is knowledge if you don’t pass it on?”
This mindset is due in part to an unexpected opportunity in 1994, wheb Yeanoplos was asked to teach when a presenter canceled at the last minute due to illness. It was the first time he had ever taught business valuation, but he enjoyed the topic and the creativity it embodied.
“Someone once told me that the reason I like business valuation is that I can never be wrong,” Yeanoplos says. “I kind of laughed at that, but it’s true. You want to understand your craft so well, that you can explain any position, any side, and depending on the facts and circumstances, it’s going to be different.”
In 1997, he moved to Arizona, fresh from establishing the business valuation committee at the Utah Association of CPAs. He traveled from Arizona to Utah for committee meetings for a year. At the time, the committee at the Arizona Society of CPAs was not as active. Seeing an opportunity, Yeanoplos joined and was part of the group spearheading the founding of the Business Valuation and Litigation Services Conference, which recurred annually for seven years.
“I was fortunate enough to have a strong network of people, and we
brought in some top experts to the conference,” Yeanoplos explains. “That was rewarding, and, I have lifelong friends that I have met through committee service.”
“He has done a tremendous amount of education and speaking related to business valuations and is a true professional,” explains Brendan Kennedy, who served on committees with Yeanoplos. “He has given back to the community individually, and we all owe a debt of gratitude to the people willing and able to do that.”
After teaching business valuation for 25 years for a number of organizations, he returned to graduate school as a master’s student and completed his degree in March 2021. He had much more experience than most of his peers and enjoyed bringing his practical expertise to the theory of the courses.
“When I teach, I hope that there’s one person listening to me that has been impacted,” Yeanoplos explains. “That’s all I care about. If there’s one person in there that I can help understand something a little bit better, I’ve done what I’m supposed to do.”
Twenty years ago, Yeanoplos had a stroke and was in the hospital, paralyzed on his left side. It was a terrifying and uncertain moment that changed his perspective on life, work, family and supporting his community.
“That had a profound impact on my perspective,” he explains. “Since that time, I’ve looked at what I do for a living as a means to an end. It’s a way to give back to the profession. It’s a way to help other people.”
After a particularly challenging 2018, Yeanoplos started carrying around a rose quartz pebble in his right pocket. The crystal, which represents love and healing, is a reminder of the power of compassion and the individual ability to make a difference. It reminds him that each day he sends ripples into the universe like a pebble in the ocean. It’s just a small ripple, but it can be one of compassion. “He is very deserving of this award,” says Marv Strait, who served on the business valuation committee with Yeanoplos. “If the ASCPA is giving this award to people like Kevin, you’re doing it right.” Yeanoplos explains,“If we have just a little more compassion for each other, the world will be a better place.
