Who’s who: Accounting executives

Profiles of key partners at some of Ottawa’s largest accounting firms. See page 7 for the list of the sector’s largest companies. Profiles by Dani-Elle Dubé.

Sabrina Fitzgerald

National private leader and National Capital Region leader, PwC Canada

“I love paying it forward to help others grow and expand,” Sabrina Fitzgerald explains. “I was fortunate enough to have — and still have — very strong mentors who’ve helped me along the way.” Fitzgerald says she couldn’t have found success without knowing her values and purpose. Her energy, she adds, comes from helping others find their passion and vision. Fitzgerald’s role at PwC is helping businesses solve problems by helping with continuity planning (like helping family businesses in the area of wealth transfer). “PwC’s purpose is to build trust in society and solve important problems,” she says. “Ultimately, the goal is to help organizations build trust and deliver sustained outcomes.”

And over the years, being part of a passionate team who lives its purpose has had a big impact on her personal success.

“I am surrounded by a network of people who collaborate and all work together towards a common goal,” she says. “It’s important to live and lead by principles and values that are effective in leading and inspiring my team.”

Staying curious, connected and innovative are necessary to remain on the trajectory of growth and success, she adds.

“As a national leader for the private clients teams and managing partner for the Ottawa region, I have spent more than two decades understanding the business issues for owners and leaders of companies of all shapes and sizes,” she says. “Helping our teams and our clients evolve and grow in sustainable ways is my definition of success.”

Andrew Newman

Ottawa office managing partner, KPMG Canada

One of Andrew Newman’s proudest achievements was being KPMG’s recruiting partner for four years — a time when the company hired more women than men from at least 12 counties and 12 different educational backgrounds.

“Nothing has contributed more to KPMG’s success than the diversity of our people,” he says. “To this end, our inclusion and diversity strategy focuses on three key pillars: equitable, resilient and fostering a mentally healthy team. We’ve remained one of Canada’s top employers 14 years in a row.”

His role as office managing partner in the Ottawa-Kanata offices has him provide leadership to the audit, tax and advisory functions.

Newman has more than 28 years experience in conducting financial audits, on top of advising on transaction, operations, controls and governance matters for his clients.

For 10 years, he served as the national leader of the Canadian Education Practice and was KPMG Canada’s representative on the KPMG’s Global Centre of Excellence for Education.

“'Keep learning and work as a team,’ is the advice I would have given to my younger self, when I had embarked on my professional career,” he says. “I joined the firm in 1992, after having received my B. Comm, Honours at Queen’s University. Since that time, I’ve come to appreciate the opportunities within KPMG for client service, development and career progression.”

He says KPMG continues to be one of the best learning experiences of his life, especially when it comes to the success shared between colleagues and clients.

WHO'S WHO

Warren Tomlin

Office managing partner, EY Canada

It’s all about reimagining and reinventing for EY’s Warren Tomlin. The office managing partner may have only joined EY Canada in 2017, but he has over 20 years’ experience delivering strategic consulting work with the goal to drive growth and inspire innovative new opportunities. His strategy is to understand an organization and then work with the company to build and execute a digital reinvention strategy. Before joining EY, Tomlin was also a global chief innovation officer for a world leading-technology firm, and he led an award-winning interactive digital agency. “When I think of the great opportunities I have been given, and reflect on the journey I have been on — one thing has been constant through all of it: building,” he says. “As a leader at EY, this means building solutions for clients, our teams that deliver them and — most importantly — building the careers of our individual contributors.” And it’s a strategy that has been working toward the company’s goal of building a better working world.

“In 2022, as we all come out of such a challenging time, companies will modernize, transform and reinvent. We will be there to enable their evolution, while at the same time evolving ourselves,” he says.

Tomlin holds a Master of Business Administration from Queen’s University School of Business and is a member of the CIO Strategy Council.