Get to Know CPA Nova Scotia's Newest Board Members

Ashley Doyle and Susan Nassar were elected to the CPA Nova Scotia Board during the Annual General Meeting held in June. Both women bring unique strengths and knowledge to the table, and they are excited to lend their expertise to CPA Nova Scotia.

Ashley Doyle, CPA, CA, is an assistant professor at Acadia University. You only need to speak with her briefly to understand how passionate she is about the CPA profession and helping her students along the path to becoming CPAs. She is a great asset to the board as we continue to form connections between our experienced CPAs and the CPAs of tomorrow.

Susan Nassar, MSW, MPH, was elected as the public representative for the board. Susan comes to the board with a wealth of knowledge of regulatory bodies and was a registered member of the Nova Scotia Association of Social Workers from 1995 until her retirement in 2014.

Susan Nassar, MSW, MPH

What motivated you to join the CPA Nova Scotia Board?

A: The call for nominations stated that the current board composition could benefit from additional expertise from academia, so I jumped at the opportunity. I am incredibly passionate about our profession. It is given me so much in my life that I am constantly advocating for that for my students. This opportunity will be a fantastic way to give back to the profession and service the connection between academia and our professional body.

S: The early part of my career I spent working in the not-for-profit sector, which can be overwhelming and leaves little time for volunteerism. I always told myself I would make the time for volunteering once I retired, which is what I have done. I began by helping organize a few conferences, and then I began to join boards, and I enjoyed that. During my career, I served as the Executive Director of the Nova Scotia Association of Social Workers, which is also a regulatory body, and I developed an interest and passion for regulatory issues during that time. Joining the CPA Nova Scotia Board is the perfect way to combine my interest in regulatory and governance and allows me to fulfil my desire to add volunteerism to my life.

What are you most looking forward to accomplishing during your time on the board?

A: I always want to do a million things, and there is a lot I would love to accomplish, but I do want to be that connection between the profession and the students because connection is everything. To be that voice for my students while also being a voice for the profession and bringing that back to the students is incredibly important. I want to be an advocate for the profession and my students; I can be a bridge between them and what their future can look like as a CPA.

S: Since I am new to the accounting world, I look forward to learning more about the industry's workings. As a newcomer, I can offer a fresh set of eyes, and I am excited to see how the organization progresses with the strategic plan they have been working on. I loved being involved in the recent staff and board retreat, and I was genuinely impressed with how the strategic plan is coming together. One of my main goals will be to be part of the group that oversees the strategic plan to its completion.

Ashley Doyle, CPA, CA

What career advice do you live by? Who gave it to you?

A: I have two female mentors who have been pivotal in my journey so far. The first is Pat Corkum; she is a legend at Acadia. She is known to be tough but well-respected and is an incredible advocate for our profession. One of the best pieces of advice she gave me was to "get up as early as possible in the morning before your kids get up." This is how I found the time to complete my MBA while my children were young. She also taught me that teaching is never a popularity contest, and I took that to mean I should always be my authentic self and stand by my values and ethics, even if it feels unpopular at the time.

My other mentor is Jane Roy. Although I cannot pinpoint any specific advice, her actions and how she has treated me has taught me so much. For instance, when my two boys were young, and I was trying to juggle everything, I told her I was going to have to step away from the board at Catapult, and she told me, "No. Take the time you need, step away, but please come back when you are ready". She showed me that it is ok that we are not always in the perfect part of our life, and we can step back, take a break, and come back better than before.

What has been your biggest professional accomplishment to date?

A: my biggest professional achievement was completing my MBA with my two young kids while working full time at the beginning of Covid. There were sacrifices that were made, and it took a lot of discipline, so that feels like the biggest professional accomplishment, and that is what led me to achieve and obtain the tenure track appointment as an Assistant Professor at Acadia without a PhD.

S: My biggest professional accomplishment was my second-to-last job before I retired. In the early 2000s, Dalhousie developed the Health Mentors' Program. They found community volunteers with chronic conditions and disabilities and paired them with interprofessional teams of students from different health fields. I knew the Dean of Medicine at the time, and he approached me about spearheading the project. It was a huge undertaking. Dalhousie had a total of 17 health-related programs and over 800 students participating in the project, and over 180 community volunteers. I had to have faculty from all departments find a way to build the project into their curriculum and be committed to working together for it to succeed. The fact that this project worked was a terrific achievement because of the amount of logistics and how many different groups were involved to make the program successful.