Illinois CPA Society Honors 3 Female Professionals

The Illinois CPA Society’s Women’s Committee and the Association of International Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Women’s Initiatives Committee are pleased to honor the following three women with their 2018 Women to Watch Awards. These women have made significant contributions to the accounting profession, their organizations, and to the development of women as leaders. Women to Watch Award recipients are honored in two categories.

Experienced Leader Category: Recognized for mentoring other professionals, community service, major or unique contributions to the profession, leadership in workplace improvement and for authoring professional articles. This year’s winners are:

Kelly Richmond Pope, Ph.D., CPA, Associate Professor, DePaul University and Founder of Helios Digital Learning – Kelly’s research focuses on organizational misconduct, ethics and fraud, and how organizations design cultures and compliance systems to confront these challenges.

Her research on organizational misconduct culminated into directing and producing the award-wining documentary, “All the Queen’s Horses” in 2017. Kelly was selected to develop a TED Ed lesson entitled, “How People Rationalize Fraud” as well as a TEDx Talk entitled, “Why Do We Hate Whistle-blowers?” Kelly is a popular keynote speaker and frequently advises firms about their compliance programs and training.

Jackie Rosenfeldt, CPA, Partner, Audit Services, Grant Thornton LLP – Jackie has more than 20 years of public accounting experience working with companies in various industries with a specific focus on the auditing of investments. She serves as lead audit partner on various mutual funds and benefit plans, some of which have more than $6 billion in investment portfolio assets.

As a member of the people experience leadership team at GT, Jackie has been instrumental in developing and growing the firm’s various business resource groups in Chicago, including Women at Grant Thornton. Jackie directly mentors nearly a dozen working mothers across all service lines. Since Jackie became a partner, the firm has significantly increased its representation of women partners. Jackie actively supports Child Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) Kane County and previously was a member of their board for several years.

Emerging Leader Award Category: Recognized for demonstration of leadership, contributions to the profession, creation and implementation of unique initiatives in their workplace, community service and involvement with their alma mater. This year’s winner is:

Roxanne Chow, CPA, Senior Manager, Ernst & Young LLP – Roxanne specializes in new accounting standard implementations and finance transformation events. She sits on the National Leases Team, serving as the go-to-market content leader and develops various enablers. She has been influential in EY’s people development capacities, including creating a highly popular networking program and serving as a regional champion for a culture program.

Roxanne serves on the Associates Board for Ladder Up and leads the EY volunteer partnership with Ladder Up, as well as fundraising efforts. Through her work with Ladder Up, she was nominated by regional leadership to serve as one of two deputy co-chairs for EY’s Chicago Community Engagement Committee, which promotes and recognizes all EY Chicago employees’ community engagement efforts.

Winners will be recognized at the Illinois CPA Society’s Women’s Leadership Forum on Friday, October 26. More information on this year’s winners, past award recipients and details about the Women to Watch Awards are available at this web link.