If you’ve listened to our Rise & Stride podcasts, you’ll know that leadership comes up in each conversation. And you’ve likely noticed that each guest defines leadership a little bit differently. Yet, there are a couple of characteristics that repeatedly pop up in those definitions: Being a role model, mentor or coach, and lifting others and the organization. As author Simon Sinek said in his book, Leaders Eat Last, “Leadership is not about being the best, it is about making everyone else better.”

There’s a third commonality, too, that I’ll get to later.

At CalCPA, I’m proud that our member leaders take those characteristics to heart and as we begin our fiscal year this month, I want to recognize and thank some of the members who are stepping into officer roles for 2023-24.

Board of Directors officers:

• Chair: Meredith A. Johnson (San Francisco Chapter)

• First Vice Chair: Matthew Martin (Los Angeles Chapter)

• Secretary/Treasurer: Jillian Phan (Los Angeles Chapter)

• Immediate Past Chair: Tayiika Dennis (Los Angeles Chapter)

Board of Trustees officers:

• Chair: Andrea Cope (San Francisco Chapter)

• First Vice Chair: Ruben Davila (Los Angeles Chapter)

• Treasurer: Scott Donnelly (Los Angeles Chapter)

• Immediate Past Chair: Adam Blitz (Fresno Chapter)

This is by no means an exhaustive list of our dedicated member leaders. You can find the full slate here, and then add to that our chapter presidents and officers; chapter and state committee members; our member instructors; our student influencers on college and university campuses across the state; our Board, Council and Trustee members … and the list goes on and the names of everyone could fill pages and pages of our magazine. They are all an amazing cadre of leaders making a difference every day.

This year, too, we have a distinct leadership spotlight as Okorie Ramsey will be AICPA Chair for 2023-24. Okorie has had many roles within CalCPA, including chair of the Education Foundation in 2017-18 and on a national level with AICPA, NABA and other organizations. He has been a champion of elevating and expanding the profession, creating a sense of community and belonging, and fostering an environment of mutual respect and understanding.

All the people that fill the roles I’ve mentioned above point to the third commonality when it comes to defining leadership that I teased at the start of this column: You can’t do it alone. Together we’re better.

Each of our leaders and members brings their passion, unique perspectives and gifts, and combining those diverse qualities helps propel CalCPA, the profession and us, as individuals, further along than we can go on our own.