ICAO Election 2012: the old guard just barely survived
The Ontario Chartered Accountants have voted, and the results are - mixed! Here's the list of members elected to the Council:
- Arnie Bose, CA
- Marrianne Bridge, FCA
- Anita Ferrari, FCA
- Christie E. Henderson, CA
- Delna Madon, CA
- Alan T. Mak, CA
- Robert C. Scullion, FCA
- John Wright, CA
You see the three people with "FCA" after their name? Those are Fellows. It's kind of a Big Deal, as they've been around a long time and are very respected in the profession. They represent the part of the old guard that made it through.
In this election there were, however, 18 candidates, half of whom were on the record as against the merger. Three anti-merger candidates on the above list are Arnie Bose, Delna Madon and Alan Mak. They represent fresh blood and a clear sign that the members are getting annoyed with the direction the Institute has been moving in.
Of the people who didn't win, I'd say I was most amazed to see Allan Foerster not get elected - he's a respected professor and a source of much accounting knowledge, but he chose to tow the pro-merger line in his candidate biography. His cheeky comments almost made me gasp when I read them. I wonder if others reacted the same way!
Early reports indicate that voting was extremely close - the winners had to really hustle to get out the vote from what I've seen, which is incredible given that the opposition was comprised of many very young CAs, with relatively limited resumes compared to the 'natural ruling party' of the old guard.
With these young Turks joining the ranks, are there interesting times ahead at the Institute? For certain!
First time I recall reloading an archived image - this time to echo the burning turmoil in store