Richard Pope, FCPA, FCA was introduced to the legacy CA Foundation when he was studying to become a designated accountant over 35 years ago.
“That was when I first became aware of the Foundation and the things it was trying to accomplish. I am proud to be an award recipient and never forgot what it meant to me”, explains Pope.
In 2005, Pope was first elected to the CA Council and was appointed to the Foundation Board for a period of two years.
“I really enjoyed that experience and was glad to be doing meaningful work that really made a difference. It has always been important to me that we continue to grow and attract great people to the profession.”
Around this time, a friend, colleague and partner at Pope and Brookes Chartered Professional Accountants passed away.
“Education was very important to him so together with my wife Connie, we made a number of contributions to the Foundation in his honour.”
This is how the Connie Pope and Richard D. Pope, FCPA, FCA Fund initially came to exist. However, another big event several years later helped to evolve it into what it is today.
“Our daughter Melissa went through the legacy CA program and received a number of awards including the William G. Eamer, FCA Award. Seeing what they meant to her was special and it really reinforced how worthwhile these awards and bursaries are.”
The fund is now at the point where they can start to think about distributing the money to deserving CPA students.
“We’ve been very blessed and the accounting profession has been good to me and my family over the years. We want to give back with our fund to ensure others are able to access the same education and training that was available to me during the early part of my career.”