CPA NS Members' Luncheon Speakers

Terry LeBlanc, BBA, FCPA, FCGA, and Vice-chair on the CPA Canada Board of Directors, will be speaking on the national vision of CPA Canada. Terry joined the CPA Canada Board in December, 2013. In 2010, he retired from his role as an executive with the Canada Revenue Agency (1977-2010). During his tenure at CRA, he held various senior management positions, including, Assistant director investigations, assistant director audit, tax services office director, director intergovernmental relations, and special advisor to the assistant commissioner. At the Board level, Terry has served as the Director and Chair of CGA Canada, Chair of CGA New Brunswick, as well as serving as a member of the CGA Maritime Regional Student Services Board. Terry earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Univeristé de Moncton in 1977 and became a Certified General Accountant in 1983. He was then honoured as a fellow Certified General Accountant in 2002 and was granted a lifetime membership to CGA New Brunswick in 2009.

Bruce Densmore, FCPA, FCA and Chair of the Board for CPA Nova Scotia will speak to the local focus of the organization and provide insight on unification and what to expect from your association moving forward. Bruce has close to 30 years of UFE training experience and has been a full-time UFE instructor since 1999. He currently serves as President of Densmore Consulting Services Inc. (1986 – present). Bruce began his accounting career in 1979 as a staff accountant at Peat Marwick (now KPMG), and then at Collins Barrow from 1982-1984. He then served as an Associate Professor in the Department of Business at Mount Saint Vincent University for 17 years. Bruce earned a BComm. degree in Accounting from Saint Mary’s University (1980), attended the Atlantic School of Chartered Accountancy (1983), where he obtained his CA designation, and completed an MBA (1990) at Saint Mary’s University.  Bruce is the longest serving member on the ICANS council and is the Institute president for 2015-2016.

Patricia (Patti) Towler, BA, JD, LLM, CIC.C, brings over 25 years of experience in managing complex and cross-functional strategic initiatives, while successfully managing diverse stakeholder groups. A strategic, big picture thinker, she has led senior management teams through numerous challenging projects, most recently, as Vice President (External) and General Counsel for Regent College. A graduate of Dalhousie Law School, she began her career in the Halifax office of Stewart McKelvey Stirling Scales and is a trained mediator, published author and frequent speaker and lecturer. Her leadership style is defined by a strong set of moral principles, her collaborative nature as well as her attention to detail. By her peers, Patti is known as a strong motivator of individuals and someone who is not only reliable but delivers results, embraces change and handles conflict graciously and effectively. As the inaugural Chief Executive Officer of CPA Nova Scotia, Patti will apply her senior leadership experience and values such as accountability and transparency to move the organization and accounting profession forward, and steward a strategically sound, long-term vision that will contribute to the sustainability and prosperity of Nova Scotia’s accounting profession in the global financial community.