“If you met me in high school, I was the shy student who absolutely despised public speaking,” says chartered professional accountant Tannie Lam, CPA, CA. “Now I’m at a place where I aspire to be somebody who can make positive impact for the future generations, as well as be a voice for underrepresented groups.”
Tannie, who is vice president at the boutique deal advisory firm Sequeira Partners, has made an impact in her career through her own personal transformation and by helping others to navigate their own evolution. She recently reflected on her journey after getting the news that she was an Early Achievement Award recipient through CPABC’s Member Recognition Program. “Being recognized is really both humbling as well as affirming because it proves how transformative the CPA program is,” Tannie notes. “It empowers people to realize that they can exceed their own expectations.”
However, being a CPA wasn’t always on her radar. “When I was in school, I thought CPAs were the people who sat in the back of the room and all they focused on was math and taxes,” she says. “But when I was deciding what major to pursue in university, a lot of people told me, ‘You should do your CPA because you can do anything with that.’ I didn’t really understand what that meant, so I dug into it a bit more.” This involved working as a co-op student at an accounting firm and asking the CPAs around her what they liked about their jobs. “I learned that yes, there’s the technical aspect that’s focused on accounting and taxes,” she says, “but the magic of being a CPA is the ability to take those tools and use them to solve problems in a way that makes a meaningful impact.”
Managing risk and transitions
Tannie brings her ability to make a meaningful impact to her clients, often working with them to navigate crucial decisions. “As a mid-market investment banker at Sequeira, I get the opportunity to work with business owners as they make one of the most significant and complex decisions in their lives – succession planning,” she says. “We help our clients find a good home for their enterprise, then help them to transition out of the operations.” People may think the role of investment bankers is to maximize valuation, but says Tannie, “It’s a lot more complex and deeply personal. We often have clients who are very focused on maintaining the legacy and culture of their business and protecting their employees. These aspects tend to be just as important as the financial aspects.”
Tannie specializes in the mergers and acquisition process, including valuation, due diligence, negotiations, and structuring legal frameworks. With her CPA skill set, she also helps mitigate any closing risks for her clients, as well as tackle any transaction issues that arise. “For example,” she notes, “there was an instance where my client was presented with financial statements that contained an error. I was able to look into the financial information, identify the error, and suggest an adjustment. That ended up being a positive impact on the valuation and ultimately, my client was able to sell their business at a higher price point.”
Grounding new professionals in success
Along with advising clients, Tannie leads recruiting at Sequeira, which has enabled the firm to double its headcount. During her involvement, she has prioritized helping new professionals to transform their abilities and potential. “The most significant thing I’ve been able to contribute to the firm is developing a mentorship and training program,” she says. Sequeira’s goal is to support new team members to be well-rounded professionals, so she ensured the program incorporated technical and soft skills training as well as leadership development. Along with that, each new member is immediately and fully integrated into the organization to get hands-on experience. “We ensure new staff have opportunities to build skill sets that are beyond just a junior role,” says Tannie. “We also ensure that they have shadowing opportunities with leadership and that they’re involved in all of our client and internal strategy meetings.”
Pushing for diversity
Tannie also lends her abilities to help community-based organizations and their participants evolve, and has given back with the Association of Women in Finance, the Yi Ping Collective, and the Kiwanis Club of Vancouver, where as co-chair of the club’s youth committee, she mentors high school students to support their educational and social growth.
Also co-chair of the Association of Corporate Growth British Columbia’s Middle Market Growth Conference, Tannie’s contributions have included a drive to increase diversity. “This has been a passion of mine,” says Tannie. “I’ve pushed for diversity on speaker panels, and I’m happy to say last year the panels that I organized had gender parity, and I ensured that we had people with different professional backgrounds.” This year, her goal is to advance even further, to make sure that the event has diversity not only in the speakers, but also in content and conference attendance. “With the full support of our board, we’ve already implemented really meaningful impacts to help move that forward,” she notes.
Tannie underscores that CPAs can have a positive effect, wherever they are involved. “I think all CPAs can make an impact and they should be aware of this opportunity,” she reflects. “The CPA designation and what you can accomplish with it is actually quite transformative.”
Celebrate and connect with CPABC’s 2024-25 Member Recognition Program honourees! Join us for the gala Member Recognition Dinner on April 2, 2025.
Leah Giesbrecht is a communications specialist at CPABC.
