Christine Aspell, CPA, managing partner and audit partner with KPMG’s Baltimore office, has been named chair of the 2023-24 Board of Directors of the Maryland Association of CPAs.

Aspell was elected chair by the MACPA membership during the association’s 2023 Annual Meeting, held on June 22 at the Junior Achievement of Central Maryland offices in Baltimore. She succeeds UHY LLP partner Herbert J. Geary III, CPA, CGMA, who served as 2022-23 chair.

In her remarks to Maryland CPAs, Aspell outlined a broad agenda for the coming year that focuses intently on the “pipeline” leading to the profession — the declining numbers of students who study accounting and the shrinking pool of candidates who are studying for the CPA exam in the hopes of obtaining their license. The shortage of new talent entering the profession has left leaders scrambling to meet their staffing needs and experts wondering about the quality of future audits and other accounting and finance work.

As leaders throughout the profession debate possible solutions to the profession’s pipeline issues, Aspell wants to reconnect MACPA members with the purpose behind their work — and to convince them to share that purpose with students and young professionals who are hungry for work with meaning.

“Our profession continues to change rapidly as technological advancements, regulatory changes, and demographic trends reshape what we do and how we do it. But even amid that change, one thing remains constant — our purpose,” Aspell said. “The what, how and even who of our great profession will adapt and change, but what won’t change is our why.

“We are at an inflection point in our profession when it comes to human capital and our next generation of leaders,” she added. “Changing the narrative and shifting from the focus — especially for our talent and future talent — from the ever-adapting day-to-day work to the purpose behind that work is an opportunity that we can’t afford to miss.”

An MACPA member since 1991, Aspell has more than 25 years of experience in providing assurance services to clients in the financial services industry and specializes in serving clients in banking, investment services, insurance, and real estate.  She is partner-in-charge of the Baltimore chapter of KPMG’s Network of Women, where she established the chapter in 2004.

A member of KPMG’s Women’s Advisory Board, which helps oversee the advancement of women at the firm, Aspell also chairs the Loyola Accounting Advisory Board. She is a member of the Greater Baltimore Committee Board of Directors, the Downtown Partnership Board of Directors, the Center Club Board of Governors, the My Sister’s Place Leadership Council, the Maryland Zoo, the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland, the New America (Better Life Lab), and the St. Ursula School Finance Committee.

Aspell has been named among Maryland’s “Top 100 Women” in 2012, 2015 and 2018.

Joining Aspell on the 2023-24 MACPA Board of Directors are:

• Vice chair: Thomas White, CPA, CGMA, director of accounting, CareFirst BlueCross / BlueShield

• Secretary / treasurer: Maxene M. Bardwell, CPA, CIGA, CIA, CFE, CISA, CITP, CRMA, assistant inspector general for audit in the Office of the Inspector General for the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission

• Past chair: Herbert J. Geary III, CPA, CGMA, partner, UHY LLP

• Karl Ahlrichs, SHRM-SCP, SPHR, CSP, senior consultant, Gregory & Appel

• Jackie Cardello, CPA, president and managing partner, GRF CPAs & Advisors

• Bo Fitzpatrick, CPA, director of executive programs, 20-20 Services, LLC

• Robert Goldstein, CPA, division controller, Baltimore Scrap Corp.

• Michael Kimbrough, Ph.D., CPA, professor and chair, Department of Accounting and Information Assurance, University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business

• Gregory Repas, CPA, vice president and comptroller, McCormick & Co., Inc.

• Brett Sanders, CPA, senior accounting manager, Bird Global Inc.

• Savedra Scott, CPA, owner, Savvy Financial Solutions

Max Teichmann Award winners
Also at the June 22 Annual Meeting, the members of the MACPA’s Anne Arundel County Chapter were collectively awarded the association’s 2022-23 Max Teichmann Award for their tireless volunteer work as an MACPA champion and volunteer.

The winners were Jane Eubanks, Elizabeth "Betsy" Fravel, Lawrie "Alice" Gardner, Beth Palmer, Melvin Petty, Kaitlyn Loughner, and Rebecca Sheppard.

"A hallmark of this chapter has been its CPE offerings to local members," said MACPA CEO Rebekah Brown. "Over the years, as our profession became more and more global, the speakers and content at these CPE events evolved to include many of the same programs offered throughout Maryland, in person and virtually. At the same time, chapters were realizing not only this shift but the demands on our time by clients and companies. These four leaders — and others who couldn’t be with us today — tirelessly continued the work of providing these programs but with fewer members able to contribute their leadership or participation.

"Things change — certainly today faster than ever before," Brown added. "MACPA volunteer and staff leaders are committed to making sure every member in every area of the great state of Maryland is Connected, Protected and able to Achieve great things for their profession and in their individual careers. So today we want to recognize and thank these faithful volunteers for their many years of leadership on behalf of MACPA and the profession in Anne Arundel County."

Named in honor of the association’s founder, the award recognizes an MACPA member or members who have made significant contributions over the past year on behalf of the profession.