BC's Top Employers (2026) Magazine - Magazine - Page 36
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BC’S TOP EMPLOYERS (2026)
At CPABC, mentorship builds connection and skills
L
ori Mathison, the
president and CEO of
the Chartered
Professional
Accountants of British
Columbia (CPABC), has benefited
from informal mentorship
relationships throughout her
career. That experience was a
major factor in why Mathison
is such a strong supporter of
STARship — standing for
“support, teach, aspire, reach”
— CPABC’s more structured
mentorship program.
Mentoring helps each
individual mentor and
mentee grow in their
careers, and when
we have everyone
performing better, the
whole organization
improves and benefits
from that.
— Lori Mathison
President and CEO
“Sometimes you need to have
something formal in place to
ensure that everyone who wants
a mentor can find one and has
the opportunity to work with
someone who really cares about
their individual development,”
says Mathison.
It’s a great experience for
mentors as well, she continues. “I
have personally been a mentor,
and I can tell you it’s absolutely
a two-way street,” Mathison says.
“I probably took more away from
the relationship than the mentee
Bithia Chung, privacy officer (left), and Angela Fong, business intelligence and communications officer at
CPABC.
because it helps you see different
perspectives.”
At CPABC — which is the
training, governing and regulatory
body for more than 40,000 CPAs
across the province — the two-way
effect is further enhanced by the
way STARship enables cross-departmental relationships.
Bithia Chung, privacy officer
(mentor), and Angela Fong,
business intelligence and communications officer (mentee), both
embraced that aspect of STARship
while they were in the program.
“Coming from different
departments made the experience
even more valuable,” says Fong.
“I could talk to Bithia about areas
where I wanted to grow without
getting enmeshed in the workings
of my own team. It gave me
practical advice as well as a fresh
understanding of how other teams
work and how we can collaborate
better.”
Chung also appreciated the
opportunity to broaden her
departmental perspective while
enhancing her leadership skills.
“Our conversations prompted me
to reflect more intentionally on
my goals and development and to
lead by example by walking the
talk.”
When Chung, Fong and
Mathison discuss the factors
they believe make CPABC an
exceptional place to work, they
cite its first-rate benefits package,
which includes elements such
as a transit subsidy and gender
affirmation care, the organization’s
embrace of hybrid scheduling, and
culture — noting the well-known
Halloween costume contest. (In
2025, Fong’s team, dressed as a
school of fish, came in third).
But what consistently rises to
the fore is what Fong summarizes
as CPABC’s intensive support
and investment in its staff. New
hires are onboarded during their
first 90 days through the BOOST
Buddy Program to help them deal
with the unwritten norms that are
found in every workplace.
