About Amplify Advisors
At Amplify, we know you want to be a business leader who feels restored and confident to make sound decisions for success. In order to do that, you need support to regain control and position your business for opportunity and growth.
This is why we founded Amplify.
From its humble beginnings, Amplify’s founders believed that there was a better way to receive professional services. At Amplify, we call this better way, our client experience. Our client experience is relationship-centric. The foundation is our values. The experience that our clients get is represented by our name. We want to amplify. We are focused on growth, scale, strategy, and leadership.
At Amplify, we know that building a successful business is a team effort. We are leading experts in the fields of finance and accounting. But most importantly, we are real people. We believe in the strength of our communities and we continuously aim to amplify the communities we live in by volunteering in sports and causes we believe in. We are ready to help — confidentially and without judgement.
Our focus at Amplify (our ‘North Star’) is Client Experience. We prioritize it first.
Enhancing Communities.
Amplify Opportunities.
Cultivate Connections.
We build our values based on years of working in professional services at Big Four firms and working in various industries as Finance Leaders:
- Connection
- Candor
- Courage
- Curiosity
- Collaboration
We knew the blind spots that would not fit well with our dedication to Client Experience. We knew that the opposing values were common for CPAs and that we needed to be deliberate in building a culture that would support our epic team.
And it is an epic team. We are proud of the amazing people that work with us as Finance Leaders and in our Consulting, Recruiting and Tech services. We know that the client experience is what attracts and retains them and that they share our values.
Jamie L. Smith, CPA, CA, MPAcc
Co-Founder
Chief Experience Officer | Finance Leader Services – Executive Leader
Non-Amplify Roles: hockey & baseball mom (of 2), wife, audit committee chair & treasurer, CPA & TSXV committee member
Hobbies & Interests: golf, entertaining, reading & writing, wine & craft beverages, travel
Jesse Ferguson, CPA, CA
Co-Founder
Chief Executive and Financial Officer | Tech – Executive Leader
Non-Amplify Roles: hockey coach, EOA member, EOA board director, UNB Hockey co-chair, IoT committee member, husband, dad of 2
Hobbies & Interests: golf, family skiing, travel, podcasts & reading
Paul Christensen, CPA, CA
Finance Leader (CFO) | Consultant
Non-Amplify Roles: father, husband, community volunteer
Hobbies & Interests: skiing, hockey coaching, travel, cooking & reading biographies
Amanda Fisher
Senior Consultant, Recruiting Services
Non-Amplify Roles: wife, mom of 2 and dog mom of 2, FFCA school board director, South Bow River Softball board member
Hobbies & Interests: playing and coaching softball, camping, hiking, gardening, reading, podcasts, personal development, travel, quality time with friends and family
Lyndsey Hoff
Senior Consultant, Recruiting Services
Non-Amplify Roles: cat mom, singer/songwriter, shampoo dealer, and Aunty
Hobbies & Interests: volunteering on Connect Church Worship Team , volunteering at Happy Cat Sanctuary, volunteering VP, Board of RESET, live music, gardening
David Skabar
Growth Team
Non-Amplify Roles: father of 3, husband of 1, sports coach of many
Hobbies & Interests:cooking, coffee, wine, skiing, golfing, travel and travelling to go cooking/skiing/golfing and drink coffee/wine
Jo Onison
Marketing Events Sales Consultant
Non-Amplify Roles: coming soon
Hobbies & Interests: coming soon
Alexa Prodaniuk
Recruiting Consultant
Non-Amplify Roles: coming soon
Hobbies & Interests: coming soon
Joshua Ponton
Growth Consultant
Non-Amplify Roles: friend, teammate & brother
Hobbies & Interests: basketball, snowboarding, travel & music
Jodi Morrison
Operations and Marketing Analyst
Non-Amplify Roles: Mother of 2 boys, wife, co-owner of social media management company (@smalltownscoop)
Hobbies & Interests: playing hockey & golf, wine, music, family, outdoors
Ian Folinsbee, CPA, CMA
Finance Leader (CFO) | Accounting Services Manager
Non-Amplify Roles: Treasurer at Foundation for Addiction and Mental Health, Committee member on the “Nomination Committee” for the CPA Achievement Awards
Hobbies & Interests: mountain biking, yoga
Danny Chiarastella, CPA, CA
Finance Leader (CFO) | Consultant
Non-Amplify Roles: husband, dad of two daughters, CanLearn Society board chair, and FEI Canada Sponsorship chair
Hobbies & Interests: hiking, biking, gardening, cooking
Ken Teuling, CPA, CMA
Finance Leader (CFO) | Consultant
Non-Amplify Roles: father of one, dog owner, husband
Hobbies & Interests: biking, hiking snowshoeing, skiing, camping
Heidi Conrad, CPA, CA, ICD.D
Finance Leader (CFO) | Consultant
Non-Amplify Roles: Director and Treasurer of the board of Prospect Human Services, CPA Student Mentor Volunteer Advisor, InterGen
Hobbies & Interests: travel, hiking, history, reading and learning
Joey Brunel, CPA
Finance Leader (CFO) | Consultant
Non-Amplify Roles: husband, uncle, sports organizer
Hobbies & Interests: hockey, fastball, curling, tennis, pickleball, Winnipeg Jets and Blue Bombers fan, Treasurer of the condo board
Brenda Yackle, CPA, CMA
Finance Leader | Consultant
Non-Amplify Roles: wife, FEI board member, friend
Hobbies & Interests: slow-pitch, pickleball, reading, and family
Rena Bremner, CPA
Senior Accountant
Non-Amplify Roles: wife, mom, family member, and dog owner
Hobbies & Interests: boating, mountain biking, time with family and friends, wine, travel, and purposely choosing local
Lisa Huang, CPA, CGA
Finance Leader (Controller) | Consultant
Non-Amplify Roles: mother, friend, tax preparer
Hobbies & Interests: hiking, reading, gardening
Sujeet Tiwari
Senior NetSuite Consultant
Non-Amplify Roles: Dad for 1, husband, mentoring for upcoming young talents
Hobbies & Interests: reading books, family outings, exploring nature, exploring the universe and intersteller objects, artificial intelligence (AI)
Ifeoma Nwulu, AAT, ACA, MSc, FMVA
Senior Business Consultant | Project Manager | Business Leader
Non-Amplify Roles: Last child [of six] & altruistic volunteer
Hobbies & Interests: Barre, reading books & listening to film scores on repeat
Galea Gherasimencova
Accountant
Non-Amplify Roles: mom of 4, soccer mom, wife
Hobbies & Interests: snorkeling, dry sauna, family outdoor activity
Drew Englot
Accountant
Non-Amplify Roles: husband, uncle, volunteer
Hobbies & Interests: hockey, golf, football, baseball, travelling, concerts & festivals
Hilary Chan
Accountant
Non-Amplify Roles: mom, wife, Etsy store owner
Hobbies & Interests: spending time with kids, arts and crafts (too many to list), video gaming
Our Values
Connection
We value connection because our client experience is about relationships. The business leaders that we serve are people first and by investing in them, we amplify their growth. It has two parts.
First, connection is about being generous with our network and our willingness to cultivate connection. Referrals, recommendations, and amplifying opportunities are important to us. We are grateful that we have a network that allows us to do a great job in this.
Second, connection is about communication. We know that being understood is the key to commitment and that great communication is clear, concise, and influences action.
Candor
Our candor is based on “Radical Candor” by Kim Scott and “Principles” by Ray Dalio.
Challenging directly without establishing a relationship doesn’t get you heard. If you are not perceived to be coming from a place of kindness and caring, people will just put their defenses on. In these cases no one wins. You might be right, but you have no influence. We understand this at Amplify.
Candor isn’t what people think – it isn’t a license to be blunt, frank or a devil’s advocate in a way that presents like an a**hole.
Instead, it’s an opportunity to prioritize relationships and for us at Amplify to focus on our client experience. When people know you care and you’ve invested in connecting, you have an open door to speak clearly and to show your curiosity with great questions. When you are connected you have the courage to collaborate, including challenging directly. If done right, you can make people’s ideas better.
Courage
Our values don’t have a place for ego. To deliver our client experience we need to be vulnerable. You have to have the courage to not be the smartest person in the room. The courage to not always be right, and even when you are “right”, you need the courage to put relationships and candor first. Courage is about understanding when you need to collaborate. It’s about asking the curious questions.
Curiosity
Our client experience is about the whole business – all areas and all people. We ask questions and have a growth mindset. We bring insight and add value by realizing that there’s always more to learn. Our people are not happy unless they have the opportunity to understand.
Collaboration
While collaboration is a foundational value and can be simple, it’s often the hardest to actually do. Getting the balance right and not spinning your wheels independently and asking for help is important. Knowing that autonomy is a privilege and not a right, can be hard for some to swallow. Recognizing when people need your collaboration even though they didn’t directly ask for help takes insight and effort. Collaboration allows our client experience to go beyond what any individual could provide. It’s the power of the epic team which amplifies opportunities and cultivates connection.
Professionals who are skilled accountants and have held top performing jobs might not fit with Amplify. CPAs that think they communicate and that “the ball is in their court”. CPAs who spend all of their time behind a spreadsheet and don’t ask questions about operations. CPAs that prioritize their own deadlines over people. CPAs that are passive-aggressive or obnoxious devil advocates. CPAs who believe they are the “smartest guy in the room”. CPAs that haven’t read a book on strategy, business leadership, or scaling a business. These people can make great teammates on other teams, but they won’t love working with Amplify.
CPAs are prone to all kinds of stereotypes and many are well deserved. For our epic team, most of us trained as auditors and CAs so we know how our peer group ends up coming across as policing, cost-focused devil advocates. We know CPAs in the industry are hard-working and work on lean teams. We have been Finance Leaders that have felt stretched and we’ve seen the impact that had on our ability to be strategic or develop relationships. We don’t let that happen to us anymore. While compliance, costs, and numbers all matter to us, that’s not how we differentiate. Rather, through our values, we want to help business leaders feel restored, confident, and ready to make sound decisions for success. We want to help business leaders regain control and position for opportunity and growth. Growth focused and relationship-centric CPAs with a dedication to our client experience is what attracts and retains this epic team.
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