Meet the 2025 Recipients of the CPA Ontario Foundation’s Circle of Success Educational Grant

October 20, 2025

On September 25, the CPA Ontario Foundation held its first Annual Gathering at the CPA Ontario office. It was a chance for community partners and supporters to come together and celebrate the efforts of the Foundation, which center around supporting the educational success of aspiring CPAs from priority communities who face barriers entering the profession.

The event featured a keynote from Dr. Eugenia Addy, CEO of Visions of Science, who spoke to ‘seeing yourself in the world – even when you do not see others like yourself’ - which ties in to the Foundation’s mission of increasing representation and diversity in the CPA profession. 

While all aspiring CPAs pursuing the designation share a common goal, every journey to the designation is unique, and so are the barriers. Despite the important progress that has been made, members of some communities still face their own sets of obstacles on the road to becoming a CPA.

It’s important for the CPA profession to reflect the province but certain communities, including the Black and Indigenous communities, are underrepresented. It’s the mission of the CPA Ontario Foundation to help close that gap and make sure the profession is open to the brightest minds and different perspectives through programming, awards, and scholarships, and most notably, the Circle of Success educational grant.

The Foundation’s Circle of Success educational grants provide each student with up to $25,000 per year for four years of post-secondary studies. But more than funding, the Circle of Success provides students with access to mentorship, professional networks and community, mental health support and access to CPA Ontario resources like student conferences and events.

This year, one Indigenous student and one Black student were awarded the Circle of Success grant.

Robbie Harper

Robbie Harper is an Ansininew student from the St. Theresa Point First Nation (Treaty 5 Territory) who is currently studying accounting at Humber Polytechnic in Toronto. Motivated by his own experiences of financial instability and systemic underfunding on reserves, Robbie Harper says he is pursuing the CPA designation to give back. “My family always struggled financially – we were on welfare for most of my life. It was important for me to develop my own financial literacy and share that with my community when I go back home,” explains Robbie.

Robbie applied for the Circle of Success grant because he was one of the only Indigenous students studying accounting at Humber, where he also works at the Indigenous Centre.  Of all the benefits the grant offers, he is most excited to build his leadership skills through professional development opportunities.

“For the longest time, I have been trying to find myself. My community supported me through school all these years, and now I can finally give back,” Robbie says.

Robbie’s vision is to leverage his accounting background with his deep commitment to Indigenous governance to help strengthen financial capacity and advance self-determination in First Nations communities across Canada.

The first thing I want to do when I visit my community again is to put my skills to use – go through their books, go through their financial statements, Robbie says. I want to find where we can be more efficient on a financial infrastructure level and instill some financial literacy – maybe even open my own CPA practice one day.

Gladys Ola David

Gladys Ola-David is a recent graduate of North Toronto Collegiate Institute and a first year Accounting Co-op student at Trent University. While the financial support offered by the Circle of Success educational grant was a clear draw, it was the ring of support the grant draws around the successful applicants that inspired her to apply.

When I read about all the other things included in the grant, like the mentorship program, I thought, ‘wow, this is more than you ever see with most scholarships,’ Gladys remembers.

Interested in accounting from a young age, and inspired by her internationally trained accountant father, she hopes to continue her education towards becoming a CPA.

I have always wanted to become an accountant, even from a young age. I enjoyed taking accounting classes in high school, even making balance sheets, she says. Then I decided that I wanted to become a CPA, because of all the opportunities it can provide.

Gladys’ goal is to merge her business sense and creativity to build her own brand and inspire other young Black women to pursue leadership and professional pathways.

When you are in a professional space and don’t see a lot of people that look like you, it reminds you that we might not get the same opportunities as others, she says. You think, ‘maybe I don’t belong here’. But when you see people that look like you, you feel a sense of community, like they will understand you. Representation matters because it makes you feel like you can do it too.

Visit the CPA Ontario Foundation to learn more about the Circle of Success educational grant.