Words: Julie Burniston

Evette Sheehan CA, Lynne Hoey CA and Angus Chapman CA first crossed paths in the early 2000s while navigating the audit deadlines and exam preparation that define life as a CA trainee. At the time they were simply colleagues in Grant Thornton’s Glasgow office, focused on finding their footing in the profession. Few would have imagined then that two decades later their careers would converge again in northern California.

For all three, the CA qualification proved to be a powerful springboard to international careers and unexpected opportunities. Yet just as important as the professional grounding it provided were the relationships built along the way.

More than 20 years after they first met, Evette, Global Head of Accounting at Uber, Lynne, Chief Investment Officer at the Kataly Foundation, and Angus, AI Governance Director at EY, live within a short distance of one another in the San Francisco Bay Area. Their professional paths have taken them in very different directions, but the shared foundation of their training remains a common thread.

“There’s something about the ICAS training contract that really brings people together,” says Angus. “You’re all working long days on client engagements, then studying in the evenings and weekends. Everyone’s under the same pressure, so you end up supporting each other through it.”

Angus Chapman CA, EY

“The Bay Area is so dynamic and has that tradition of innovation, technology and entrepreneurialism. The pace of change around AI is extraordinary”

Angus, who grew up in Glasgow, took an unconventional route into the profession. “I joined Grant Thornton straight out of high school at 18 and started with the AAT [Association of Accounting Technicians] qualification. That early practical experience helped enormously, and by the time I started the CA exams I’d already spent years working with businesses and seeing how they operate. The technical material made much more sense because you could connect it directly to real situations.”

During those years Angus worked alongside Evette and Lynne on a number of engagements. “We weren’t on exactly the same timeline, but we overlapped quite a bit,” he recalls. “I actually remember Evette training me for a period when she had recently qualified and I was still studying.”

Angus qualified as a CA in 2012 after six years with Grant Thornton. Soon afterwards, an unexpected opportunity took him to Cambodia to help expand the firm’s new office there. Two years later he moved to Dublin to join EY, where his work increasingly focused on technology’s transformative potential on traditional audit and assurance processes.

“That was my first real exposure to the intersection of technology and audit,” he says. “I started to see how data, analytics and automation could fundamentally change the way we deliver assurance.”

Today he is based in California’s Bay Area, where he soon adjusted to being in yet another new country. “Fitting in, for me, comes through things like playing football, joining teams, plus music, travel, food and so on,” he says. “You have to go into it with eyes wide open, especially when you’re becoming friends with people who are maybe in a similar situation and may move on themselves. I think that becomes part of your identity, making the most of the moment but knowing changes are inevitable.”

Not surprisingly, the tech side of his work has continued, given his proximity to Silicon Valley. “From a technology perspective this place is incredible,” he says. “The Bay Area is so dynamic and has that tradition of innovation, technology and entrepreneurialism. The pace of change around AI is extraordinary. Being able to bring the professional judgement and ethical grounding from the CA qualification into that environment is fascinating.”

Friends reunited

Angus’s presence in California was something of a surprise to his former colleagues. In fact, Evette only discovered he was living nearby when they unexpectedly crossed paths at San Francisco airport last year.

“We bumped into each other while waiting for the same flight to Dallas,” Angus laughs. “We hadn’t seen each other in about 10 years. It was one of those moments where you realise how small the world can be. I knew she was working with Uber, but we just hadn’t had the chance to reconnect.”

Lynne Hoey CA, Kataly Foundation

“You’re learning alongside your colleagues but also alongside people from across the profession, and those shared experiences really help build lasting relationships. It’s a bond that’s quite unique to the profession”

For Lynne, the journey to becoming a CA was equally unconventional. Born in New Jersey of Scottish parentage, she had moved to Glasgow to study film, television and theatre.

Circumstances led her to leave university and pursue a different direction, beginning with the Association of Taxation Technicians qualification before progressing to CA training. “I was actually the first person at Grant Thornton Scotland to go down that route,” she explains. “I tend to be a bit of a trendsetter in things.”

It was during her early training years that she met Evette. “I still remember the first day we met,” Lynne recalls. “Evette was a year behind me, and we went for paninis at a cafe near the office. We became friends straight away.”

The shared experience of ICAS training played a major role in building a strong connection. “Having that built-in bond with people who truly understand what you’re going through is incredibly important,” Lynne says. “ICAS is very good at bringing trainees through almost as cohorts. You’re learning alongside your colleagues but also alongside people from across the profession, and those shared experiences really help build lasting relationships. It’s a bond that’s quite unique to the profession.”

After qualifying, Lynne realised she wanted to move beyond audit and work closer to the world of deals and investment. She joined Allied Irish Banks in 2008 and later worked at Clydesdale National Australia Bank. Along the way she developed a growing interest in how finance could be used to create positive social outcomes.

“I spent time working on lending to housing associations in Scotland and I saw how transformative that could be for communities,” she says. “That experience stayed with me.”

Her career eventually brought her back to the US, where she joined Santander in New York City. “I remember sitting in my office in Manhattan one day thinking about some of the lending I was doing,” she says. “We were helping wealthy people buy more property and I found myself wondering whether finance could be used in a better way.”

That question eventually led her into impact investing. Today she serves as Chief Investment Officer at the Kataly Foundation, a national funder based in the Bay Area, overseeing an investment strategy that is rooted in the principles of non-extraction, defined as ensuring that returns to the investor never exceed the wealth generated for the borrower and their community.

“As a white woman of American and British and Irish descent, I have a tremendous amount of privilege,” she says. “Currently I can use my skills to support changing systems that intentionally dehumanise people. I want everyone to have access to equal opportunities and safety in the way that I did. Part of what I do in my job is train and educate people in how finance, accounting and investing work, how these systems were set up for people to fail, and how we can make them better.”

Although they had always stayed in touch, Lynne and Evette have naturally been brought closer by both living in California. “When I was thinking about moving to California, I spoke to Evette,” says Lynne. “She told me I absolutely should come. It was reassuring knowing I’d have a friend already there.”

Now based within easy reach of each other, they try to meet whenever schedules allow. “Life gets busy, but those friendships you build during the training years tend to last,” says Lynne. “There’s a shared history there that doesn’t fade, no matter where in the world you end up.”

Evette Sheehan CA, Uber

“People we work with are either building or dabbling in new technology, not just using what comes out of the packet. That’s the culture in San Francisco, so you either get onboard or get left behind”

Evette’s path into accountancy began in Glasgow, where she was born and raised. She attended a local school before studying accounting at the University of Glasgow, staying close to home while earning her degree. Yet even at that stage she saw accounting as a career that could open international doors.

“I understood that the CA qualification could create opportunities far beyond one city or even one country,” she says.

After graduating she joined Grant Thornton in Glasgow to train in audit, where she quickly built strong friendships with colleagues, including Lynne and Angus.

“When you’re studying for exams and working long hours together, you build really strong bonds,” she says. “ICAS training is tough, but that shared experience brings people together. You quickly learn who you can rely on.”

Those friendships continued long after the training years ended. “Over the years Lynne’s been there for so many life moments,” Evette says, “when I had my kids, dinners, festivals…”

Evette’s career soon took on the international dimension she longed for. After leaving Grant Thornton she joined Scottish & Newcastle in Edinburgh, which was later acquired by Heineken. She relocated to the company’s HQ in Amsterdam, travelling across western Europe and Africa with the global audit team, before moving again to Paris to lead Heineken’s internal audit function.

The move to the US came when her husband, a Scottish engineer, was offered the opportunity to relocate to California to become the founder of a start-up. “We decided to take the adventure together,” she says.

After securing work authorisation she joined Sephora, leading the company’s internal controls function for the Americas. Seven years ago, she moved to Uber, where she now oversees global accounting operations.

“I’m responsible for all of the accounting operations at Uber,” Evette explains. “That includes complex accounting for over 70 countries and varied lines of business, covering mobility, delivery and AVs [autonomous vehicles]. I lead a global team of 145 people across the US, the Netherlands, India and several other locations.”

Her role also involves building teams focused on transformation and efficiency within the finance function. Of course, working in the Bay Area means operating at the forefront of technological change. “All day, every day we’re talking about automation and AI,” she says. “There’s not a day that goes by where I’m not using AI.

“[Tech innovation] is not just encouraged – it’s expected. People we work with are either building, or dabbling in, new technology, not just using what’s come out of the packet. That’s the culture in San Francisco, so if that’s not natural to you, you ether get onboard and adapt or get left behind.”

Evette has lived in California for more than a decade, raising her family and building a life with friends and a supportive community. It’s a long way from Glasgow, she reflects, but the friendships from those early training days are still very much part of her life.

ey.com/en_us
katalyfoundation.org
uber.com

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