WHY I'M A MEMBER

RISCPA Networking Opportunities Beneficial

Ed O’Donnell remembers vividly as a child, that he longed to be a chemist. His high school classes only fueled that desire, and before he graduated, it was decided that he would enthusiastically pursue a PhD in chemistry.

But as we all know, life seldom follows the path we set in motion as youngsters. During college, says O’Donnell, he began to struggle with the intricacies of his chemistry studies. Not only that, but his interests were evolving. Science remained a fascinating topic, but there was something about numbers that intrigued him. O’Donnell was drawn to them.

“There was a guy who lived down the hall from me who was an Economics major,” he says. “I found the stuff he was studying more interesting.”

Thus, an accountant was born.

“I changed my major to business and got my undergraduate and MBA degrees,” says O’Donnell. “Accounting and finance interested me the most. I thought of them as the ‘science’ side of the business. When I found my ability to do financial analysis hindered by my lack of accounting knowledge, I went back to school and took all of the courses that I needed for an accounting degree.”

O’Donnell went to work for Price Waterhouse and became a CPA. Today, he is vice president of finance and controller for Teknor Apex Company, a Pawtucket-based plastics compounder. There, he interacts regularly with chemists and engineers, which helps fulfill his early enthusiasm for science.

“I have moved from the science side of business to the business side of science,” says O’Donnell. “Somehow, it’s all worked out and I think I am exactly where I should be.”    

O’Donnell finds the financial side of the business most intriguing and he particularly enjoys sharing ideas with fellow accountants and other financial professionals. To that end, joining the RISCPA has been an invaluable experience.

“When I worked at Price Waterhouse and later, at Ernst & Young, all of my needs for continuing education and professional interaction were met in-house,” he says. “When I came to work for Teknor, the company wanted me to maintain my CPA license and I wanted to stay current on GAAP. I also wanted to establish a network of professionals in public and private accounting that I could discuss technical matters with when the need arose. I naturally turned to the Society for these needs and I’ve never been disappointed in the quality of its courses or the breadth of technical skills across its membership.” 

Like so many RISCPA members, O’Donnell sees the networking opportunities afforded to him as especially rewarding.

“Accountants are trusted business advisors to their clients or employers,” says O’Donnell. “Often, we are the only people on a team who can objectively lay out the trade-offs among certain decisions and articulate the pros and cons of each to a broader audience in terms they can understand and act upon. It’s nice to have the resources of the Society behind you when you are dealing with a matter that doesn’t come up all that often, but you know someone who deals with these things all of the time.”  

And so Ed O’Donnell resides quite comfortably on the business side of science. It may not be where he expected to be as a child, but it is exactly where he should be today.