Community caretaker.

• Position: Finalentry

It's easy to see why CPA Blake Christian was selected to be this year's CalCPA Public Service Award winner. Christian, a tax parity with Holthouse. Carlin & Van Trigt LLp, is involved with more than eight community and charitable boards. Most notable is his work as a student mentor with the Rotary Community Project. We caught up with Christian to learn more about him and what drives him to give back to his community so mightily.

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What inspired you to become so heavily involved in helping the Long Beach community?

I have dirp family roots in Long Beach. My paternal grandparents were resident their entire lives, my maternal grandparents lived in Long Beach for a couple of years and my father worked at the Long Beach Proctor & Gamble plant for more than 35 years. Therefore. I spent much of my youth in Long Beach and also attended California State University, Long Beach. I view Long Beach as my hometown even though I never lived in the city.

After beginning my professional career in downtown Los Angeles with Peat, Marwiek. Mitchell & Co. now KPMG. I asked to work in the firm's Long Beach office. To become acclimated to the Long Beach community, we developed relationships with both the business and nonprofit sectors. We quickly discovered that Long Beach has a very passionate and philanthropic business community.

Who was your most important mentor?

Aside from my father, I would have to choose Skip Keesal. a nationally recognized trial attorney and founder of Keesal, Young & Logan the largest law firm in Long Beach and the most philanthropic professional service firm in the region. Skip leads by example and has developed an exceptionally successful firm with ethics and philanthropy imbedded in virtually every one of their 300-plus firm members.

What was the most impactful thing you learned from Skip?

Skip's philosophy is to hire people that share your organization's values, so we need to select people we respect, trust and enjoy spending time with. He also taught me the importance of maintaining high ethical standards in evervthing we do. To establish and maintain a quality firm, high standards must be established for both client acceptance and employee hiring.

What's the most rewarding aspect of your work with the Rotary Community Project?

Our 2011 12 Community Service Project is focused on high school and veteran mentoring and career counseling. I get great satisfaction in providing students with insights into viable...