TAKING A ROAD Less Traveled: New CalCPA Chair Sets Herself Apart.

CalCPA Chair Christie Simons' journey ventures from Oklahoma's capital and Wyoming's oil fields to Denver and the San Francisco Bay Area--and reaches as far as Taiwan. With her adventurous spirit, Simons launched herself into a career that encountered the peak of the dot-com era and has put her at the forefront of technology and its potential in transforming the profession. And now she intends to contribute to the profession's transformation by building upon the diverse skills and experiences she has acquired through multiple leadership roles.

"Transformation and growth come from where interests, opportunities and innovation intersect," says Simons. "The future of our profession is very bright, and we need to be thoughtful and purposeful in planning for it. CalCPA is well-positioned for its mission of supporting the success of the next generation of CPAs, and I am looking forward to working closely with volunteer leadership, members and staff in the year ahead."

A Journey from the Backroads

Simons learned to embrace challenges and opportunities at a young age. The oldest of three children, Simons, with her two younger brothers, grew up in Oklahoma City and embarked on her first adventure when she was in the ninth grade.

"My family moved to Gillette, Wyoming--quite a different environment and culture," she says. "I swam competitively from the time I was eight until I was 18. We had a big swim team in Oklahoma and a big junior high and high school, living in the city as I knew it at the time. And then we moved to Gillette, which had a small high school in a small rural town of about 17,000 people."

While Simons' father was a doctor and moved the family to Gillette to help build and grow a regional hospital, Simons found herself surrounded by kids who grew up in a community of ranches, oil fields and coal mines.

"It was a very different life and a change that came at a very impressionable age for me," she says. "I remember going to school the first day in Gillette in the middle of ninth grade. I was from the city and now in a small-town rural environment. I stood out like a sore thumb and it was obvious that I was the new kid in town."

Simons says her high school years helped her develop an appreciation for growing from new environments and the experiences that come with them.

Because of the level of the girls swim team in Gillette and her skill level, Simons was asked to swim with the boys high school swim team. "I was given my own lane to practice, but had the same workouts as the boys team. It kept me competitive, and I was able to train the way I needed to," she says. Once again, Simons adjusted to a new environment while also contributing positively to it.

Simons continued competing through her senior year in high school, when she decided it was time for something different--especially when it came time to following her expected path to college.

"I was always very good in school as far as grades, but I was now in this very different culture. Going to college was not a common destination for kids in Gillette after high school. The economy there at the time was very good for high school graduates to get a well-paying job in the local oil field or the coal mines," she says.

The expectation for Simons, though, was different. Her parents went to college and she was to follow in their footsteps. "I earned a scholarship to the University of Denver for half of my tuition. My father was very proud," she recalls.

But after a year there she recognized she didn't know...