Toronto Chapter: member spotlight reflecting with David L. Burn.

• Position: Chapter News - Interview

The 1960s was an eventful decade. Let's take a look back at 1968, the year that I am most nostalgic about:

* Montreal won the Stanley Cup against St. Louis (4-0)

* Songs on the music scene were "Hey Jude" by the Beatles "Sittin' on the Dock of The Bay" by Otis Redding

* Civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis and Senator Robert Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles

* Apollo 7 was launched with a mission to orbit the earth and Apollo 8 became the first manned mission to orbit the moon

* Pierre Elliott Trudeau became the Prime Minister

* Our second longest standing member, David Burn, joined the TEI Toronto Chapter

David Burn's Career Path

1957-1967 U.K. Inland Revenue

1967-1978 Scotiabank

1978-1985 Massey Ferguson

1985-1988 Bank of Montreal

1988-2001 Nortel

David Burn is an Honourary Member and a Past President (1975-1976) of the TEI Toronto Chapter. He is also a Past International President of TEI (1986-1987). I recently chatted with David and got to know him better as he reflected on his career and on his TEI experience. Here is what he had to say:

How did you get into tax as a profession? Can you describe your career path?

When I first started working, no one said that you were supposed to have five careers! Upon completing high school, I wrote the university exams and the U.K. civil service exams. Having done well on both of these exams, and perhaps because I had written a lengthy essay about Adam Smith's 18th century theory of tax, I was offered an executive trainee position with the U.K. Inland Revenue (much to my alarm because my preference was the Foreign Office).

After one year, my employment with the U.K. Inland Revenue was interrupted by two years of compulsory army service. At that time, the British Army was countering the insurgence in Malaysia. After my army service was completed, I returned to the U.K. Inland Revenue where I served at a number of different offices, mainly in London. I was selected for full technical training and was the youngest person appointed to the position of Inspector of Taxes. In 1967, Scotiabank was looking for a U.K.-trained tax professional to come to Canada. At the time, there were very few corporate people that were trained in tax. I was a good fit for the role and this brought me to Canada. As a matter of fact, the last time that the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup was in 1967, the year that I came to Canada! Actually, it was Alexander (Mac) McKie who persuaded me to come to Canada, and over the years, he has influenced my career the most.

How did you first come to join the TEI Toronto Chapter?

At the time, Mac McKie was the International President of TEI. In fact, he was the first Canadian in this role. He got me into TEI almost immediately. The only...