Harry Schaefer FCA was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Accounting Hall of Fame (CAHF), this year as a “Leader of the Profession.” He is the sixth Alberta member to be inducted into the CAHF.
Harry was one of Alberta’s most respected business professionals and corporate directors. He had an exemplary and distinguished career as a financial executive, primarily at TransAlta Corporation, before turning his skills and energy to corporate governance, where he proved to be ahead of his time by recognizing that corporate boards benefitted from increased diversity. Passionate about education, he also generously volunteered his time and expertise in this realm through roles at the University of Alberta, University of Calgary, and Concordia University at the post-secondary level. He also shared his governance knowledge and expertise freely, helping to establish the Calgary Chapter of the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD) and presenting in the ICD director education program.
For his contributions, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Alberta (a CPA Alberta predecessor organization) during its centenary in 2010. Harry passed away in 2011.
Harry and the rest of the 2024 honourees were the fifth group of inductees into the CAHF. Prior Alberta inductees are Karim Jamal FCPA, FCA and Barb Carle-Thiesson FCPA, FCA, both inducted in 2023; the late Francis Winspear OC, FCA, Mike Gibbins FCPA, FCA and Dick Haskayne OC, FCPA, FCA, inducted in 2022; and the late Doug Baker FCPA, FCA, who was announced as one of the inaugural inductees in 2021.
The CAHF, created by the Canadian Academic Accounting Association, also serves as a curated biographical history of accounting in Canada; as such, it is a valuable resource for students, practitioners, and others to develop an understanding of the profession, its history, and its valuable contributions to Canadian society.
Visit the Canadian Accounting Hall of Fame website to learn more about all of these individuals and the Canadian Accounting Hall of Fame itself.
