We Believe People Should
Live Great Lives
A bit about Pinnacle...
From our humble beginnings as guerrilla accountants, we imagined a firm where we could empower business owners to make better decisions. This vision fuelled our desire to build something better, brighter, and infinitely more useful to our clients (and more life-affirming for ourselves).
Our passion at Pinnacle PAC is helping people succeed. Our clients tell us they value our relationship because we translate technical matters into plain English they can understand and use. We believe the accountant should be a coach, cheerleader, and peer rather than simply the scorekeeper. We believe professionals should charge a fair price for the value provided to the client and that value is not a function of time spent. We believe an accounting office can be a fun and creative place for team members and an open and non-threatening environment for clients.
We empower business owners to help themselves – to understand their business, understand their financial position, measure their growth, interpret their financial results, build their operating systems, improve their teams and make themselves better leaders and community members. And ultimately, to live great lives.
Chris Brien, CPA
Professional Services & Team Leader
Managing Partner
Chris possesses a level of calm so unnatural it should probably be regulated by Health Canada. Markets tank, servers crash, a client rolls in on April 29 with a banker’s box of “very important napkins” — Chris doesn’t blink. He just sips his coffee (black, no sugar, no drama), mutters something understated that lands perfectly, and quietly sorts out six separate crises before you’ve even registered there was a problem.
As Managing Partner he steers Pinnacle the way a hostage negotiator steers a SWAT team: total control, zero theatrics, keeping everything on track while somehow making the pressure feel manageable. His “work hard, play hard” approach isn’t a slogan — it’s the deal. You’ll hit the deadline, you’ll deliver your best, and then you’ll probably find yourself talked into hitting the slopes in winter or the trails on two wheels in summer because fresh air and a little sweat are apparently non-negotiable.
Very outdoorsy, relentlessly steady, and the guy who never seems to lose his cool, his keys, or an argument with CRA. We’ve checked.
Curtis Reeve, CPA
Operations & Technology Leader
Managed Partner
Curtis runs on 90% caffeine, 10% whatever pastry is within arm’s reach, and the boundless hyper-energy of a man who could probably power the office grid if we hooked him up to a treadmill. He’s astute and brainy – he will spot a misplaced decimal three tabs over while simultaneously carrying on two conversations and planning his next caffeine hit.
He enters every room like a luxury car commercial that moonlights as a stand-up comic: curls leading the charge, charisma in hot pursuit, and a brain that’s already lapped the rest of us twice at 220 km/h.
Clients leave meetings energized and confident. Files get handled with precision and speed. The team gets gentle roasts that somehow make you want to step up your game.
He is the undisputed king of the procedures manual — the guy who builds them, refines them, and makes sure we all actually follow the smart way of doing things. Nothing important slips past him, processes evolve, and he does it all with an enthusiasm that’s honestly contagious.
Loud when the moment calls for it, always put-together, relentlessly perceptive, and proof that great hair and great ideas can absolutely coexist. He’s the only human capable of turning a budget variance discussion into something that doesn’t feel like a chore.
The legend is real. The curls have reserved parking. The rest of us just try to keep up.
Willow Enewold, CPA
Culture & Strategy Leader
Unmanageable Partner
Willow can map a ten-year growth strategy over breakfast and then spend the afternoon hammering glowing orange steel into a bird that looks ready to judge your life choices. She calls the blacksmithing “relaxing.” We believe her the way we believe gravity.
She’s the reason the office feels like someone with impeccable taste and a welding torch actually cares. Plants are placed with feng-shui precision, light is curated like art, and every piece of metal sculpture around here is quietly side-eyeing you to do better. One minute she’s forecasting cash flow for 2032, the next she’s rearranging the furniture because “the energy was off.” She’s always right.
Visionary, endlessly creative, and the only CPA who could probably forge a better strategic plan out of raw iron if she wanted to. The hammer is just for the birds — but we stay excellent anyway.
Visionary, slightly terrifying creative genius, builder of beautiful things, both in spreadsheets and steel.
Doug Johnstone, CPA
Quality & Mentorship Leader
Doug is what happens when Mr. Spock and a supercomputer fall in love and raise a kid who loves Bitcoin and bike packing. He can optimize a 73-step process down to four clicks while explaining it so clearly you feel like you invented efficiency.
Deadlines fear him. Spreadsheets weep with joy in his presence (in his hands, they don’t just work — they get cleaner, faster, and easier for everyone else to use). He’ll mentor you with the patience of a saint and the deadpan delivery of a late-night host. He has an uncanny knack for spotting inefficiencies before they even know they exist, then fixing them with a straightforward simplicity that makes you wonder why it wasn’t obvious all along. If “keep it simple, stupid” were a religion, Doug would be its quietly smug pope.
Doug is also deeply, unapologetically obsessed with Bitcoin and crypto — the kind of guy who actually understands the tech, follows the developments closely, and can explain it without making you feel like you wandered into a TED Talk.
Practical, scary-smart, and the reason the office runs like a Swiss watch that also tells dad jokes.
Emma Kepic, CPA
Accounting Practitioner
Emma attacks even the most complex files with the enthusiasm of someone who just discovered bottomless brunch mimosas, the precision of a surgeon who moonlights as a watchmaker, and the quiet confidence that everything will end up not just correct, but actually better than expected. Clients are convinced she’s running some kind of secret accounting sorcery. The team knows she’s just pathologically thorough, genuinely enjoys the puzzle, and cares about client outcomes like it’s personal.
She’ll wrestle a tricky multi-year return into submission before lunch, uncover tax-saving opportunities hiding in plain sight, and explain it all so clearly that clients finally feel like they’re in control of their own numbers. Nothing important escapes her notice, every “what if” gets explored, and every deliverable comes wrapped in that rare mix of accuracy and genuine warmth. Client service isn’t a checkbox for Emma — it’s the entire game, and she plays to win every time.
When she’s not making clients’ financial lives dramatically less stressful, she’s off recharging in the great outdoors: early-morning hikes, weekend trail runs, or whatever spontaneous adventure sounds fun, because apparently scaling real mountains is her version of “light relaxation” after moving metaphorical ones all day. And somehow she still has energy left to plan the office holiday party like it’s a small Oscars after-party.
Curious, client-obsessed, and unfairly athletic. Probably outrunning a bear right now while reconciling its investment portfolio.
Rob Fahie
Accounting Technician
By day, Rob makes numbers line up with the kind of monk-like precision that would make a spreadsheet blush. He approaches every reconciliation like a steady walking bass line — reliable, perfectly timed, and always holding everything together without a single note out of place. Deadlines arrive, he meets them with calm focus, and somehow the final result feels like the satisfying resolution of a thoughtful arrangement.
Dual master’s degrees in music and a professional music career mean that same disciplined, rhythmic brain translates directly to accounting. He’s the guy who quietly double-checks your math when you’re second-guessing yourself, spots the tiny discrepancy that could have caused big problems, fixes it without fanfare, and then deflects any thanks with a subtle nod (and maybe an imaginary pluck of a low E for his own amusement).
Clients love working with him because he’s meticulous yet approachable — explanations are clear, follow-ups are prompt, and nothing important ever slips through the cracks. He makes detailed, accurate work feel reassuring rather than overwhelming, and clients walk away knowing their file is in the safest possible hands.
By night he’s upright behind the stand-up bass, drawing out rich, resonant lines that anchor the ensemble without ever stealing the spotlight. Same steady presence, just a deeper groove.
Quietly the coolest accountant you’ll ever meet, and he’s not even trying. The bass, however, is definitely showing off.
Katlyn Goertzen
Accounting Technician
Katlyn is human sunshine in sneakers — the kind that shows up with iced coffee, an infectious laugh, and the quiet determination to turn any challenge into something manageable. She’s currently powering through her CPA designation at night while handling a full work load by day, proving that “upbeat” and “unstoppable” can absolutely share the same body.
She dives into complex files with genuine enthusiasm, adapts to new processes or software faster than most of us can open the email about it, and somehow makes the trickiest adjustments feel like no big deal. Negative retained earnings? She’ll frame it like an interesting plot twist we can fix together. Clients love her energy; the team relies on her ability to keep things light even when the workload is heavy.
Bubbly, relentlessly positive, fueled by curiosity and caffeine, and the only person who can make a Monday morning meeting feel like happy hour.
Jenn Hicks
Accounting Technician
Jenn moves at approximately the speed of light while maintaining the cozy factor of a heated blanket and an infectious laugh that could defuse a bomb made of overdue filings. Deadlines spot her coming and immediately start filling out their own surrender forms.
She’ll vaporize your entire to-do list, turn a towering pile of tasks into a tidy victory parade, then head home like it’s no big deal (because to her, obliterating chaos is just Tuesday). Keeps an electric fireplace humming in July and an iced matcha sweating in January because personal comfort is non-negotiable — and she will win the thermostat war with nothing more than a cheerful smile and a raised eyebrow.
Fast, unflappable, quietly competitive, and the human embodiment of “gets it done without making a fuss” — except when something’s actually funny, at which point her laugh fills the entire office and instantly improves everyone’s day by 47%. She’s the teammate who steps in when things get crunchy, clears backlogs with ruthless efficiency, and somehow keeps the vibe light and cheerful even when the inbox is on fire.
The office would run at 60% capacity without her, and we’re collectively refusing to live in that joyless dystopia. Jenn just makes everything work better — quietly, reliably, and with a side of genuine good cheer.
Melanie Field
Director of First Impressions
Melanie greets you looking like she was styled by Wes Anderson on his very best day — symmetrical, colorful, and with just the right amount of quirky charm. She’ll hand you a perfectly made coffee, ask how your weekend went with genuine interest, and somehow make the waiting area feel like the coziest corner of a boutique hotel that happens to do tax returns.
Between answering phones with unflappable calm, juggling multiple calendars like a circus performer who never drops a plate, and ensuring every client interaction feels polished, thoughtful, and completely personal, she’s always deep into some new creative pursuit. One month it’s throwing flawless pots on a pottery wheel, the next it’s experimenting with vintage-inspired thrifting flips, intricate embroidery, or whatever craft has caught her eye — because creativity isn’t just a hobby for Melanie, it’s how she recharges and brings that same thoughtful flair to everything she touches.
She keeps the front of house running so smoothly that clients relax the moment they walk through the door, conversations flow easily, and the entire office vibe stays upbeat even on the busiest days. Melanie is the quiet conductor making sure everything hits the right note, appointments stay on track, and everyone — clients and team alike — feels taken care of without ever noticing the hundreds of small details she handles behind the scenes.
Warm, effortlessly stylish, and the masterful orchestrator who makes the rest of us look far more competent than we actually are on our own.
Joey
Chief Barketing Officer & Official Office Marshmallow
Joey is a 10-pound snowball with opinions and the most refined begging technique of a Victorian dowager who has fallen on hard times. She is 0% muscle, 100% fluff, and 1000% certain that every human hand was placed on this earth to deliver treats directly to her mouth.
Curtis’s undisputed spirit animal (same big energy, smaller, fluffier packaging), Joey holds court from her permanent throne on the couch, surveying the office like a very small, very round monarch. The moment a delivery person appears, she unleashes a precise sequence of warning growls followed by a few polite-but-firm barks, just enough to remind everyone that 10 pounds of pure fluff can still be terrifying when properly motivated.
When not defending the realm from Amazon, she can be found sprawled across the couch, tracking your lunch with laser-guided side-eye or graciously allowing you to share your chair (personal space is a myth invented by people who don’t have couches).