The Cayman Islands Institute of Professional Accountants (CIIPA) has once again held a successful celebratory night of welcoming Cayman’s newest accountants to the profession, while inspiring the next generation of leaders in the industry.

Held at the Ritz-Carlton on 15 October, the ninth annual gala was attended by members of the financial services industry, event sponsors, government officials, as well as the honourees and their families.

The event was originally launched in 2008 by CIIPA to celebrate major milestones for young Caymanians in accounting. Since then, the institute has realised the importance of simultaneously recognising trailblazers who have helped pave the way.

The Pioneer Award was introduced at last year’s gala in 2015, and acknowledged the signers of the original Memorandum and Articles of Association for the professional organisation.

This year the award went to Dr the Hon Linford Pierson, not only for his contribution to the profession and the islands, but for also being the first Caymanian to receive a professional accounting designation.

27 Caymanians were recognised at CIIPA’s ninth annual gala for attaining their Bachelor’s or Master’s with concentrations in accounting, or their professional designations.

Award honourees for completing their Bachelor’s degrees in accounting included Stephon Wright, Sasha Ebanks, Rochiene Sonlin, Malcolm Tibbetts, Anet Batallon Ferguson, Dane Campbell, Suzette Ebanks, Caridad Swaby, Sanjay Burrell, Joe Torbey, Lara Butler, Nicole, Dibben, Joshua Bain, Shaneil-Gay Brown, Marc Giglioli, Zachary Powery, and Alex McCallum.

Receiving recognition for completing a Master’s in accounting were Alex Hennings, Mariah Tibbetts, Danielle Borden, Alexander Gordon, Stephanie Hunter and Ashley Soto.

The professional qualification recipients were Alex Hennings, Tasheika Gayle, Diana Falconer, Chynae Samuels, Jorge Zaldiver.

“Our honourees have shown incredible dedication in finishing their degrees and their professional qualification examinations,” praised Ms Ebanks. “We welcome them into their future careers and look forward to celebrating all of their future achievements.”