Gabriel Richardson, CPA, EA “Do right. Do your best.


Treat others as you want to be treated.” ~Lou Holtz


GABRIEL’S TRAIL MIX


One thing on my bucket list is: Go to Wrigley Field


Who was your teen crush? Kelly Kapowski


You’ll never catch me wearing: A tank top


If I weren’t a CPA, I would be: A sports announcer


What’s the one movie you can watch over and over again? Field of Dreams


What’s the most embarrassing song on your iPod? Hold On by Wilson Phillips


Do you have a favorite professional sport or team? Oklahoma Sooners!


Are you famous for anything? My great-, great-grandfather, H.G. “Teen” Cook, was one of the men who fired a gun to begin the Oklahoma Land Run.


Gabriel Richardson, CPA, a partner at Jackson, Fox, & Richardson, PC in Ardmore, Oklahoma, did not follow the traditional path to become a CPA. “When I graduated from the University


of Oklahoma in 2006 with my degree, I immediately took a staff accountant position with a local accounting firm in Ardmore,” Richardson explained. “However, although I had enough credit hours to graduate, I was still 20 hours short of meeting the requirements to sit for the CPA exam. Over the next several years, I took classes to meet those requirements. With marriage and parenthood to deployments overseas with my Air Force Reserve unit, this process took longer than I expected or hoped. I finally achieved enough credits in November 2014 to sit for my first exam.” Richardson worked his way up from a staff accountant to a partner, while continuing his education, remaining active in the military and witnessing a management change at his firm. “One partner retired, followed soon after with our most senior partner finding out he had cancer,” Richardson said. “I was then thrust into a management position assisting the one remaining partner with new clients while also assisting our senior partner with his workload.” Kathy Fox, CPA, a partner with


Jackson, Fox and Richardson in Ardmore, said, “[Gabriel] went to school at night and online to finish the hours he needed while working full time with our firm,


26 CPAFOCUS March/April 2017


and as a reservist in the Air Force. He has accomplished a great deal, personally and professionally in that time.” Richardson, an OSCPA member for


almost a year, is currently serving as the hospitality chair for the OSCPA South Central Chapter. He is also a graduate of Leadership Greater Ardmore and secretary/treasurer for Ardmore Parks and Recreation. Additionally, Richardson is still a


reservist, which continues to be a source of pride.


“I feel that my most significant community or personal achievement is the nearly 18 years that I have served in the United States Air Force Reserves amassing nearly 3,000 flight hours onboard the E-3 airborne warning and control aircraft (AWACS aircraft),” Richardson said. “My military experience has allowed me to travel all over the world both in peace time and war. It has not only produced a deep love of our great country, it has allowed me to be a better son, husband and father. I am a sixth generation veteran and am proud to continue that tradition that I hope to pass down to my two boys.” “As with anything, it wasn’t always


easy,” Richardson continued. Taking time away from my family for monthly drills to six month deployments resulting me missing the birth of my first son are not pleasant memories… [But] I am proud to wear the uniform and represent the greatest country on the face of the Earth.”


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