History

Church Pickard is pleased to have recently celebrated its 80th anniversary! We thank our staff and clients for contributing to our ongoing success.

Church Pickard Chartered Professional Accountants originally began as Milne Church & Co in 1940. After a few name changes, as new partners entered and previous partners retired, the firm has been operating as Church Pickard since 1972. The firm has always been located downtown Nanaimo, beginning on the corner of Commercial and Skinner, and most recently moving to the corner of Cavan and Albert.

Much has changed over the years; this has been driven by changes within the profession, and most notably, technology. Church Pickard is fast becoming one of the few boutique, midsize practices left in the Nanaimo area as many other firms our size have sold/merged with national firms. We see this independence as a benefit, as it allows us to adapt more quickly to best suit changing environments and client needs. For example, we were one of the first firms in Nanaimo to go paperless, many years ago.

We have been a training office for new professionals for decades, and are very proud of the number of new CPAs (formerly CAs, CGAs and CMAs) that have gotten their start with our firm.

Past partners include: William Milne, Al Church, Bert Pickard, Bob Lane, Doug Park, Michael Mah,  Bob Greaves, Fred Downs, John Annesley and Lorana LaPorte (retired December 2016). Our current partners, Grant McDonald, Lee-Anne Harrison, Anna Jones, Joanne Novak, and Mike Traynor have all been with the firm for many years. Grant became a partner in 2001, while Lee-Anne, Anna and Joanne recently became partners in January 2017, upon Lorana's retirement. Mike Traynor became a partner in January 2023.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF NANAIMO ARCHIVES