A graduate of East Central University became the 52nd inductee into the Oklahoma Accounting Hall of Fame during the Oklahoma Society of Certified Public Accountants’ annual awards ceremony June 10 in Tulsa.
Photo of Rodney Gray
Rodney Gray, CPA, a principle/shareholder with Gray Blodgett & Company PLLC in Norman, became the newest member of an elite class of Oklahoma CPAs.
An OSCPA member since 1974, Gray is a 1964 graduate of Vanoss High School where he was active in Future Farmers of America, played baseball and was elected senior class president. During his school years, his chore, which he said gave him the discipline and responsibility he has carried throughout his career, was to milk the cows in his parent’s small dairy with his two brothers.
Gray joined the Air Force in 1965. When he returned to Oklahoma a few years later, he enrolled at East Central University and earned his accounting degree in 1972.
He passed the CPA exam in July 1974. He joined the OSCPA within three months and has been actively serving since then. Gray has served on the OSCPA’s Taxation Committee for 12 years and has chaired it for three years.
He also has served on the Personal Financial Planning, Government Relations, Peer Review and Planning Committees, chaired the Insurance Committee and is currently the bylaws chair. Gray has also served three terms on the OSCPA’s Board of Directors. He’s a past president of the OSCPA and of the OSCPA Norman Chapter, which named him its 2003 Distinguished CPA.
Phil Brockhaus (left), the president of the Oklahoma Society of Certified Public Accountants, presents an award to CPA Rodney Gray of Norman as the newest member of the Oklahoma Accounting Hall of Fame. Gray, a graduate of East Central University, was inducted June 10 in Tulsa.
Additionally, he’s a member of the AICPA Council and has served as an advisory member of the AICPA’s Tax Practice and Procedures Committee. He was appointed by former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating to serve on the Oklahoma Citizen’s Task Force on Taxation. He is a certified financial planner and certified valuation analyst.
“I’ve known Rodney from our college days together and I can’t think of a more deserving recipient,” said Don Orr, CPA, a partner with Finley & Cook in Shawnee. “He’s one of the most unselfish and giving persons I know and has been giving to the OSCPA and our profession for years in various capacities on the local, state and national levels. He possesses the attributes that strengthen the CPA designation which we should all strive to emulate.”
Gray’s partner both professionally and personally, is his wife, Janice Gray, CPA, a managing partner with Gray Blodgett & Company.
“He has so much integrity and cares so much for his clients and advising them in all aspects of their lives,” she said.
“And how many people get the opportunity to work with their best friend and soul mate?”
Orr and Janice Gray also are ECU graduates and members of the Oklahoma Accounting Hall of Fame.
The Oklahoma Society of CPAs Accounting Hall of Fame Award was first awarded in 1968 to honor members who generously contribute to the accounting profession. The society’s incoming president appoints a nominating committee of prior recipients who recommend a member to be considered for the award.
Suggested criteria include participation and leadership in the OSCPA, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Oklahoma Accountancy Board and civic and community organizations. Members are also judged on such professional attainments as journal publication and career achievement.
With more than 6,600 members in public practice, industry, government and education, the OSCPA is Oklahoma’s only statewide professional association of CPA’s. Since 1918, the organization has provided professional education, conducted quality reviews and promoted and maintained high standards of integrity and competence within the accounting profession. The OSCPA also offers a free CPA referral and 30-minute consultation at www.KnowWhatCounts.org.
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