Lifting as We Climb

I get so much satisfaction from helping someone who was in my shoes many years ago. It’s much easier to mentor kids into a good situation than pull them out of a bad one.

Growing up in a single-parent household in the rough-and-tumble Bronx of the 1970s and 1980s, things could have turned out very differently for Ainsley Reynolds, CPA, CGMA. But having strong role models helped propel him. "I had an accounting professor my junior year who really sparked my interest in accounting," says Reynolds. "Accounting’s weaved into almost all aspects of life and business."

Reynolds began at PWC in 1997 in audit and advisory services. He later worked at Deutsche Bank and Hilton Hotels. "I made a strategic decision to learn both sides of the audit process, as well as the public and private aspects of auditing," notes Reynolds.

"If you're going to do something, do it all the way," advises Reynolds. And that's why, in 2003, he obtained his CPA designation. "Being a CPA takes you from having a job to having a career."

In 2007, Reynolds accepted the position of director of accounting at the New Jersey Division of Investments where he manages the state pension fund. "The government sector is one of the few places where you can be in charge of billions of dollars," comments Reynolds.

In his spare time, Reynolds is a certified NRA firearms instructor and a "master BBQ chef" who's won a trophy for his Jamaican spiced turkey.

In 2004, Reynolds and his fraternity started a mentoring program for at-risk youth at Piscataway High School. The program includes high-profile speakers, sessions on investing and public speaking, mock career fairs, and college trips. "We have judges, doctors, business people and others who share their success stories with the kids," says Reynolds. "Our first year, the school had no African-American kids in the National Honor Society. By the time this group graduated high school, there were nine."

The program, Mentoring and Leadership Equals Success (MALES), moved to Somerset Intermediate School in 2009 where s fraternity brother is the principal. It also dropped the participatory age to fifth graders. "That seems to be the time where kids become vulnerable," states Reynolds. "The program also became less race-based and more class-based, which made it more diverse. I'm a member of the National Association of Black Accountants and its motto is 'lifting as we climb,' which is something I try to live by."

Approximately 200 kids have gone through the MALES. "One individual told me that the program inspired him to become a teacher. Upon graduation, he received a substantial offer from a company. However, he asked the company to defer his offer for two years so he could participate in Teach For America, which the company did. This young man felt an obligation to give back, and that's what our program is all about," says Reynolds.