The professional

By Rosalind Stefanac

A self-professed challenge seeker, CA Brent Young took the ultimate test. Rather than find another finance job when his family’s business was sold in 1996, he opted for a new profession. So at 35, this father of two cracked open the books and braced himself for the grueling pace of medical school. “I think my CA colleagues thought I was nuts, but I suppose I have a high tolerance for abuse,” he says. Young passed with flying colours and now the 44-year-old family physician runs a successful medical clinic in Winnipeg with a team of doctors, serving some 25,000 people. In the two years since the clinic opened, the number of physicians has doubled and the space is being expanded to accommodate a stress testing laboratory, physiotherapy services and a pharmacy.

In 1988, after articling with Thorne Riddell, Young joined his father’s business as vice-president of finance for one of the largest feed manufacturers in Western Canada at the time. The experience was rewarding, but Young had always toyed with the idea of a career in medicine because he was interested in sciences and enjoyed helping people. After his residency, Young proposed starting a clinic to several colleagues. Coincidentally, two of the three doctors who took him up on his offer were also on their second careers: one is a former lawyer and the other an air force pilot.

Young credits his current success, at least in part, to his CA experience. “I don’t think I would have had the wherewithal to open a clinic and undertake the type of business planning that goes into setting this up without those skills,” he says. “Plus, I still maintain that the UFE was the hardest exam I ever wrote.”

And the next challenge? Young says he sometimes kids his wife about starting another profession. “At that point she tells me it’s enough.”