Meet Terri Carpe, the big fish Breakwater reeled in!

In a candid interview Terri lets us in on her professional and personal life…showing us that accountants are not boring and how Breakwater reeled her in!

Terri how would you describe yourself?

I’m a Delaware native who graduated from the University of Richmond with a degree in accounting. I passed the CPA on my first try but have never been licensed to practice in Delaware (and I’ve never had a job that required a CPA license). My background is in banking and non-profits –two years auditing these types of businesses and the rest of my career working on the inside. I have been married for over 26 years and have two children – my son Noah just graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in biomedical engineering and my daughter Victoria just finished her first year at Virginia Tech. She will be majoring in ocean engineering and music performance (she plays the bassoon). My husband Chris is also a CPA and is currently the east coast purchasing manager for a global fitness equipment company.

When you’re not crunching the numbers what are you doing?

My hobbies include traveling (my goal is to visit every state), reading (I’m a big fan of the Harry Potter series) and watching Hallmark movies. I’ve just started playing pickleball and kenpo karate. Until my daughter left for college, I spent a lot of my free time volunteering a lot my kids schools, with various PTA organizations (including as treasurer of the Delaware PTA) and as a teacher of religious education at my church. Now that my daughter is in college, our weekends are full of football and basketball games (she is in the marching band).

Why do you love working at Breakwater?

I love working at Breakwater because it gives me the work/life balance that I crave, and I have the most wonderful clients. I have worked part-time since my daughter was born and I’m in no rush to return to full-time employment. I’m able to work on a schedule that fits with my life and my clients are happy with the support they receive. My fellow employees are all amazing as well. Everyone is so willing to jump in to lend a hand or offer advice when it’s needed.

Name a Breakwater memory that makes you smile!

This was a hard one since I primarily have little interaction with others at Breakwater, but I do smile whenever I think about how I was hired to work for Breakwater. I emailed Breakwater back in 2017 looking for a company to help local PTAs with annual audits. I spoke with Kim Dolan about the situation, and it wasn’t something that Breakwater usually did. At the end of the conversation, Kim asked about my background because I sounded like I knew what I was talking about (this comment always makes me smile). I explained my history and next thing I knew, I was meeting with her and Lee to discuss a part-time job. I got the call in September 2017 that a finance manager was needed at Christ Church Christiana Hundred and I’ve been there ever since. Almost 6 years!