Accountants have often been portrayed as introverted, conservative, and perhaps boring, but it has been Sheila Ahler’s great joy to break that stereotype. Intelligent, but not bookish, and anything but introverted, Ahler has been a pioneer of sorts in the world of CPAs. Where it once was a male-dominated profession, Ahler has watched, and indeed been a part of, the transformation to a gender-balanced profession.

In the late 1970s Ahler, now partner with Cherry, Bekaert & Holland, was working as a bookkeeper for a small firm in Charleston, S.C. when something told her she could do more. “Our firm was audited one year by a young man who had just earned his CPA,” she recalls. “And he was more than a little bit obnoxious about it. After the first day of the audit, I realized that I knew more about accounting than he did, and I figured that if he could do it, so could I.”

So, while working full-time and handling family commitments, Ahler enrolled in night classes at The Citadel and began working toward her B.S. in business administration, eventually graduating Phi Kappa Phi and a member of The Citadel Honor Society. It was tough, but Ahler has never been one to back down from a challenge. “Looking back now, I don’t know how I ever did what I did,” she says. “But when you are going after something you want, you just do what you’ve got to do.”

Her father, a Methodist minister, would have been proud. “He was a little ahead of his time, I guess. He always told me that I could do anything if I worked hard and put my mind to it,” she recalls. “And he also used to say, ‘God gave you gifts and talents and you are expected to use them.’” Ahler has done both. As a child, she and her family moved frequently as her father took positions with various churches throughout her native Alabama. Having attended seven schools in 12 years, she became a master at jumping in and creating relationships with new people. “Otherwise,” she says, “it would have been a very lonely childhood.”

When Ahler accepted her first position as a CPA, she was one of three women hired – a first for that office. When the firm split and Ahler stayed on, she was told in no uncertain terms that there was no room for women partners. Instead of being satisfied with the status quo, Ahler left and started her own firm. “It’s a wonderful profession for women,” she says. “It is with great pleasure that I now see women coming into the field and finding success.” One of the best things about the industry, she notes, is that it provides great flexibility to those who need it. “We call it ‘on-ramping and off-ramping,’” she says. “And one can do that much easier in this industry than in many others. It leaves great opportunities for the different phases of a woman’s life without penalizing them as in other careers.”

Prior to joining Cherry, Bekaert & Holland in 1999, Ahler was managing partner of a CPA firm in Hilton Head for nine years, and had earlier served as a principal in a large South Carolina-based practice. Then, three years ago, Ahler transferred to the Raleigh office of CBH, a transition that she says has been particularly good for her both professionally and personally. “I came here knowing only my husband and the partners in my office, and one of the first people I met was Sheila Ogle,” she says. “She took me under her wing, introduced me to so many people and opened so many doors. Now, I try to repay that by doing the same for others.”

In her new role as business development partner, Ahler gets to combine the best of her skills and experience. “I guess that my desire to build relationships goes back to when I grew up and moved around,” she says. “I was always the new kid in town, so I know what it’s like to make those connections.”

But now, this kid is done being new. “I love being a part of this community and this profession and watching it grow and change,” Ahler says. “I’ve found my home and I’ve put down roots.”