- Barry Pitts
Though Barry Pitts says he has a sleeping bag and camping gear ready for use, he's still looking for the opportunity to escape to the Carpathian mountains and use it. So far, Pitts says, most of his travel has been work-related, as chief of party for the USAID-funded Ukraine Accounting Reform Project.
He's seen a lot of Ukraine, he says, and especially likes to spend time in Crimea. "It reminds me a lot of the California coast," he said. "And I love Sevastopol."
Though the Cleveland, Mississippi native enjoys outdoor recreation, he decided early on that he wanted to work indoors. His father, a farm equipment dealer, had a small 20-acre farm. Cutting cotton in the rural American South was a "heavy incentive" to attend college, Pitts said. Laboring in the hot, humid "New Orleans-like" Mississippi summers dissipated whatever allure farming may have held.
Despite the climate, Pitts described the Cleveland area as a "sportsman's paradise" just 20 miles from the Mississippi River where he loved to fish and hunt frogs. The French aren't alone in their enjoyment of fried frog legs.
Pitts attended hometown Delta State University, which, with 6,000 students, comprises about half the town's total population.
"I had fun at college," Pitts said. He studied accounting and joined Sigma Alpha Epislon, a fraternity so inclusive that Pitts said the acronym SAE stands for "Somebody, Anybody, Everybody."
After graduation and earning his CPA credentials, Pitts spent five years in public practice as an accountant and was chief financial officer for a corporation for eight years.
Then, he says, a call came that literally changed his life.
"I had the opportunity to go to Kazakhstan for a short time - just 60 days," he said. Though he had no previous experience working abroad, Pitts said he got "the bug." He ended up staying in Kazakhstan for two years.
Today, he can't envision living any other way.
"I don't think that I want to go back to the United States to work," Pitts said. The opportunity to travel throughout Ukraine and the rest of Europe, and into Latvia has been exciting.
"The adventure is the attraction," he said.
It's been 16 months since Pitts has been to the United States, but he plans to return for a visit during the Christmas holidays. He's looking forward to seeing his mother and sister, he says.
Pitts is sharing the adventure with his wife of two years, Karen, and a five-year old daughter, Lauren. He says the pair met in 1985 at a Mailboxes Etc. store in San Diego.
He said that he had been working in Kazakhstan for two years when the couple decided to wed. With his future wife on the way to Almaty, he was given the option of moving to Kyiv.
"I had to think about where the family would be happier - in central Asia or in Europe," he said. The choice was easy.
Since they arrived in Kyiv in January 2003, their daughter has attended Montessori school and will begin kindergarten at Pechersk School this month. Karen, a former advertising manager in the computer games business, has "taken to Ukraine like a duck to water," Pitts said. "She has a great sense of direction, and knows all the streets and restaurants."
She is active with the International Womens' Club of Kyiv, where she serves as its vice president.
The work that has so far stood between Pitts and his camping gear is formidable. As head of the Ukraine Accounting Reform Project, he leads a staff of about 20 employees. Deputy Chief of Party Ray Mino is the only other expatriate on staff.
The program is devised to help bring international recognition to Ukrainian accountants and auditors by raising standards to those adopted in EU nations. The project also familiarizes the public with market-driven professional business skills.
By promoting the use of International Accounting Standards and International Standards on Auditing, the project hopes to help put Ukrainian accountants on an equal footing with their European colleagues.
Improving standards has meant providing educational opportunities and certification testing to Ukrainian accounts.
Though it is the same program he worked with in Kazakhstan, Pitts has found new challenges to the work in Ukraine. And with less than two years remaining to get the job done, it looks like Pitts' camping gear will be in storage for a while longer.
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