Meet the Team
At Hufton Valvano Grover Philipp (HVGP) LLP, our entire team works together to provide our clients with high-quality service focused on growing and preserving your wealth.
Our partners – Elena Hufton, John Valvano, Steven Carr , Tony Tse and our tax counsel William Hickey – bring a wealth of experience to your business. They aren’t the types that rest on their laurels. Each of them is committed to growth and development through ongoing professional education in their area of practice, and also across the spectrum of business administration, development and marketing.
Their passion for success is evident in everything they do. At HVGP, we are genuinely interested in partnering with you to see your business grow and succeed.
The HVGP full service team provides clients with audit, accounting, tax, business advisory and more.
Learn more about us. Connect with us – we are ready to work with you!
Elena Hufton
Partner
As a founding partner of HVGP, Elena Hufton brings over 25 years of experience in a variety of areas and is both a Chartered Professional Accountant and Chartered Accountant. She provides accounting and assurance services, business consulting and tax and estate planning services.
While she has experience across a wide variety of areas, Elena has extensive experience with real estate companies, investment companies and high net-worth individuals. Elena also has experience in dealing with issues related to cross-border accounting and taxation both in North America and Europe, including dealing with reporting and tax compliance issues. She has been involved in significant transactions which have had included multiple jurisdictions. One of Elena’s main goals is to ensure clients have identified all the tax planning opportunities available to help them keep their hard-earned money.
Elena holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto.
Elena has engaged in service to the profession and her community by volunteering in a number of roles in the past including serving as a long-standing member of the Professional Conduct Committee for CPA Ontario and volunteering with Scouts Canada.
In her spare time, Elena enjoys spending time with her family and running.
John Valvano
Partner
John Valvano is one of the founding partners of HVGP. As a Chartered Professional Accountant, John brings over 20 years of professional experience to the firm.
With a focus on privately-held, growth-oriented businesses, John offers his clients a broad range of expertise in audit and assurance, business advisory, mergers and acquisitions and tax planning services. John understands that when his clients’ businesses grow and thrive, HVGP grows with them. Through the years, clients have appreciated John’s personal approach in advising them on their financial needs.
John has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto.
As a proud father of three, community involvement is important to John. He is the past treasurer of Rotary Club of Etobicoke (2008- 2011), and when he’s not at the office, you can find him coaching baseball, or spending quality time with his children and his spouse.
Steven Carr
Partner
Steven joined the firm in 2010, and obtained his CPA, CA designation in 2013.
Specializing in accounting, tax and business advisory services, Steven takes pride in helping his clients succeed in their business ventures. Focusing on owner-managed businesses and investment companies, Steven understands the complexities that his clients experience and uses his expertise to provide solutions that allow his clients to do what they do best, run their businesses.
Steven graduated from the University of Guelph-Humber in 2008, obtaining a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Guelph, and a diploma in Business Administration with a specialization in accounting from Humber College.
Outside of the office, Steven enjoys spending time with his family and friends.
Tony Tse
PARTNER
With a background in SR&ED tax credits, Tony Tse joined our HVGP team in 2013, and obtained his CPA, CA designation in 2016.
Tony focuses on privately-held businesses specializing in assurance, tax, and business advisory services. Through his years of experience he has worked with clients in a wide variety of businesses providing sound, reasoned advice. Clients appreciate his empathetic approach to their needs and unique situations. He is passionate about supporting the success of business owners as well as mentoring the success of our own team members.
In his spare time, Tony enjoys tackling small projects around the house, and spending time with his growing family.
William (Bill) F. Hickey
Associate
Bill is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) and tax practitioner. He has been advising privately-owned businesses, professionals and high-wealth individuals on Canadian tax matters for over 35 years.
Bill has a Bachelor of Applied Science in Industrial Engineering from the University of Toronto (1980).
His career started at an international accounting and management consulting firm, where he started as an articling student, and then joined the tax team, practicing there for several years. In 1990-91, he held the role of Tax Director, managing the tax practice for a local office.
In 1995 Bill teamed up with the Lemoine Hyland Group as tax advisor to the firm, and other financial professionals. His practice has been firmly anchored in his philosophy of providing effective and practical tax solutions that are well-integrated with business and investor needs.
His professional commitments extend beyond his direct service to clients. Bill is currently a member of the Canadian Tax Foundation, and in the past, has also served as a participant in the local Tax Practitioners Consultation group, an advisory body jointly operated by the Canada Revenue agency and tax professionals.
He shares his wealth of expertise broadly. He has been involved as a presenter at the Ontario Tax Conference, and has spent several years educating new tax professionals on the faculty of the In-Depth Tax Course presented by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Professional Accountants.
In his spare time, Bill volunteers on the board of his homeowners’ association, supports local animal rescue groups, and enjoys discovering what the vineyards of the world have to offer.