Alumni Panel Offers Insights into the Corporate World
On November 7, 2017, Professor Chris Paisley moderated a newly-created panel discussion titled “Building a Corporate Career with an Accounting/Financial Background.” Five Santa Clara University alumni, all of whom majored in accounting and began their careers at public accounting firms, returned to campus to talk about their careers, career choices, and advice. About 80 students attended the event, of which 2/3 were first-year students and 1/3 were sophomores. The feedback was enthusiastically positive.
“Thank you. The students said it was GREAT! They really enjoyed it,” said Theresa Strickland, whose Business 70 (Introduction to Business) students attended.
Building on the positive response, Professor Paisley moderated a second panel discussion for first-year students on October 30, 2018. This second panel followed a similar format. About 110 students attended the 2018 panel, of which about 80 percent were first-year students and 20 percent were sophomores. The audience was more active in this second event, continually asking questions through the entire event.
According to Professor Paisley, the goal of the panel is to expose students, particularly first year students considering majoring in accounting or A&IS, to opportunities in the business world beyond public accounting.
“Almost all accounting and A&IS majors are well aware of the public accounting profession, as those firms do an exceptional job of marketing on college campuses," said Professor Paisley. "But there are some students who forgo public accounting, and even for those who enter public accounting, a transition to the corporate world is commonplace. The panels are aimed at describing career opportunities for students that major in accounting or A&IS outside of public accounting.”
The alumni who contributed their time to these panels included,
November 2017 Panelists:
- Tony Driver ’11, Sales Executive, Oracle
- Stephanie Han ’08, Revenue Operations Manager, Hortonworks
- Jay Maglione ’13, Product Manager, Nimble Collective
- Tanya Pastrano ’06, Controller, Munchery
- Bobby Shellworth ’13, Investment Banker, B of A / Merrill Lynch
October 2018 Panelists:
- Veronica Bass ’11, Associate Finance Manager, Juniper Networks
- Scott Clark ’07, Controller, Lime
- Colleen James ’07, Accounting Manager, Biggs Cardosa Associates
- Shannon Wang ’12, Director of Finance, Santa Clara University
- Joseph Wattoo ’09, VP and Chief of Staff to COO, MGM Resorts Intl
Each of the panelists noted how their accounting background has proven helpful to them in their chosen fields, with comments like, “Accounting is the language of business, no matter what part of the business you are in.” Each stayed afterwards to speak with students individually. We wish to give a special shout out to Joey Wattoo, who flew in from Las Vegas to be on the panel (and returned to Las Vegas after the event ended).
November 2019 Panelists:
- Lydia Ku (’15) – Senior Financial Analyst, Palo Alto Networks
- Timothy Quock (’11) – Director of Accounting, Mattermost
- Jenny Vuong (’13) – Senior Financial Analyst, Apple
- Tiffany Wibowo (’16) – Portfolio Manager, Blackrock
Advisory Board member Jack Lazar, former CFO at Atheros and GoPro, moderated the event. Former SCU accounting/A&IS majors who are interested in participating in future panels are encouraged to contact SCU's Center for Accounting Research and Education (CARE) Director Michael Calegari (mcalegari@scu.edu).