2025 Accounting/A&IS Information Night
On January 15, 2025, the SCU Accounting Department hosted its 25th Annual Accounting/A&IS Information Night at Locatelli Center, bringing together over 150 enthusiastic business students and 40 accomplished business professionals. The evening kicked off with a lively panel discussion led by Ryan Chew ‘15, Lead Financial Analyst at Intuit, and featured an impressive lineup of accounting alumni:
- Germaine Cota ’03: SVP, Finance & Accounting, Bill.com
- Kyle Jelicich ’15: Director, Grant Thornton
- John Lambert ‘19: Deals Manager, PwC
- Matt Matera ’11: Head of Revenue Accounting, Plaid
- Justin North ’23: Audit Associate, KPMG
- Matt Sepe ’98: SVP, Chief Accounting Officer, Lumentum
- Kim Sherburne ’09: Partner, EY
After the panel, students had the chance to dive deeper into conversations during interactive small group sessions with professionals representing public accounting firms, professional services firms, and Silicon Valley businesses, including the following:
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Accounting Advisory Board Members · Joe Allanson (former CAO at Salesforce), Mike Brandstetter (Connor Group), Lewis Chew (former CFO at Dolby Laboratories and National Semiconductor), Jack Lazar (former CFO at GoPro and Atheros), Joe Maglione (retired Partner at Deloitte), David Murdock (Frank Thornton), Ian Nasman (Deloitte), Bill O'Brien (retired professor), Daniel Olson (Moss Adams), Kevin Reagan (RSM), Erika Shuper (Baker Tilly) |
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Accounting Alumni Board Members · Ryan Chew (Intuit), Michael Harney (Broadcom), Lydia Ku (Alphawave Semi), Alan Nguyen (PwC) |
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Business Professionals · Alphawave Semi – Lydia Ku |
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· Baker Tilly – Matt Mantani, Erika Shuper, Jennifer Ni |
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· Bill.Com – Germaine Cota |
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· BPM – Rich Gunn, Jorge Robles, Jasmin Ruiz |
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· Broadcom – Michael Harney |
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· Connor Group – Mike Brandstetter, Karlene McCallaCreary |
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· Deloitte – Giordano Capovilla, Shawn Choi, Josh Gray, Ian Nasman, Sarah Nelson, Vivien Xu |
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· Ernst & Young – Sarah Brandenburg, Rachel Breen, Max Carini, Katie Francis, Ashley Havens, Steve Maier, Kim Sherburne |
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· Forvis Mazars - Ricardo Martinez, Lauren Sperbeck |
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· Frank, Rimerman + Co. – Oliva Bean, Illana Goldberg, Calvin Luong |
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· Grant Thornton – Erika Hastings, Kyle Jelicich, Aditya Nagaraj, David Murdock |
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· Intuit – Ryan Chew |
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· KPMG – Micah Doctolero, Tiffany Khauv, Cheyenne Mullins, Sam Poggio, Alexa Valentine |
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· Lumentum Holdings – Matt Sepe |
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· Moss Adams – Natasha Cohen, Josh Diaz, Trevor Gillespie, Justin North, Daniel Olson, Destinee Powers, Tyler Rudee |
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· Plaid, Inc – Matt Matera |
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· PwC – Brittany Hyland, Krystal Lam, John Lambert, Alan Nguyen, Julissa Quezada, Eric Yang |
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· RSM – Kevin Reagan Accounting Faculty · Dr Michael Calegari, Dr Matthew Cedergren, Dr Yongtae Kim, Dr Siqi Li, , Joe Maglione, Dr Stacey Ritter |
Feedback submitted afterwards indicates that both students and professionals appreciated the knowledge and insights shared by the panelists and that all students were highly satisfied with the event. Students particularly valued the diverse panel, in both age and experience, learning about the multifaceted nature of the accounting profession, and learning about the value of communication/people skills, the significance of critical thinking, curiosity, and a growth mindset. In addition, even though SCU has a “super charged accounting program”
that provides graduates with a good foundation, “you have to plan”, and “you have to show up for your job even though your friends may not have the same job requirements.” Matt Sepe also recommended for students “to embrace the experience of group projects.” In reality, the workforce is all about working in team environments and capitalizing on individual strengths to achieve team productivity and success.
On a personal note, we were honored to have two generations of SCU alumni families join us for our event. Lewis Chew (’84) and his son/event moderator Ryan Chew (’15), and Jim Sepe (’69) and his son/panelist Matt Sepe (’98) have a generously shared their time with our students and we are grateful for their many contributions to our Accounting program. Both Jim and Lewis moderated the event in prior years.
The event concluded with a raffle drawing, offering students the chance to win prizes generously donated by the sponsoring Accounting Advisory Board firms:
- Deloitte: Apple AirPods Max – JP Collins
- Frank, Rimerman + Co.: 2 Giants Tickets – Lucinda Chow
- KPMG: JBL Flip Speaker, Pickleball set, Hydroflask, and picnic blanket – Georgia Gersch
- Grant Thornton: Plush blanket and wireless speaker – Julien Simonian and Kiera Peuh
- Moss Adams: 2 - $100 Door Dash gift cards – Max Sommers, Maya Bransier
- PwC: iPad Mini 64GB, Wifi – Bella Wu
- EY: Sonos Move 2 wireless portable speaker – Mark Sicker
- Forvis Mazars: 2 Warriors tickets, premium golf balls, and swag – Nairah Fraser
- BPM: $50 Amazon gift card – Margaux Rogers
Congratulations to the winners and gratitude to all the sponsors for their contributions to this successful event.