The Department of Accountancy is pleased to share that 146 bachelor’s degrees and 57 Master of Accountancy (MAcc) degrees were awarded to students this academic year. The MAcc commencement ceremony was held May 14, 2023, at Wilks Theater in Armstrong Student Center. Jen Burgas (‘04), senior vice president and audit director of Fifth Third Bank, gave the keynote address, which emphasized the importance of being a lifelong learner.
“In my role as an Internal Audit Director at Fifth Third Bank, many of the areas of emerging risk my team is faced with were not areas I studied or even existed while I was at Miami,” Ms. Burgas said, giving three applications to illustrate her point: the cloud infrastructure supporting bank deposit systems, the use of advanced AI models like ChatGPT for personalized and efficient customer service, and the recognition of climate risks in assessing the long-term performance of companies. “What we all learned here at Miami is more important than the individual topics. What we learned is how to be a critical thinker, how to solve complex problems, and how to learn quickly,” she stressed.
To become lifelong learners, Ms. Burgas gave graduates four pieces of advice. The first is to become avid readers. “Read books, newspapers, magazines, and blogs. Read fiction and non-fiction. Read about things that interest you and things that challenge you. Ask people you admire what they read.”
The second is to listen. “Use the advantage of being the newest member of the team to ask a lot of questions and then be a sponge. Absorb and listen to the answers that you are given. Listen to people who have different perspectives than you do. Listening is a great way to broaden your horizons and learn about different cultures, ideas, and ways of thinking.”
Third is collaboration: “Collaboration is a great way to learn from others, share ideas, and solve complex problems.” She encouraged the new graduates to join committees or teams that are cross-functional, and to participate in business resource groups, such as the Young Professional and the Women’s Leadership groups that she found when she first joined Fifth Third Bank.
Lastly, Ms. Burgas stressed the importance of showing up in person. “When I was an associate at KPMG, I was trying to do something in Excel and was really struggling with it. Luckily, I was sitting next to someone who was an Excel guru and he noticed what I was doing and offered to help – that type of impromptu knowledge sharing is hard to replicate in a virtual environment.”
She reiterated the importance of continuing to learn by saying, “Learning is not just something you do when you have spare time. It’s something that you should make time for, because it will enrich your life and make you a better person.”
We are so grateful to Ms. Burgas for sharing her story and her words of wisdom. After the ceremony, Ms. Burgas and her family joined the students and their families and friends and Accountancy faculty and staff at a celebration brunch, and then spent time on campus with her family. We are hoping the day convinced her children to be Redhawks when their time comes!