Mike is a director in our finance and accounting outsourcing consulting practice who has four boys – ages 11-21. Throughout his career, he has found a way to make it to the key moments in his boys’ lives, while achieving his career goals. How? According to Mike, it’s all about communication and priorities.
In his own words:
I began my career with RSM in September 2001 after graduating college in the audit practice. My wife, Amber, and I, who started dating while in high school, were married in June 2001 and we welcomed our first child, Caleb, in April 2002. After Caleb, we added Clark (2004) and Colin (2006) to the clan.
When I graduated, the AICPA had just changed the CPA requirements. So, while working full-time and raising a family, I completed my Master of Science in Accounting (December, 2005) and then completed the CPA exam, passing my last test in January 2009.
In December 2014, I decided to leave RSM and became the CFO for a nonprofit organization. It was during this time that Amber and I decided to follow our hearts and add another child to the family. We learned of a family member who had fallen on hard times and became licensed to foster her 3-year-old son. In September 2015, we welcomed him into our home and in November 2016, we officially adopted Cohen (2012) to complete our family.
In August 2016, I felt it was the right time to come back to RSM. I had learned so much about myself and what life is like on our client’s side, but I truly missed working with my clients, a top-notch team, the variety public accounting offers and the amazing culture at RSM.
One final twist—in February 2022, I transferred out of audit into consulting. I now work in our Finance and Accounting Outsourcing practice, 100 percent focused on serving nonprofit organizations. It is a perfect match of my skills, my background and my passions. I’m truly thankful for the people here at RSM that believed in me and helped make this transition possible.
I’ve heard it before, and I believe it to be true, there is no such thing as balance. In my experience, it is a matter of communicating with the people in your life to make sure you are as aligned as possible on the expectations for your time. I was determined to make every band recital, sports game, award ceremony and key moment in my boys’ lives. I believe I have been very successful in doing that because I was upfront with those I worked with (internal and external) about my priorities. Often that meant sacrificing time elsewhere to make sure clients and team members were served to my own high expectations. But looking back over 21 years of being a parent, I can say every sacrifice was worth it because I was there when my family needed me. And the culture here at RSM was a big reason why. I knew I truly had the support of the partners, team members and clients I worked with when I made family a priority and communicated that with them upfront.
I know several working fathers here at RSM who are just as deserving as I am for this award, so I am truly humbled and honored to receive this award. I have had a tremendous amount of support from my colleagues over the years and truly appreciate their support. I can’t say enough though about the support I’ve received from Amber and my boys. They supported me when I was finishing my education and cheered me on while I was studying for the CPA exam. They even supported me when I asked them to leave the comforts of home and move to a different city to pursue my passion and goals. This award is as much a reflection on them as it is for me.
