RSM Provides $90k to Help 9 Employees' Dreams Come True Through Pursue Your Passion Program

CHICAGO – (January 31, 2020) – RSM US LLP (“RSM”) – the nation’s leading provider of audit, tax and consulting services focused on the middle market – recently awarded nine employees from across the country with $90,000 ($10,000 each) and nine paid-time-off (PTO) days to fulfill their dreams through the firm’s Pursue Your Passion program.

In celebration of the firm’s 90th anniversary in 2016, RSM launched its Pursue Your Passion program to encourage its people to commemorate the milestone by applying for a chance to pursue their passions, with monetary support and time off from the firm. Following the success of the program over the first four years, RSM continued the contest, and a team of employees and partners in the firm recently selected this year’s group of winners.  

“At RSM, we understand the significance of supporting our people and encouraging them to achieve both their professional and personal goals,” said Doug Opheim, chief financial officer with RSM US LLP and chair of the RSM US Foundation. “Through our  Pursue Your Passion program, we’re excited to provide nine of our people the opportunity to live out those dreams. We’re truly humbled by the projects that our winners choose to pursue each year, and we’re excited to hear about their experiences as they complete their activities.”

RSM’s 2020 Pursue Your Passion winners are:

• Christopher Brophey (tax manager; Milwaukee, WI) – Now that his body has healed from cancer, create lasting memories with his young son and wife during a trip to England.
• Marie-Annette Donaghue (manager, North American pursuit and proposal team; Dallas, TX) – Make a return trip to Kenya to help children at a small orphanage explore the beauty of a nearby national park and provide support to bolster the orphanage’s self-sufficiency.
• Alyssa Lavelle (resource manager; New York, NY) – Honor her mother’s memory by continuing to raise funds and awareness for colon cancer, and establish an independent foundation in her mother’s name.
• Josh Milazzo (audit assurance supervisor; Jacksonville, FL) – Ride the Pacific Coast Highway with his dad in remembrance of the life and service his younger brother gave to God, the country and their family.
• Alma Padilla (tax manager; Houston, TX) – Purchase gifts and necessities for two organizations to pay forward kindnesses afforded to her family when her daughter was receiving treatment at Texas Children’s Hospital.
• Joshua Scott (tax senior associate; Kansas City, MO) – Create a documentary film that shares the stories of people struggling with income inequality and homelessness to enhance understanding around these issues.
• Joshua Sweeting (audit manager; Denver, CO) – Finally meet Ruben, a Bolivian teen he has sponsored for several years through Compassion International, and sponsor a second child in the program.
• Julio Trejo (tax associate; Las Vegas, NV) – Continue his health journey by training to run a marathon, and help others by raising funds to fight childhood obesity.
• Ryan Weitz (audit assurance supervisor; Boston, MA) – Combine his love of exploring nature, photography and giving back by backpacking through Alaska’s Arrigetch Peaks and donating his photography sales proceeds to RSM’s Birdies Fore Love program.