In February 2024, Kelley’s accounting department launched the Rising Leaders Board to connect former students who graduated from 1 to 10 years ago. This timeframe ensures that these board members will be 35 years old or younger. Targeting this demographic is important because these are the people launching their careers. If they work for public accounting firms, maybe
they have been promoted to manager or senior manager but are not yet partners.
The Rising Leaders Board, led by Professor Brett Levitt, serves dual purposes. One is to get former students involved in the accounting department and vested in Kelley. The other is to provide students with more direct access to young professionals they can look up to and ask questions of when these rising leaders return to campus to speak to classes such as A100 or A313 (Introduction to Accounting Careers) or at events such as “A Seat at the Table.”
“Students like hearing from former students who are not too far into their careers because it helps them envision what their career could look like for the next three to five to seven years,” says Levitt. “It’s a way to connect people and start grooming the next generation of Accounting Advisory Group (AAG) Board members so we always have a good pipeline. The AAG is excited about the Rising Leaders Board.”
The other aim of the Rising Leaders Board is to give students the opportunity to hear from people who might not have followed a traditional public accounting firm path.
“We’re trying to broaden the base of what it means to be involved in accounting,” says Levitt. Through these speakers, students see that there’s investment banking, private wealth management, investment management, financial planning and analysis, investor relations, litigation, and forensic accounting.
“Everyone talks about the Kelley network and how the Kelley alumni always want to help future Kelley alumni. This new board provides that connection,” says Levitt.
Going forward, the plan is to provide opportunities for the people on the Rising Leaders Board to get involved in ways such as working with the faculty who teach A313, since the class includes several different projects that are heavily alumni based. One of these projects is the Career Fact Sheet that requires students to interview individuals in 20 different careers, then create a document that highlights various criteria outlining what’s involved in those careers. Levitt says that most of the people on the board will make themselves available for projects like these. For instance, in place of a final exam in A313, students complete a project in which they write a couple of essays, a survey, and have a coaching session with an alumnus.
“With 170 students in A313 this past academic year, we’re hoping to get more professionals involved in that project, and the Rising Leaders Board would be a perfect way to do so,” says Levitt, who notes that currently there are 13 recent alumni serving on the board. The plan is to add one or two members every year—especially alumni who have gone through either MSADA or the 3/2 MBA
program as they tend to be more vested in IU. These alumni can speak to the benefit of earning a graduate degree in accounting at Kelley.
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