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Recap: Accounting Regional Industry Advisory Meeting, May 21, 2020

By May 21, 2020October 6th, 2020No Comments

CCW hosted the Regional Industry Advisory Meeting for Accounting Occupations on May 21, 2020

This event brought college faculty together with employers to inform college program development for Associate Degrees and certificates related to these accounting industry occupations, and support Work-Based Learning opportunities with participating employers.

The Look Book of the event provides details on speakers, industry representatives, college program information, and related meeting agenda information.  View it here:  CCW Accounting Look Book

View the slide presentation here: Accounting Regional Program Advisory Slide Deck

Topics included:

  • Industry workforce trends
  • Industry trends used to access entry-level talent
  • Technology and AI impacts
  • Opportunities to bridge knowledge, talent and certification gaps

See bottom of this post for more details on topics and outcomes

Attendees:

  1. Ten Los Angeles Community Colleges participated: Citrus College, East Los Angeles College, El Camino College, Glendale Community College, Long Beach City College, Los Angeles Harbor College, Los Angeles Mission College, Los Angeles Pierce College, Rio Hondo College and Santa Monica College.
  2. Speakers / Employers at the event:

•     Daniel Seto, Human Capital Advisory Director at KPMG, LLP

•     David Hill, Partner at RSM

•     Elizabeth Hahn, Accounting Manager at the Los Angeles County Office of the Assessor

•     Erin Herlihy, Audit Senior Manager at KPMG, LLP

•     Lisa Massman, Human Capital Advisory Principal at KPMG, LLP

•     Mike Quindazzi, Managing Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)

•     Roger A. Martinez, Partner at Vasquez & Company

•     Tom Barry, Managing Partner at Green Hasson Janks

•     Zhanna Gevorkian, Head of Finance at Takeda, Los Angeles Site

The meeting was led by:

  • Richard Verches, Executive Director of CCW
  • Judy Fox, Regional Director, Business & Entrepreneurship, California Community College System
  • Jessica Ku Kim, Sr. Director of Workforce Development, LAEDC

To request more details, please contact Isabel Duran, Isabel.duran@laedc.org

Judy Fox

Regional Director, Business & Entrepreneurship, California Community College System

Richard Verches

Executive Director, CCW

Jessica Ku Kim

Sr. Director Workforce Development, LAEDC

Industry Representation ·                     Melissa Bezalel, Paralegal and Human Resources Manager at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe

·                     Michael Wright, Executive Vice President and General Counsel at RoofTop Management, Inc.

·                     Racheal Foster, Office Administrator at Nixon Peabody, LLP

·                     Sally Tschannen, Principal Manager of Legal Operations at Southern California Edison

·                     Scott Rahn, Founder and Co-Managing Partner at RMO, LLP
College Participation Eleven Los Angeles Community Colleges participated: Cerritos College, Citrus College, East Los Angeles College, El Camino College, Long Beach City College, Los Angeles City College, Los Angeles Mission College, Los Angeles Trade Tech College, Mt. San Antonio College, Pasadena City College and Santa Monica College.
Regional Director of Employer Engagement Judy Fox: “The regional advisory with the occupational focus on paralegal and legal assistant middle-skills jobs provided community college faculty and leadership with the opportunity to have meaningful conversations with legal professionals from a diverse range of disciplines.  These direct, intentional interactions are necessary to help our community colleges provide a seamless connection between curriculum and career readiness. It is exciting to know there is a regional demand and above living-wage salary range for certificate- and degree-holders who choose this career path.”

 
Survey Results Fourteen community college attendees participated in a post-event survey, indicating an average score of 4.7 (on a scale from 1-5) when asked to rank the value of the meeting; 100% responded the discussion would be used to inform and update curriculum and classroom training. Thirteen out of fourteen (93%) stated that if CCW held another advisory meeting, they would plan to attend (one indicated maybe).

 
Employer Feedback Racheal Foster, Office Administrator at Nixon Peabody, LLP: “As a former student of the California community college system, I was honored to be asked to participate in such an important discussion.  Community colleges prepare their students for the working world and the knowledge shared on this panel will contribute to the success of the next generation of legal professionals.”