Ernst & Young

Retired Ernst & Young Senior Partner Pat Hogan discusses the firm’s long and multifaceted relationship with the McIntire School of Commerce.

“I began recruiting at the Comm School back in the 1980s, when I was the lead recruiting partner for the University of Virginia, based in our Richmond office,” says Pat Hogan, who retired as Deputy Global Management Partner for Quality and Risk Management at Ernst & Young (E&Y) and is now UVA Executive Vice President and COO. During his years at E&Y, Hogan never stopped recruiting at McIntire. “The quality of the students and faculty at McIntire consistently impressed me, and the programs jointly developed by McIntire and E&Y leveraged our successful relationship.”

World-Class Courses

One of the earlier programs, “Your Master Plan,” enabled young people with a non-accounting undergraduate degree to earn an M.S. in Accounting from McIntire while also working for E&Y. Because the students were employees, E&Y provided them with a salary, paid their tuition, room and board, and travel expenses while the participants were at the Comm School.

“McIntire provided world-class courses, summer sessions, and distance learning, as well as education in team building and leadership. The entire work-study experience was very well-integrated,” Hogan says, adding that the process enabled the company to create a world-class program that attracted excellent students and brought many hundreds of outstanding people as well as tremendous diversity to the organization.

High Performance Teams is a follow-up to the Your Master Plan program. For E&Y, Hogan says, the initiative has a dual purpose: It deepens the relationships the firm has with McIntire students and faculty and allows the company to learn from the process. “How can we better enable and create high-performance teams that are required to work across borders, cultures, and time zones? How can we build effective teams in this virtual world we live in?”

Anticipating Rapid Change

Hogan points to the recent economic crisis as an example of the risks that exist in today’s complex, global economy. Companies and sectors that were thought to be sound business models and practices were challenged and in some cases failed in the face of rapid change. “What this means is that a program such as ours with McIntire, which provides its students with an innovative, continually improving curriculum, will continue to be a leader in higher education and an important resource and partner to the profession and to Ernst & Young.”

Great Promise

Hogan says the firm is looking forward to a long and very productive future with McIntire and the University of Virginia—across new dimensions. The public accounting profession, he says, has seen significant changes in the past few years. “As the profession responds to the changing environment, relationships such as the one we enjoy with McIntire will continue to be highly valued as we focus on the challenges ahead. I am sure the future holds great promise for our profession and for our relationship with McIntire.”

Personal Satisfaction

“I’m very proud of the accomplishments of our family of Ernst & Young professionals working together with the McIntire faculty. I particularly enjoy the opportunity to come into the classroom and interact with the students. I always feel that I learn too and enhance my personal capital.”

If you're interested in learning more about the range of corporate partnership opportunities available at McIntire, please reach out.