Mike Verbeck
U.S. West Assurance Managing Partner
EY
San Diego, CA USA
Milestones
My road in life took a while to figure out.
I came to EY, left for another job, then came back to EY.
I received an offer to become CFO of a private company making more money than I thought I’d ever make in my life. I stayed for about three years.
The money was good and helped prepare for my son’s college, but it was way tougher than at EY – there wasn’t the support I got here. I welcomed the chance to come back to EY.
Keep following my journey
Education
High School
Savanna High School
Savanna High School
Career
U.S. West Assurance Managing Partner
I’m responsible for our business in the West Region, which includes 3,500 across 18 states.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Business
Travel
Accomplishing Goals
Day to Day
With the multiple time zones we work in at EY, I start my day early, about 6 a.m. and grab some coffee. I then get ready for calls that start soon thereafter, because half of the people that work with me have been going at it for two or three hours already. Then I’ll head to the office. About 50% of my time is spent just talking to people. I travel probably two, three days a week to various offices, meeting with our people or our clients.
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for high school students
Accounting is a great place to start. Learn a little bit about it because it’s the language of business and you're going to need to know it no matter what. Industry, entrepreneurship, engineering even—there’s a business side to all of it. Plus, accounting is a great starting point—you can move into anything from there to finance, operations, consulting, transaction advisory, anything. So, even if you get a C in “Intro to Accounting,” you'll be better for it because you’ll have that understanding
Recommended Education
My career is related to what I studied. I'd recommend the path I took:
Hurdles
The Noise I Shed
From Friends:
"I was discouraged by people telling me that I couldn’t support my young family while pursuing this demanding career, which included a busy season with long hours."
Challenges I Overcame
Financial
