Bob Moritz ’85

Here are four keys to developing your own personal brand:

* Tell your story.  Effective personal branding is based in authenticity. You need to know who you are and what makes you exceptional before you start to build and express your brand. Think about what makes you stand out: Which of your skills motivate you? Which get others excited about you? What do you want to be known for?

* Value your passions. To me, this is essential. In fact, I’d say that the “passion quotient” — or PQ — is just as important to me as the “intelligence quotient” — or IQ. It’s important that I surround myself with smart and interesting people who integrate their passions into what they do. For example, you wouldn’t know it to look at them, but two members of my leadership team make time for music. In fact, they perform publicly on the weekends — and we’ve even had them perform internally at large firm events. Another is a board member and extremely active in fundraising for a charity personally important to her. Another is an avid runner, who runs marathons. The list goes on. When you’re living in alignment with your values and integrating your passions into what you do, you inspire others to action.

* Give back. By contributing to a cause, especially when you give your time, you get to showcase your strengths and demonstrate your values. Giving to others can also provide you with new skills, new network connections and a true sense of fulfillment.

* Stand out online.  You use social media in your personal life, but you need to make sure the social media tools you use, like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube, are also helping you express your brand appropriately beyond your friends to a much larger audience. It’s important that when a potential employer or client “Googles” you, the search reflects the value you want them to see.  We encourage people to do an “online audit” and adjust their online brand to best reflect their value.

Finally, it’s important to remember that brands are not stagnant. They require care and feeding.

Whether you’re a student, a young professional, or an established pro, it’s never too early or too late to assess the status of your personal brand and focus on what you can do to continually enhance it.

— Bob Moritz ’85, Chairman and Senior U.S. Partner, PwC

A drummer himself, who played in a band while at Oswego, Moritz has instead taken his Oswego accounting degree to a kind of rock star status in the business world.

“I never would have thought debits and credits would have gotten me here,” Moritz modestly told students in a Business Law II class. “I have sat on panels with Bill Gates, interviewed Presidents (George W.) Bush and (Bill) Clinton and stood on the red carpet at the Oscars.” His firm, formerly called PricewaterhouseCoopers, is probably most well known to the public as the people who count the ballots for the Academy Awards.

From his office in New York City, his work keeps him on the move, with travel occupying 70 percent of his time — anywhere from Washington, D.C., to Canada to South America, with occasional trips to Japan and China. He visits with CEOs of the companies PwC serves, holds town hall meetings with PwC members across the country and calls on lawmakers and regulators to give them his advice about the financial services industry.

But his journey to the pinnacle of the accounting profession in the United States all started with a bit of fatherly advice. “I was working in the stock room at a clothing store in high school and wanted to keep on working,” Moritz admits. “My father talked me into going to college.”

He chose Oswego because it “fit best” — he loved the look and feel of the place, and the people were friendly. He chose accounting as a major, because he had read in the guidance counselor’s office that partners made $90,000 — pretty impressive money 30 years ago — and he had shown an aptitude for math in high school.

The choice proved fruitful as Moritz earned his accounting degree and went on to a stellar career in the field, joining PwC right after graduation and working his way up the career ladder. Now he leads the U. S. practice of the international firm, which totals $9 billion in annual revenue.

‘Amazing’ global awareness

Bob Moritz ’85

When he visited campus in April, Moritz was impressed with his alma mater, especially the School of Business. “It’s amazing how much more globally aware our students are and how engaged they are on a multidisciplinary level.”

That international focus and well- roundedness are important to Moritz, who prizes diversity and innovation for the company he leads.

There’s a solid business reasoning behind his focus. At PwC, the average age of employees is 27. “How do we make a work environment that’s a talent magnet?” he asks rhetorically. The firm wants people who are engaged, inclusive, having an impact and making a difference.

By fostering diversity, the firm ensures it is attracting the very best and by being seen as a company appreciating diversity, it can be a talent magnet.

His commitment to diversity stems from two personal experiences — the three years he spent on assignment in PwC’s Japan office, where as an American he was in the minority, and his time working in the firm’s human resources operation.

Now as chairman, he guides programs to create an inclusive environment, to mentor and sponsor diverse staff and to overcome unconscious biases.

Programs are designed to broaden horizons, like the one that brings hundreds of PwC employees to Belize to help build schools and teach people there.

Moritz is quick to point out that for any business to be successful, it needs innovation. For PwC that means being relevant to its stakeholders — the businesses it serves, the people it employs and the investing community. “So we listen to what they need and continually improve,” he says. “We aim to make lots of little improvements every day.”

Doing good is good business

Bob Moritz ’85, center, visits with student inductees into Beta Gamma Sigma business honor society.

Also important to Moritz, both personally and in his role as a business leader, is the notion of giving back.

He believes that giving back is a three-pronged effort: giving one’s time, doing pro bono work and making financial contributions.

As a firm, PwC focuses on youth education and financial literacy, inclusiveness and going green.

As leader, Moritz believes it is his responsibility to create an environment where people have the time and feel empowered to support causes important to them, to be a role model for his employees in ways to give back, and to demonstrate his own interest by developing his own personal story and passion.

Most recently, he put that into practice by making a significant donation to Oswego, of which half is designated for the Center for Accounting Research and Education, or CARE. The balance will be used for college priorities and where the need is greatest.

“Bob Moritz is a leader in the field of public accounting, and he is a lead donor to Oswego as well, supporting important initiatives that benefit today’s students,” said President Deborah F. Stanley. “We are grateful for his generous gifts of financial support and time, as he shares his insight with students in our classrooms.”

“I am happy to be able to help Oswego and the School of Business, and I trust the school to use the money properly for whatever is needed,” Moritz says. “I hope it inspires other alumni who are fortunate enough to be able to give something back to do that — whether it’s financial support or sharing your time with students.”

PwC has been honored for its commitment to diversity, innovation and giving back. It regularly makes “best places to work” lists including those published by Fortune and Working Mother. The U. S. Chamber of Commerce honored PwC with its Corporate Citizenship Award for its commitment to community service.

But Moritz is the first to point out that while external recognitions are “nice to have, they are not the driver.” He believes that consistency and continuous improvement — doing better every single day — is what makes an individual great. Multiplying that by the continuous efforts of PwC’s 35,000 employees is what makes the firm great.

If he sounds like the first among equals, that’s the culture at PwC. The company is unique in that the chair and senior partner is elected by all 25,000 partners who have one person-one vote balloting rights.

“Our culture is a partnership, where everyone is an equity owner. They can all be engaged, impactful, and feel like part of the process,” Moritz says.

MORE: 4 steps to creating your personal brand

Eye-opening education

Diversity, innovation, giving back — all these things have roots in Moritz’s Oswego experience as well. It was the first time he had met people from outside his hometown, who came from other areas and had different backgrounds.

The friends he made at Oswego probably made the biggest difference in his life. He played intramural sports and lived in Cayuga and Scales halls, serving as an RA his last two years to help pay for his education. “I have fantastic memories of the people I met there, my network of people I still interact with and vacation with.”

The RA before him was a role model for how he interacted with the students and the dorm director modeled team building. Moritz was especially tight with Tommy Lavalle ’85 and John Gary ’85, traveling together over spring break and spending Sundays in Syracuse for good home-cooked spaghetti and meatball meals.

Reminiscences of icebergs in the lake, 80 mph winds and huge snow banks round out his memories of campus.

As important as his financial support, Moritz knows, is the time he gives through the Oswego Alumni Association’s Alumni-In-Residence Program, where he is happy to speak in classes. While classes can give excellent academic and theoretical approaches to the work world, the stories Moritz and other alumni share give the students a flavor for the real world, he says.

“How do you share your experience with others so they realize they have potential and go and execute it?”
he muses.

He also invests his time on the Oswego College Foundation Board of Directors. “In my work I get to see other schools and non-profit programs. If I can contribute even one little thing to help the foundation benefit the school and the students, I am happy.”

Oswego made a strong foundation for Moritz, who used it to build a towering career in business. Now he rolls up his sleeves to help current students build their own futures.

Oswego diplomas hang on the walls of corporations, small businesses, and public and private entities alongside their Ivy League colleagues — here and abroad.

There is no surprise about that, no accident. We have heart, we are bullish and we are on the cutting edge.

The evidence is everywhere.

Twenty years since its founding as a School of Business and a decade after earning its first AACSB accreditation and moving  into a new home in Rich Hall, Oswego’s School of Business is bullish. New programs, student and faculty award winners, a global focus, stellar CPA pass rate and generous, distinguished alumni — like our cover subject, PwC Senior U.S. Partner and Chairman Bob Moritz ’85 — are points of pride for the School of Business.

A steady stream of recruiters comes to campus to grab Oswego’s grads for accounting firms and other opportunities.

Part of that is due to the school’s impressive pass rates in the CPA exams, with 2011 scores that compare very favorably with schools like Pace, Hofstra and Syracuse universities and the SUNY centers at Albany and Binghamton, according  to Professor Chuck Spector, chair of the accounting and finance department.

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Opportunities for students to get involved have blossomed in recent years, including Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), the Financial Management Association, Investment Club and Beta Alpha Psi. Students visit Wall Street, prepare tax returns for local citizens and educate middle school students in financial literacy.

“Students have always been involved in leadership positions within the college,” said Dean Richard Skolnik. “But these increased opportunities allow students to develop their organizational skills, through networking and interacting with their peers.”

And those students are proving all the involvement was worth it, racking up honors and achievements for their school.

Most recently, students in Oswego’s Beta Alpha Psi chapter received one of four $5,000 ethics awards nationwide for their work on the practice of ethical behavior in the accounting, finance and information technology professions. Oswego produced Beta Alpha Psi competition winners in 2009, 2010 and 2011. From 2006 to 2011, the School of Business had a Student Chancellor’s Award winner each year. And the SIFE team has won the regional business projects competition three years in a row.

The school itself has won accolades, and has been included on the Princeton Review’s Best Business Schools list since its inception. In 2009, it was included on the Princeton Review’s list of the 15 graduate programs with the best preparation in accounting.

To keep ahead of the curve and meet the needs of regional businesses, the school is continually developing new programs. The Risk Management and Insurance major was the first of its kind in SUNY when it was launched in 2009.

Always a strong MBA program, Oswego’s new online MBA serves professionals where they live, and currently has 15 enrollees.

They are part of the dramatic increase in enrollment since the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditation visit in 2002, with undergraduate students growing from 1,108 in fall 2002 to 1,460 in fall 2011, an increase of 31.7 percent. Graduate enrollments have increased even more dramatically, thanks to a planned growth in the program, from 59 to 112 graduate students, for an increase of 89.8 percent.

New home for school

Alumni who took classes in drafty Sheldon Hall or the campus school facilities in Swetman Hall would be amazed at the transformation of Rich Hall into a state-of-the-art home for the School of Business.

“The facilities would astound people,” said Spector. “They were designed with input from the faculty members” to best serve the needs of students and professors alike.

Lanny Karns was the first dean of the School of Business, and participated in the planning with faculty members and architects. Karns remembers learning about the concept of “floorscaping,” which was becoming popular in academic and business buildings at the time.

“What we did was look at the major traffic centers in the program or unit and designed the building around the philosophy of interaction,” Karns said.

Faculty offices were built in interdisciplinary clusters, surrounded by classrooms and informal spaces designed to facilitate collaboration.

Every classroom is a “smart” classroom, boasting modern instructional technology, and no two rooms are the same. There are tables for accounting students to work at, a horseshoe-shaped classroom and other classes where the desks can be moved to make different configurations.

The enhancements are all thanks to the generosity of alumni and other donors, who supplemented the state funds used to renovate the building, raising more than $1 million to jumpstart the college’s $24 million Inspiring Horizons campaign and adding the technology that took the business school to the next level.

Alumni are key

Probably the most obvious point of pride for the school is its alumni.

Karns praised alumni for their involvement in the first AACSB accreditation process, completed while he was dean.

“Their observations were incredible and their willingness
to be involved and be available during the accreditation — especially during the first accreditation team visit — was
amazingly contributory to everything,” Karns said.

Skolnik enumerated four ways alumni benefit current students:

* Alumni provide students with a model for professional success, inspiring them with the evidence that success is possible through hard work.
* They create opportunities for students to demonstrate their ability through co-ops and internships.
* Alumni give back financially to support the program, endowing centers of excellence and scholarships for business students.
* Finally, alumni enhance the profile of Oswego, providing external validation for the program, the dean said.

“The goal of alumni is to help try to make the school better today than when they went to school,” said Michael Durney ’83, chair of the School of Business Dean’s Advisory Board.

A mural created by Oswego students hangs at the entrance to Rich Hall, showing the paths of commerce leading out from Oswego to the wide world beyond. With Oswego alumni making their mark in the corner offices and board rooms of businesses across America and around the globe, it’s illustrative of a vision to never stop rising, to always be bullish and to keep striving to change the world.

Robert E. Moritz ’85, chairman and senior partner of the U.S. firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, has been named to the Oswego College Foundation Board of Directors. He will serve a term ending June 30, 2013.

Moritz was elected by PricewaterhouseCoopers’ U.S. partnership to serve a four-year term as chairman. Prior to that, he served as the assurance leader of the U.S. firm from 2006 to 2009; and from 2004 to 2006 was the managing partner of the New York office and Metro region.

Bob Moritz '85

He joined PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1985 and became a partner in 1995. From 1998 to 2001, he served as the Metro Regional financial services leader. From 2001 to 2004, he led the financial services audit and business advisory practice, which includes the banking, capital markets, insurance, investment management and real estate sectors.

Moritz served a three-year tour in PricewaterhouseCoopers – Tokyo, providing audit and advisory services to numerous European and U.S.-based financial services organizations operating in Japan.

He is certified by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the New York State Society of CPAs and the New Jersey State Society of CPAs. He is a member of the Atlantic Council; the Governing Board of the Center for Audit Quality and the Partnership for New York City.

Moritz has shared his expertise with Oswego students, including speaking in classes as part of the Oswego Alumni Association’s Alumni-In-Residence program.

He resides in Thornwood and has two children.