By Mike De Stefano, CPA | Lucknow-Highspire Terminals LLC

As I sat at PICPA’s 2018 annual meeting and was looking over the other attendees, I happened to notice Steve Christian, who was to be installed as the next PICPA president later that day. It may have been his slight resemblance to U.S. Sen. John McCain that initially gave me pause. Then my subconscious memory started to kick in from way back in 1994 when I was a senior at Bloomsburg University going through the job interview process that fall. My mind, apparently, was working out why Steve looked so familiar to me. It took a few moments to sort out, but the fact is Steve and I had crossed paths before.

Steve works at Kreischer Miller in Horsham, Pa. The firm appealed to me coming out of college, as it was very close to where I grew up in Philadelphia. Kreischer Miller also had a very good reputation at Bloomsburg, as it had hired several accounting majors from the university over the years. Steve had been the one conducting the interviews on campus in 1994. He did a great job advocating for his firm and his profession. He sold me on the hope that his would be one of the firms that I would get an offer from coming out of the interview process (more on that later).

I made a note to myself that when I had a chance to talk to Steve and introduce myself, I wanted to see if my memory had worked this out correctly.

At a PICPA Council dinner later that night, I had an opportunity to introduce myself. As Steve and I were talking, I decided to see if he was in fact the rep from Kreischer Miller that was on campus conducting the interviews when I was there. Sort of a long shot, I realized, as it was 24 years ago. Here is how the conversation went:

Mike: I want to test your memory, actually your long-term memory on something.

Steve smiled in that way that indicated he must be thinking, “Oh boy, where is this one going to go?”

Mike: Did you ever do any on-campus recruiting at colleges for Kreischer Miller in the early ‘90s?

Steve: Yes! It was at Bloomsburg. (He offered up that detail without me asking where he may have recruited).

I smiled and told Steve that we had met before. I shared the story of my interview experience at Bloomsburg, and how I had been drawn to Kreischer Miller. We had a nice chat about how Steve took over for Jack Kreischer in the 1980s, and how Bloomsburg was the only college he did recruiting for at the firm. He had wonderful and kind things to say about Bloomsburg’s professors, curriculum, and gorgeous campus. I mentioned that I had received an offer from Reinsel & Company that year and started in their tax department, but our two firms continued to cross paths though a national network affiliation over my time in public accounting. I enjoyed hearing about Steve’s career path and how he went on to become managing partner at Kreischer Miller.

So why share this story? The answer is an easy one. The CPA profession has been a wonderful journey for me. I am 45 years old and only halfway through my career as a CPA, but there have been so many interesting people and opportunities all along the way so far. My career, like many others, has consisted of its ups and downs, but there are overlapping and intersecting paths that help define that journey. I wanted to share an example of how an individual who is so passionate about his firm and the profession has helped to pass along that passion to me through a very simple interaction. Steve made such a positive impression on 21-year-old Mike that it carried forward two and a half decides to this day. I may not have received that offer from Kreischer Miller that I had hoped for, but that interview helped send me along a wonderful path that I wouldn’t change if given the choice.  

I never imagined that Steve and I would cross paths again in this manner, but I am thankful for the small coincidences in life and in our profession. I love how the PICPA has over 22,000 members, but inside of that massive membership base there are opportunities to support each other, build relationships, and help pass the passion for our profession on to future generations. To Steve, I say thank you for the opportunity to interview with your firm so many years ago, and I look forward to serving our members with you as part of PICPA Council over the next year.

Mike De Stefano is a member of PICPA Council and vice president of finance at Lucknow-Highspire Terminals LLC.