Beta Alpha Psi
Newsletter
W E S T E R N
U N I V E R S I T Y
M A R C H
2 0 1 6
Meet the Firms
INSIDE THIS
ISSUE:
Alumni Spotlight
I L L I N O I S
2
Golf Outing
3
Volunteer
Activities
4
Leadership
Activites
4
Social Events
4
Initiation
5
Our Presenters
5
Golf Registration
6
By: Scott Pepmeyer
Last semester, Beta Alpha Psi hosted its 27th
annual Meet The Firms event on September 25,
2015. This year’s event was located in the University Union Brattain Lounge. Meet The
Firms is a wonderful way for WIU accounting
and finance students to converse with a wide
array of different firms in their future industry.
A social event was held following Meet The Firms.
HNI, Corporation
2015 Firms In Attendance
Accenture
Archer Daniels Midland
Becker CPA Review
Caterpillar, Inc.
CliftonLarsonAllen LLP
CPA Associates PC
Deloitte
Dot Foods, Inc.
ECS Financial Services, Inc.
Gray Hunter Stenn
HNI Corporation
Illinois Office of the Auditor
General
John Deere
McGladrey
MB Financial
Northwestern Mutual
Social Security Administration
WestPoint Financial Group
Wiley CPAexcel
Beta Alpha Psi Fall 2015
Like us on Facebook. Beta Alpha Psi Western Illinois University
Becker Review
Alumni Spotlight:
PAGE
Cory Gall, CPA
Senior Assurance
Associate,
RSM US LLP
By Joe Goetz
Cory is a MAcc graduate and
has been working with RSM
(formerly McGladrey) since
October 2012. He specializes
in healthcare and manufacturing clients and works closely
with client controllers and
CFOs. Cory enjoys serving a
variety of clients of every size
and has audited companies
with revenues varying from a
few thousand to over a billion
dollars. As a former BAP president, BAP prepared Cory for
the challenges of public accounting, and he learned “how
to network with business professionals.” Cory stated that
BAP was “essential in preparing me for the world of accounting.”
Cory Gall
Rhonda Haffner, CPA
Business Resource
Manager,
Caterpillar
Rhonda Haffner
By Joe Goetz
Rhonda obtained a B.B. in
accounting from Western and
has held 13 unique roles in her
27 year career at Caterpillar
with most of her experience in
the financial accounting area.
Her career highlights include
achieving 6 Sigma Black Belt
status and providing leadership training to over 100 accountants in Caterpillar’s
Electric Power Division.
Rhonda also continues to
serve as the champion of the
WIU accounting and finance
recruiting team at Caterpillar.
Rhonda is a former BAP officer and credits BAP for
some of her career success.
BAP pushed Rhonda out of
her comfort zone and taught
her skills of time management, leadership, and working
effectively with teams. Rhonda says that participation in
BAP “has definitely translated
into achieving career goals.”
2
Eighth Annual Golf Outing
By: Megan Opiekun
On October 2, 2015, Beta Alpha Psi hosted its eighth annual golf outing. The event took
place during the fall semester
after being postponed due to
rain the previous semester.
Nine firms participated by
pairing up with BAP members
for the best ball tournament
including RSM (formerly
McGladrey), CPA Associates
PC, Caterpillar, Honkamp
Krueger & Co. PC, Crippen
Reid Bowen, Grey Hunter
Stenn, Accenture, CL Anderson & Associates PC, and Clifton Larson Allen. This event
gives students, faculty, alumni,
and recruiters a chance to network and interact while raising
money for WIU’s chapter of
BAP. This year’s event also
provided a prime opportunity
for the organizing members to
think on their feet when the
grill was suddenly engulfed in
flames while lunch was cooking. After the flames died
down, the lunch crew quickly
ordered pizza and the food crisis was averted. This event
Team Accenture
PAGE
3
would not be as successful
without the help of our golf
hole sponsors.
Fall 2015 Sponsors:
Accenture
Becker
Caterpillar
CL Anderson & Associates, PC
Clifton Larson Allen
CPA Excel
Deloitte
First Bankers Trust
Ludlum Food Mart
Murray Wise & Associates
PGIB
RSM
Westen Investments Inc.
Susanna Pendergast
Gregg Woodruff
The Ahl Family
Dr, Charles Pryor
Becky Hall
Dr. Elfrink
Dr. Soon Suk Yoon
Janet Stevens
Nancy Smith
Penny Yunker
Start of the Outing
Megan With the Fire
Extinguisher
The Girls Team
Volunteer Activities
PAGE
4
where we were able to help
for their Soup and More event
By: Amber Lipton
out
various
places
in
the
comthe next day. Throughout the
This semester the Zeta Beta
munity. Some members picked semester our chapter went out
chapter of Beta Alpha
to Horn Field Campus, a
Psi decided to do somerustic retreat near WIU
thing different for their
that has many educationvolunteer hours as a way
al and service programs
to take our chapter from
to volunteer. At Horn
good to great. Instead of
Field, we helped beautify
just tutoring lower-level
and prepare the grounds
accounting and finance
for winter. Our members
classes in the Accountenjoyed getting the
ing and Finance tutor
chance to do something
lab, we decided to expand out volunteer serVolunteering at Horn Field Campus different to complete our
volunteer hours so much
vices out into the comup trash around the Western
that we added a position to
munity. In October many
Illinois
University
campus.
our Executive Board to conmembers participated in
Others volunteered at a church tinue this trend, the CommuMake a Difference Day.
by helping prepare and set up
nity Services Liaison.
This was a daylong event
Leadership Activities
By: Derek Orendorff
In Fall 2015, BAP members
participated in leadership activities at Horn Field Campus.
These activities tested each
member’s team building and
communication skills. For example, each member was
blindfolded, given a number,
and spread out throughout the
field. The group had to
lineup in a straight line in
sequential order without talking. The activity leader was
surprised how quick we finished the activity as we shattered the Horn Field Campus
record. The group ended the
evening with climbing the
tall wall in spectacular fashion.
Horn Field Campus Leadership
Social Events
By: Dayna Heaton
This semester Beta Alpha Psi
had several social events,
many of them involving volleyball. We started out the
semester playing in WIU’s
mud volleyball tournament.
We then had two teams par-
ticipate in WIU’s annual Big
Pink Volleyball Tournament.
Several members ran in the
WIU Fallen Soldier 5k and
then helped host our football
tailgating social. Finally to
round out the semester, we
completed against SCIMA in
a big pink volleyball game.
Mud Volleyball
Initiation
By: Amanda Wrenn
New Members
PAGE
The Fall 2015 Beta Alpha Psi
Initiation was held on Thursday, December 3rd. Four individuals were inducted into Beta Alpha Psi. Two members,
Krista Glass and Erin
Hutchins, graduated with their
Masters Degrees, while three
members, Dayna Heaton, Amber Lipton, and President Tracy Juske, graduated with their
Bachelors Degrees. Two of the
inductees led several Minute
to Win It games, where teams
of members and faculty played
for points. Afterward, those in
attendance went to the Red Ox
for dinner.
5
New Officers
Reporting Administrator: Sara
White
Community Service Liaison:
Amber Lipton
Treasurer: Amanda Wrenn
New
Members
Johnny
Tribo,
Amanda
Wrenn,
Sara White,
Deepak
Adhikari
Graduate Students
Our Presenters
McGladrey, Matt Barr, Jordan
Valle, Cory Gall, & Hilary
McCauley, "Accounting as a
Profession"
WIU,Dr. Jack Schafer, “Using
Body Language to
Succeed in an Interview”
Melissa Busen,
Caterpillar
Finally we would like to thank
all of our presenters this semester for taking time to come
and share their knowledge
with us.
Beta Alpha Psi
431 Stipes Hall
1 University Circle
Macomb, IL 61455
ADM, Ryan McCoy & Patrick
Jones, “Internal Auditing: A
Solid Career Choice”
John Deere, Brian Jacob & Patty
Lake, “The Impact on Shared
Services and Technology on Accounting”
Caterpillar, Melissa Busen,
“Revenue Management”
John Deere
Illinois CPA Society, Naomi
David & Sarah Herrmann, “The
Upcoming Changes to the CPA
Exam”
Becker, Kristin Datillo, “The
Benefits of Passing the CPA
Exam”
If you are interested in presenting at a BAP meeting please
contact Joseph Goetz at: JAGoetz@wiu.edu
Like us on Facebook:
Beta Alpha Psi Western Illinois University
For More Information or if you have any questions or
comments please contact:
Cheryl Westen (Advisor): CA-Westen@wiu.edu
Beta Alpha Psi Golf Outing
Ninth Annual ΒΑΨ Golf Outing — 4 Person Scramble
REGISTER ONLINE
www.wiu.edu/bap/
golf
Harry Mussatto
Golf Course
1215 Tower Rd.
Macomb, IL 61455
Friday, May 6, 2016
Cost: $50 per player
Start Time: 11:00 am
Enjoy a complete program
of 18 holes of golf
(including cart), lunch, and
prizes.
 Longest drive contests
 Closest to the pin
 Longest putt challenge
The Western Illinois University chapter of Beta Alpha Psi would like to invite you to the ninth
annual Beta Alpha Psi Golf Outing to be held on May 6, 2016. The 18 hole four per son
golf scramble will be held at WIU’s Harry Mussatto Golf Course located at 1215 Tower
Road, Macomb, IL. The practice green and driving range will open at 10:00 AM with a
shotgun start at 11:00 AM.
Prizes will be awarded for the top three team finishes. In addition, there will be contests for
the longest drive, closest to the pin, and longest putt. Other things you should know…
1.
2.
3.
4.
Lunch will be provided.
Other snacks will be available for purchase at the clubhouse.
Course beverages will be available on a cash basis.
Complimentary range balls are available on the driving range beginning at 10:00 AM.
Hole sponsorships are available for $100 per hole.
To help us properly plan for this event, please register for the event online at www.wiu.edu/bap and
go to the golf registration link or submit the paper form below by April 22 th .
Return Forms to:
Beta Alpha Psi
431 Stipes Hall
1 University Circle
Macomb, IL 61455
For additional information please contact:
Scott Pepmeyer at ST-Pepmeyer@wiu.edu or
Cheryl Westen at CA-Westen@wiu.edu
(309) 298-1152
WIU Beta Alpha Psi Golf Outing Registration Form
Please make checks payable to Beta Alpha Psi and return forms before April 22, 2016.
I would like to participate in the scramble with an individual registration for $50.
Name ___________________________________________________________
Avg. Score _______________
I would like to register the following participants to be placed on the same team and have enclosed $50 per player.
Player 2 _________________________________________________________
Avg. Score _______________
Player 3 _________________________________________________________
Avg. Score _______________
Player 4 _________________________________________________________
Avg. Score _______________
My business is interested in sponsoring a hole for $100. Please contact me at the following phone number:
(______)_______________________and email address ________________________________________