Wyatt honored with alumni pledge drive, symposium

The legacy of Art Wyatt (1927-2017), one of Gies’ beloved professors and a pioneer in the field of accounting, continues to grow. Wyatt served two long tenures at Illinois, sandwiched between an illustrious career with Arthur Andersen & Co.

Wyatt, who received his bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD degrees from Illinois, deeply inspired the lives of countless undergraduate and graduate Gies students, taking on the roles of teacher, role model, friend, and counselor.

To recognize Wyatt’s impact on them, Doug Dossey (ACCY ’95) is asking fellow alumni to join him in contributing to a 1:1 matching fund up to $250,000. The goal is to use the combined donations from others, who were also mentored by Wyatt, to name a space in his honor. This matching fund is part of a larger gift from Dossey and his wife, Kathrin Dellago, toward the College’s new building, named Steven S. Wymer Hall, pending Board of Trustees approval.

“Art Wyatt had style and substance. When he walked into the classroom, he was immediately recognizable as a businessman – he dressed differently and acted differently. I was instantly impressed,” said Dossey, founder and managing partner

“Art helped me understand and enter a world that a kid from Eureka (IL) couldn’t imagine. And he taught me by example

” of San Francisco-based Tensile Capital Management. “Art helped me understand and enter a world that a kid from Eureka (IL) couldn’t imagine. And he taught me by example how valuable and rewarding it is to give back.”

The Department of Accountancy is also recognizing Wyatt’s dedication to nurturing young talent by renaming its spring research forum the Arthur R. Wyatt Young Scholars Symposium. Since its inception in 2014, this event allows promising professors from the world’s finest universities to present their research and have senior professors act as discussants.

“Art Wyatt’s unique vision for the future of accountancy education was both extraordinary and groundbreaking, so it was a natural fit to honor him,” said Michael Donohoe, head of the Department of Accountancy. “He was someone who always had a watchful eye on young people, offering advice and counsel. We think he’d appreciate that mentorship at Gies extends to nurturing the next generation of scholars in our field.”

The symposium is one of the accountancy department’s signature events. Its unique, interactive format is unlike all others and aligns its mission to open new frontiers for innovative teaching and research.

“In our Department of Accountancy, intellectual curiosity, academic rigor, and perseverance are highly valued,” said Jeffrey R. Brown, dean and Josef and Margot Lakonishok Professor in Business. “We’re committed to supporting the efforts of junior scholars by providing them with an opportunity to benefit from the wisdom of senior scholars, who themselves were beneficiaries of the insights of those who came before them.”

Read more about Wyatt’s career and contributions to Gies College of Business and reach out to Angie Price (angie1@illinois.edu) to learn more about contributing to the Art Wyatt fund.

Pam Lins’ career is a vivid example of why accounting is the language of business.

“Once you understand it, it’s transferrable to many aspects of business and opens many doors,” said Lins (ACCY ’07, MAS ’08), who began her career at Deloitte before joining McDonald’s, where she is now senior director of global financial planning, analysis, and reporting.

“I’m so thankful I started my career at Deloitte. It’s where I learned how to be a professional and got exposure to several types of clients,” she said. “Ultimately, I decided I wanted to transition to industry and feel a sense of ownership, belonging, and accountability for driving results within one organization.”

McDonald’s has offered Lins a broad range of finance and accounting opportunities. During her 10 years with the Golden Arches, she has spent time across a wide range of financial disciplines in the US business unit and at the global corporate level.

In the US, Lins has worked directly with franchisees while simultaneously having accountability for a regional P&L of 700+ restaurants. She also held the role of CFO and finance director for the US company-owned restaurant portfolio.

Lins said during challenging times, she leans on advice from one of her favorite professors, A. Rashad Abdel-khalik, who taught her how to think outside of the box and look at problems from different angles. She now applies those skills to her current position overseeing McDonald’s global financial planning analysis as well as its accounting and reporting teams.

“We’re responsible for forecasting where the business is headed and working with investor relations to craft messaging to Wall Street about our performance,” she said. “We also work with the audit teams to pull together SEC filings, earning releases, and 10-K reports. Our team is responsible for much of the information that tells the story of McDonald’s.”

Lins hopes to eventually become a CFO or corporate controller so that she can continue to lead big teams and develop others, working together to expand their influence on a company and drive results.

Accounting was a natural fit for Lins. Her older brother and parents are Gies Business graduates, and she grew up attending Illini football and basketball games. But the biggest draw of those games was the Illinettes dance team.

“I grew up dancing, and becoming an Illinette was a dream of mine,” said Lins, who earned a spot on the team four years during her time on campus. “Balancing the 20-hour-a-week commitment for practices and game days with my academics and social activities – down to 30-minute increments – laid the groundwork for how I approach my busy schedule today. I remember one week in which I had three exams, was up at 6 am on Saturday for all-day football game day performances, and also had my family in town for Dad’s Day – balancing all those activities was a great learning experience (although I did not realize it at the time).”

Instead of entering the workforce with her undergraduate degree, Lins took a different approach. She said it was a tough decision but decided to spend an additional year on campus earning her master’s degree in accountancy while simultaneously prepping for and taking the CPA exam.

“Once you start working, life gets busy, so I took advantage of this expedited graduate track at Gies to add these credentials immediately instead of waiting a few years to get an MBA or another advanced degree,” Lins said.

Lins had interned with McDonald’s between her junior and senior years of undergrad and then secured an internship at Deloitte the following summer. She joined Deloitte full-time in 2008 as an audit associate and was able to focus solely on beginning her career without the distraction of the CPA exam.

Lins continues to stay connected to the University as a member of the Department of Accountancy Advisory Board and the University of Illinois Alumni Association Finance Committee. She also visits campus regularly to speak with students, often at the Accounting Leadership Academy.

“I share that no career choice has to be permanent. Expect your career to take a bunch of twists and turns,” she said. “The most successful young staff I work with are naturally curious people. Being successful is not about having all the right answers, it’s really about asking the right questions, being open-minded, and continuously learning from others.”