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Michael Jack

Michael Jack

Retired Senior Vice President and Controller
Telephone and Data Systems (TDS)
Indianapolis, IN

 

Good luck keeping Michael Jack tied down to an office. He’s been a guest lecturer at MIT, participated in a groundbreaking accounting seminar at Harvard and has been asked to speak at industry conferences more times than he can count.

For Michael, the key to his career has always been variety. “The beauty of being a CPA is that every day can be different,” he says. “There’s always some new business activity or transaction that you have to analyze and interpret for the business to be successful. And good companies aren’t going to make a big decision without having their CPAs weigh in.”

After serving as the Controller for TDS, a major telecommunications company, Michael retired. “Even though I’m retired,” Michael says, “I’ve filled in as a CFO for one company, and I’ve done a lot of other part-time work for CPA organizations.” It’s proof that opportunities that come with being a CPA never end – even after you retire.

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Stats at a Glance

Years as a CPA: 5

Worst job: Working on a lumber yard while I was in high school

Hobbies outside of work: Car racing (he’s an instructor at race tracks), photography

Words to live by: "Learn from mistakes to do better in the future but do not dwell on them, revisit them or beat individuals up for them."