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EY CEO on How To Build,
Think and Be in the New Economy
A
commitment to seeking digital solutions, investing in technology and putting people first isn’t
just how EY has weathered the global health crisis and ensuing economic upheaval. It’s part
of the strategy that young people hoping to make a difference in the corporate workforce should
embrace, the CEO and global chairman of the powerhouse professional services firm told a Maryland
Smith audience on Sept. 8.
Carmine Di Sibio shared how he’s been
leading a global firm of almost 300,000
people working in more than 150
countries through COVID-19, and how
corporations can be the problem-solvers
the world needs, during a conversation at
the Robert H. Smith School of Business’ fall
CEO@Smith speaker series event. He joined
Interim Dean Ritu Agarwal from his home office
in Summit, N.J., for the virtual event, co-hosted by
Maryland Smith’s Center for Global Business as part
of its Distinguished Speakers in International Business
series. Students, faculty, staff and alumni tuned in and
asked questions.
“When COVID first hit, the first message I sent
out was really to all our partners and all our people
that there were two most important things: taking care
of our people and taking care of our clients,” Di Sibio
said. “If we did those, we’d be fine getting through
the pandemic.”
The firm has been resilient, even growing revenue
5% over last year.
He said companies have a big role to play in
addressing societal issues. He was part of a 2019
Business Roundtable pledge by corporate leaders to
redefine the purpose of a corporation to benefit all
stakeholders, not just shareholders. Now he’s working
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with the other Big Four professional services firms
and Bank of America as part of the World Economic
Forum’s International Business Council, to come up
with a way for companies to disclose metrics around
four areas—people, planet, prosperity, governance—to
“help drive forward what we mean by the definition of a
corporation beyond just shareholder profit,” he said.
For students hoping to have impact through
careers at EY or other top corporations, Di Sibio
shared this advice:
Be open to innovation: Early in his 35-year career
with EY, he said, he turned losing a big client into an
opportunity to start a risk-management practice at the
firm with a few partners. “Today, that’s over a billiondollar business, just in the U.S.”
Build relationships: “During COVID, the relationships
we had already built, those are the ones that we’re
able to do work for, to sell work to, to have trust with.
Building new relationships during COVID has actually
been much more difficult.”
Be tech-savvy: “Being curious around technology is
important,” he said. You don’t have to be the world’s
greatest programmer, he said, but you should know
how to leverage tech tools. “We went from having
1,500 people in February on Microsoft Teams to now
having almost 300,000 on it during the COVID period.”
Find your passion and have fun with it: “It sounds
simplistic, but it’s the difference between thinking of
your career as a career versus thinking of your job
as just a job.” At EY, Di Sibio got his start in the audit
business—and he stayed there, moving to financial
services and rising through leadership ranks to the
top role.
Think and act globally: “It’s important that people
continue to think globally. We are global as a business;
our clients are global. I think technology has forced
that,” he said. “So even if you’re part of a startup, your
market is global almost immediately.”
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“I love being with clients and I love helping them
solve issues. I do that today with other CEOs. It’s really
what gives me passion and reward for what I do,”
he said.
After Di Sibio’s conversation with Agarwal,
participants heard from Maryland Smith alumni now
working at EY during a panel discussion dubbed “A Day
in the Life of an EY Professional.” The conversation, led
by Mark Rabinowitz ’05 and Ellen Polansky '87, gave
students a glimpse of the collaborative culture at EY
and diverse perspectives the firm values. /CH/
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