BBA Alumnus turned Corporate Controller: May’s aMaizeing Alumni

Alumnus, Erik Sims graduated in December 2012 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from the School of Management. Erik received his MBA from Walsh in 2019. He recently began a new position at Ocuphire Pharma, Inc as their Director, Corporate Controller. As our featured Alumni of the month, Erik gives insight on why he went into finance/accounting, his interests in crypto, and more!

Q: Degree(s) and graduation year:
A: BBA – Finance in Dec 2012.

Q: Where are you currently working and your title? How long have you been in this position or at this organization? What is your normal day to day?
A: Ocuphire Pharma, Inc. – Director, Corporate Controller. Member of the management team, handle oversight of all accounting and finance activities for the company. 

Q: Why did you choose UM-Flint for your degree(s)?
A: It was close to home and has a great business school!

Q: What is one of your favorite experiences at UM-Flint?
A: I loved being able to meet and work with other students from the area, still have relationships with some of the people I met at UM-Flint.

Q: Why did you choose to go into the career path you are currently in?
A: I have always liked numbers and so that was the motivation behind pursuing a finance degree. I ended up more on the accounting side in my career, but finance and accounting go hand in hand.

Q: What is one of your proudest accomplishments so far?
A: Financial freedom, not having to live paycheck to paycheck and being able to really enjoy the career field that I chose.

Q: What advice would you give students that are thinking of pursuing a career in your field?
A: Look at job postings for positions you might be interested in post-college, work to gain experience or knowledge in the job skills that the position requires.

Q: Fun Facts!
A: I am really into cryptocurrency right now; I think it would be amazing to create my own crypto – super fun and interesting goal right?

This entry was posted in 2021, aMAIZEing Alumni and tagged on by .

About ALEXIS MENARD

Alexis Menard joined the UM-Flint School of Management as full-time staff in August 2021 as the Marketing & Communications Coordinator. Within her role, she develops and implements marketing plans, maintains SOM's presence on social media and university websites, writes for the SOM blog, and organizes events to engage business students.