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NEWS & FEATURES |
Interview of the Month - September 2003: Jean-Xavier Barthelemy (ESSEC 1985) Q: What is your background? I joined a French-American CPA (certified public accounting) firm when I came in New York - from Vienna (Austria, not Virginia) eight years ago and have been working there ever since. Q: Why did you decide to come and stay here? I came to New York for personal reasons. May I say that I also stayed for personal reasons? Q: What advice would you give to ESSEC graduates who would like to come to work here? When I came here, I called one ESSEC alumnus to ask for his advice. He told me that the United States were not the place to be in the 1990s, that I should consider moving to Asia instead. I swore then that I would not give any advice even when solicited. Q: How do you think your ESSEC background helped you to be where you are? My boss is from a French school of management with only three letters in its acronym. He was not present at my interview but I think he was subsequently impressed by our five letters name. More seriously, independent thinking (we call it "Professional skepticism") is the hallmark of the CPA profession. Wasn't it something promoted at ESSEC? Q: What do you consider as your role in the ESSEC family? I do the books. Thank you...
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