Chip Sawicki
What makes me so unique is that not only have I had a diverse career, but I have also had the opportunity to live in various places around North America including New Jersey, Texas, North Carolina, Florida, Illinois and even Ontario. This has given me the insight into regional differences as well as an understanding of the commonalities.
After graduating from high school in New Jersey, I attended Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. During college, I decided to major in accounting. Upon graduation, I returned to the New York City area to work for the most prestigious of the Big 8 accounting firms, Price Waterhouse, where I earned my license as a Certified Public Accountant. My clients included Exxon International, Suburban Propane and Dataflex among others.
It was the opportunity to serve on the corporate headquarters audit for Exxon that brought me to Dallas, Texas. At this same time, the Dallas Stars relocated to Dallas from Minnesota. I aggressively pursued being on the Stars engagement because I grew up playing hockey and knew that very few people knew anything about hockey in Texas at that time (those times have certainly changed!).
Upon being promoted to manager at Price Waterhouse, I was approached with a fantastic opportunity based on my professional sports experience with the Stars. The Texas Rangers offered me the opportunity to be Controller. 1995 was a difficult time for the Rangers because there were several problems resulting from moving into a new Ballpark and a strike during the prior year. After making financial operations much smoother, I was then presented with another opportunity when Tom Hicks purchased the Rangers in 1998. The front offices for the Rangers and the Stars (which Tom bought two years before) were merged together and I was promoted to Vice President, Finance for Southwest Sports Group where I held the Chief Financial Officer role for both teams.
Upon having fundamental disagreements with members of management that Tom Hicks put in place, I was replaced and forced to start a new phase of his career. Since I was tired of being the Vice President in charge of everything no one else wanted to do, I decided to make a complete career change. I went to work in business development for Jefferson Wells International. Not many CPA’s can make this kind of change!
After several successful years, I decided to take a major risk. An associate and I started Total Home Solutions, a hassle free solution to home maintenance. I was President and responsible for sales, marketing and finance. Although it was a great idea and a tremendous team was built, the company started to run low on capital and we decided to close down the company.
This decision could not have been more timely. Shortly after, my wife was presented an outstanding career opportunity that required our family to relocate to Charlotte, North Carolina. During this process, I had the opportunity to be a stay at home Dad for two years. This was an opportunity to develop a strong bond with my two sons and share lessons with my boys that will help them for life. It was during the time while my two sons were in school that I wrote and refined "Achieve Your American Dream".
After helping my children get settled in school and my wife in a new job, I was then able to focus on the next phase of his career. I decided it was time to start giving back. I did this by teaching Introduction to Financial Accounting to sophomores at my Alma Mater, Wake Forest University.
I knew that my book would be ideal for people who wanted to get more from their careers or that may have experienced some challenges. Being an Adjunct Professor was an ideal opportunity to validate the new concepts in my book with the only target
After graduating from high school in New Jersey, I attended Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. During college, I decided to major in accounting. Upon graduation, I returned to the New York City area to work for the most prestigious of the Big 8 accounting firms, Price Waterhouse, where I earned my license as a Certified Public Accountant. My clients included Exxon International, Suburban Propane and Dataflex among others.
It was the opportunity to serve on the corporate headquarters audit for Exxon that brought me to Dallas, Texas. At this same time, the Dallas Stars relocated to Dallas from Minnesota. I aggressively pursued being on the Stars engagement because I grew up playing hockey and knew that very few people knew anything about hockey in Texas at that time (those times have certainly changed!).
Upon being promoted to manager at Price Waterhouse, I was approached with a fantastic opportunity based on my professional sports experience with the Stars. The Texas Rangers offered me the opportunity to be Controller. 1995 was a difficult time for the Rangers because there were several problems resulting from moving into a new Ballpark and a strike during the prior year. After making financial operations much smoother, I was then presented with another opportunity when Tom Hicks purchased the Rangers in 1998. The front offices for the Rangers and the Stars (which Tom bought two years before) were merged together and I was promoted to Vice President, Finance for Southwest Sports Group where I held the Chief Financial Officer role for both teams.
Upon having fundamental disagreements with members of management that Tom Hicks put in place, I was replaced and forced to start a new phase of his career. Since I was tired of being the Vice President in charge of everything no one else wanted to do, I decided to make a complete career change. I went to work in business development for Jefferson Wells International. Not many CPA’s can make this kind of change!
After several successful years, I decided to take a major risk. An associate and I started Total Home Solutions, a hassle free solution to home maintenance. I was President and responsible for sales, marketing and finance. Although it was a great idea and a tremendous team was built, the company started to run low on capital and we decided to close down the company.
This decision could not have been more timely. Shortly after, my wife was presented an outstanding career opportunity that required our family to relocate to Charlotte, North Carolina. During this process, I had the opportunity to be a stay at home Dad for two years. This was an opportunity to develop a strong bond with my two sons and share lessons with my boys that will help them for life. It was during the time while my two sons were in school that I wrote and refined "Achieve Your American Dream".
After helping my children get settled in school and my wife in a new job, I was then able to focus on the next phase of his career. I decided it was time to start giving back. I did this by teaching Introduction to Financial Accounting to sophomores at my Alma Mater, Wake Forest University.
I knew that my book would be ideal for people who wanted to get more from their careers or that may have experienced some challenges. Being an Adjunct Professor was an ideal opportunity to validate the new concepts in my book with the only target