The former Director of Financial Reporting of New York University, Hank Perkowski, joined the Teachers College community recently, filling the role of Assistant Controller. Perkowski says he is looking forward to his new role.

"It definitely seems like a group of people who really care about what they are doing and about the institution," he said. "That's definitely one of the things that attracted me here." He is also looking forward to what he didn't have at NYU, which was coming in contact with faulty and students.

"I'm thrilled to have Hank working with us," said Controller Sharon Hewitt-Watkins. "His experience in investment management and reporting, financial reporting, audits, and operational process improvements will be very beneficial to the College."

A native and current resident of Staten Island, Perkowski says there are many jobs he will be doing at TC that will build on his experience at NYU. After graduating from Fairfield University, he worked at Ernst and Young, where he worked for three years with banking and insurance clients.

What is really interesting is what Perkowski did for a year between the time he left Ernst and Young and the time he started at NYU.

"At that point I was unsure what direction my career was going to take, and I wasn't necessarily excited about my prospects," he said. "My next move would have probably been to go into the banking industry, and I knew inside that that wasn't how I wanted to spend 100 percent of my time."

He decided it was the perfect opportunity to volunteer his time to make some kind of change in the world. So he headed to Charleston, South Carolina, to work with Habitat for Humanity, working on construction of houses for low income families.

"I didn't really know what I was doing," Perkowski said. "I'm a CPA, so for me to build a house was really a stretch."

The year that he spent in South Carolina gave Perkowski time to think about what he really wanted to do, and it gave him an opportunity to work more on his leadership skills, communication skills and his people skills.

"When I was there different groups would come down, whether it would be a spring break group, or church group, and there were various types of people at various skill levels," he said. "So it helped me learn how to explain things to people, be in charge of a group of thirty people, trying to keep everyone working at the same time. And, make sure they didn't get hurt."

In his free time, Perkowski enjoys outdoor activities like hiking and camping, though right now he is spending most of his free time planning a wedding with fiancé, Anni, who is studying to be a dental hygienist. With a wedding date of June 26th, the couple is house hunting and hopes to move closer to the TC area.

Published Friday, Sep. 3, 2004