My wife and I have been living in Europe since October 2015 for an international work assignment. Timing worked out well enough that we were home visiting the family for Christmas and we were able to join the 10-year reunion at The Hall in December 2017. There were a lot of great stories and memories shared, and thought it would be nice to share my story with the greater alumni community.

 

After The Hall, I attended the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where I received an Undergraduate and Masters degree in Accounting. During my sophomore year (2009), I studied abroad for a semester in Australia, which sparked my interest in traveling and living abroad.

 

After college, I moved to Raleigh, North Carolina and worked for Deloitte & Touche as a CPA in the external audit practice. After three years with Deloitte, I found a new opportunity to join a company called ABB. I joined as part of the Global Trainee Program, which is an 18-month contract that gives the ‘trainee’ the opportunity to take two international assignments after working 6 months in the home country. The strategy is to build up the next level of management through exposure to the international markets and operations. ABB employs over 135,000 people and serves utility, industry, transport and infrastructure customers in roughly 100 countries.

 

My first assignment was from May to October 2015 in Raleigh, North Carolina. I spent a significant amount of time learning about ABB: the portfolio of businesses, services and product offerings, as well as and the complex organizational structure. My free time was spent preparing for our wedding and our first international assignment.

 

My wife and I got married in October 2015 and immediately moved to Zurich, Switzerland. Zurich is the location of ABB’s global headquarters, as well as a major travel hub in central Europe. As a result, my professional experience was accompanied by a wonderful opportunity for my wife and I to enrich our cultural exposure, utilizing the extensive railway systems to travel to Germany, France, Italy and Austria. We frequented many areas in the Swiss Alps, skiing and snowboarding pristine conditions, which were fully enhanced with the Swiss level of quality.

 

In April 2016, we moved to Bulgaria for our third and final assignment in one of ABB’s High Voltage Manufacturing facilities. In December 2016, I was promoted to Value Chain Manager and a member of the local management team, and we extended our contract to stay in Bulgaria through December 2018. This new role has given me the chance to work with a greater focus on Operations, which is a refreshing change from the previous Corporate Accounting and Finance roles.

 

We have been in Europe for two and a half years now, and have had the opportunity to travel through more than 25 countries. The exposure to different cultures and lifestyles has been an eye-opening experience. We are extremely grateful for this opportunity and are taking full advantage of our time. God’s beauty is everywhere; the perspective through which it is perceived differs.

 

I hope that sharing my story with the greater CHC alumni community will inspire other Hallmen to pursue an international opportunity, whether for work or pleasure.

 

I am proud to be an alumnus of Calvert Hall!