Remember, business
is always personal.
Michael
Kasperski
Class of ’82
Michael Kasperski enjoys things
in life that involve challenging one’s mind. Ever since Michael (Mike) came to
St. Bonaventure University and after Bonaventure, in both his accounting and
then educational career, he has been able to challenge his mind over and over
again.
Mike grew up in the Olean area
and because of growing up in Olean he always knew about Bonaventure and the
strong community that was here.
“I didn’t even look at other
colleges when it came down to choosing schools. I knew from a young age that
Bonaventure was the place for me.”
Before Mike started attending
St. Bonaventure University in the fall of 1981 he was enrolled as a student at
Jamestown Community College (JCC) for two years and then when Mike finally
transferred to Bonaventure as a junior he said that he never felt more at home.
“It was different for me because
my wife and I had married after my sophomore year of college, so I had come in
to the university as a married man. Even though there was that difference
between most students and I and that I was also a commuter, that didn’t affect
me in the slightest bit when it came down to me feeling a part of the
Bonaventure community.”
Mike says that his favorite
memory as an undergraduate at Bonaventure would have to be his relationships
that he built with his professors.
“I owe a great deal of my
success and who I am as a man today to the influential professors that I had
when I was an undergraduate.”
Mike graduated from St.
Bonaventure in December of 1982 with a Bachelor in Accounting.
“I was very fortunate because I
had taken accounting classes in high school and I was always very fond of how accounting
would challenge my mind. To me, being an accountant is not work, I find it fun
and rewarding.”
Following his graduation from
St. Bonaventure, Mike started working at a large regional accounting firm
called Buffamante Whipple Buttafaro.
He worked at the offices in Olean for a total of 14 years. During his eighth
year with the firm he was promoted to partner and continued in that position
until he left in 1997 to go work for a client of the firm called DAPA Communications Inc. as the
company’s Chief Financial Officer.
“DAPA was a really interesting
company to work for because their headquarters were in Paris, France. They were
one of the first companies to establish antennas for cellular network towers in
the world and I believe that it was a really neat thing that I was able to be a
part of.”
During Mike’s time with DAPA he
was also starting his own CPA (Certified Public Accountant) firm on the side,
and was teaching as an adjunct for JCC and then later on for St. Bonaventure.
Balancing two big jobs started to become too stressful. So he decided after
working at DAPA for about five years it was time to move on to focusing solely
on his own firm.
“The firm had taken off so I joined together
with another accounting firm in Olean with my own CPA firm, and it continued to
grow.”
Then in June 2003 Mike received a
call from Professor Mike Fischer asking him if he would be interested in a
full-time teaching position at the school.
“So when I received that call
from Mike it was definitely the definition of perfect timing in my life, as my
largest client just announced that they were merging with a Public Company and
all the other clients were being taken care of by the other firm. So I decided
to jump at the opportunity to teach full-time.”
Mike started teaching at St.
Bonaventure University in the fall of 2003 and has been teaching at the
university ever since. During his first two years as a professor he was also
working on his Masters of Business Administration receiving it from St.
Bonaventure University in 2005.
“This is the greatest gig that I
could have ever received in my lifetime. Coming back to this school made for a
wonderful opportunity. The students keep you young and I feel like I am always
being transported back in time. Even as a professor I still feel like I am in
the bona bubble.”
Mike’s favorite memory of being
a professor he says would have to be the relationships that he builds with his
students.
“My cell phone is filled with numbers of my past students
who have turned into lifelong friends of mine. My wife and I attend baptisms,
weddings, anniversaries, and all types of family events because I feel like my
students are part of my family.”
