Tuesday, August 6, 2024
Media Contact: Hallie Hart | Communication Coordinator | 405-744-1050 | hallie.hart@okstate.edu
Editor’s note: The Spears School of Business is publishing a series of feature stories to celebrate the 2024 Spears Business Hall of Fame inductees and Distinguished Young Alumni. Check back each week for a new profile leading up to the October 4th ceremony.
Vickie Carr’s face lights up when she starts talking about global travel.
The Oklahoma State University accounting graduate eagerly shares business travel stories from the past four decades, sprinkled with helpful tips that only a seasoned traveler would know.
Growing up, Carr and her family never flew, but her professional life allowed her to experience the beauty of global destinations. Her first international flight was on a double-decker plane to Malaysia, she spent considerable time in Belgium, and one of her favorite memories is dining in a Turkish palace near a suspension bridge where Asia meets Europe.
She continued these adventures without leaving Deloitte, a Big 4 accounting firm with offices all over the world. Between mergers and technology changes, Carr has built a nearly 40-year career with the same organization, and that doesn’t mean she’s settled for a routine.
“Deloitte has done such a great job of letting its professionals step up and do something different,” Carr said. “Every four or five years, I would want a new challenge or do something different. I raised my hand and almost every time they agreed to let me do something new, so I was always full of energy.”
Since her 1985 internship as a senior at OSU, Carr has never changed firms. Her rare commitment to growing a firm opened the door to world travel, leadership initiatives and, this year, induction into the Spears School of Business Hall of Fame.
Carr, head of the Global Tax Accounting Group at Deloitte, has achieved and exceeded the goal she told her husband, Jeff, early in their relationship.
The couple met as OSU students when Jeff was bartending at the Gray Fox, an Elm Avenue social center in the brick building that now houses The Garage Burgers and Beer. Carr wanted him to understand her aspiration to become a partner at a Big 8 accounting firm.
After 38 years of marriage and counting, it’s safe to say Jeff figured it out. Carr said his support was one of the most important factors in her success.
OSU was also a big contributor.
Although her six older sisters did not attend college, times had changed when Carr, essentially a full generation younger than her siblings, reached high school.
Carr expected to go to college even if it meant working to pay her way through school after her father retired. She credits her younger sister and an accounting class at Western Heights High School in Oklahoma City for sparking her interest in her future major.
“When I declared my accounting major, I’m not sure I fully understood what opportunities that degree would provide,” Carr said. “But I knew I liked numbers and I liked accounting.”
In 1985, Carr landed an internship with Touche Ross, then one of the prestigious Big 8 firms. She simultaneously immersed herself in working life in Tulsa and finished her undergraduate degree in Stillwater so she could progress toward her goal. She started full-time right after graduation, passed her CPA exam and, with the support of Touche Ross, took night classes at the University of Tulsa until she earned a master’s degree in taxation.
In 1989, Touche Ross and another Big 8 firm, Deloitte Haskins & Sells, merged to form Deloitte & Touche, eventually using the Deloitte name. Carr never had to change firms, but her work prompted her to move. In 1996, she and Jeff — with their two children, Jenna and Mitchell — headed to Memphis, Tennessee, for Carr’s chance to become a partner. She was admitted to partnership in 1999.
Although he achieved his goal, the next phase of his career brought new challenges. While in Memphis, Carr often found herself the only woman in meetings, and one client even mentioned that they had never had a female business advisor. Fortunately, Carr said, she was able to earn their respect and stay focused.
Over the years, she learned to lean on mentors and peers for confidence.
“You have to find your voice,” Carr said. “Sometimes, I was waiting for someone to give me permission, instead of saying, ‘This is what works for me.’
Carr said she benefited from Deloitte’s programs that focused on men and women as colleagues and an initiative called “Little Things, Big Differences” that helped her professionals talk about and make time for personal commitments.
She knew she had to balance her career with her family. A mentor, Katy Hollister, advised Carr to treat family like “they’re your most important client” and not let work become all-consuming.
As she continued to advance professionally at Deloitte and learned to speak up, Carr stayed true to her team-oriented values.
Carr began speaking at conferences and leadership advisory groups. In 2018, she founded Deloitte’s National Tax Accounting Group, which grew from 10 to almost 50 members in a span of seven years. Four years ago, she thought bigger and helped create the Global Tax Accounting Group, which now includes partner-led tax accounting teams in more than 25 countries.
“This is a perfect example of what I love about Deloitte,” said Carr. “This allows our partners to be entrepreneurial if they have an idea for a service offering that they believe would be well received in the market.”
On a personal level, Carr and her family adjusted to moving from Tulsa to Memphis to Dallas, where she and Jeff live today. She said she is very proud of her children and what they have achieved. Carr also credited Jeff for leaving his career as a special education teacher to support her career and the children as they were growing up, and she knows what his commitment as a stay-at-home dad meant to her. the whole family.
Jeff and Vickie taught Jenna and Mitchell about the Orange Power and shared their love for the OSU Cowboys. The siblings graduated from OSU and both now work for Deloitte — Jenna as a meeting and event services business consultant and Mitchell as a tax manager.
As much as Deloitte will tell Carr, she knew by the time she was approaching 40, she was ready for retirement. Carr will retire in September, ready to spend more time with family, including granddaughter Palmer.
Travel is still on the agenda, but the countries at the top of the list are not as far off as Malaysia or Belgium. The Carrs have a second home in Colorado, and they also want to return to Stillwater.
“There are so many traditions and memories of OSU that you don’t even think about going to school there,” Carr said. “Our pride in these traditions has deepened over the years and is a big part of our lives today.”
With the Jeff and Vickie Carr Endowed Scholarship in Accounting, she is constantly making a difference at her alma mater, and Spears has shown her pride in her accomplishments. Carr received selection for the OSU School of Accounting Wilton T. Anderson Hall of Fame and “Spears School Tributes: 100 For 100” commemorating the school’s 100th anniversary in 2014.
The other award coincidentally follows her retirement. Carr will be honored in the Spears School of Business Hall of Fame Class of 2024 on Oct. 4 at the ConocoPhillips OSU Alumni Center.
“I’m humbled, shocked and proud,” Carr said. “My education and experience at Oklahoma State laid the foundation for who I am and what I have been able to accomplish. I will always be grateful to OSU.”