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Billy McCormick
Moraine Valley Community College alumnus Billy McCormick spends his days on the lookout for fraud, threats, dishonesty and deception. And he wouldn’t have it any other way.
As a senior auditor on the Chicago IT Assurance team at Crowe, LLP, McCormick is tasked with protecting clients by preventing all the above and advising on IT controls for cybersecurity and data protection.
When he started at Moraine Valley, McCormick initially was looking to work in investment banking. Armed with his associate degree in business, he transferred to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he graduated with honors. “I realized toward the end of my time in school that what I really wanted was to work in information systems. It wasn’t until my last semester at UIUC that I took a class called IT governance, and that’s what sparked my interest in this line of work,” he said.
Billy McCormick
It also was during his last semester of school that he secured his position at Crowe, LLP. “It was great,” he said. “I got just about the whole summer off after graduation before starting my job.”
He believes he made the right decisions concerning his post-secondary education and career.
“My switch to information systems was one of the best choices I could have made,” he said. “I like my career, and I think I’m in a good spot. I work hard, but it feels like I have a purpose and am appreciated for what I do.”
His decision to attend Moraine Valley is something he looks back at as a good choice as well, primarily driven by not wanting to be burdened with huge student loans.
“It was hard for me not to go to a four-year school right away, but in hindsight, it was huge for me that I wasn’t taking on all that debt,” McCormick said. “Moraine Valley offered so much, especially the Honors Program. There were a lot of interesting class options for me, and I liked that plus the beautiful fitness center and the nature areas. There was a lot more at Moraine Valley than I had expected.”
He recalls instructors who gave him great insight for use in and out of the classroom. “Joe Flynn was my managerial accounting instructor and taught me a valuable rule in life: ‘You get what you measure.’ That line—a professor at Illinois said almost the same thing—stuck with me because it’s true for business, it’s true for politics, and it’s true for life,” McCormick said.
McCormick also remembers professor Steve Mastej and says he had a hand in the decision to change his major. “I took his Microsoft Office Products class, but he really got me excited about technology and how it has evolved throughout time. He had a great quote about how you probably will not care what he’s saying and will just move on after this class, but this class might just change one of your lives. Turns out, he was right, and it did change my life,” he said.
Outside of work, the Tinley Park resident volunteers with Junior Achievement, and enjoys exercising, attending concerts, reading and traveling when possible.
