Spotlight: Curtis McLaughlin ’08

Like many fellow millennials, Curtis McLaughlin ’08 has a résumé packed with different job titles. The difference: His are based at a single company.

“I have been here for 11 years, but each has been drastically different,” says the alumnus, who interned with Ernst & Young LLP as a rising senior and joined its staff upon graduating in 2008. He’s now a partner.

The New York native credits EY for opportunities to explore many disciplines and learn about different companies and industries. These experiences, coupled with his own drive, put McLaughlin on the fast track.

Graduating into the Great Recession only fueled his work ethic. “I didn’t want to be on anyone’s radar for being less than perfect. It motivated me to be a top performer.”

Indeed: McLaughlin earned a Bentley graduate degree in Accountancy and became a CPA while working in EY’s Boston office. Next came a post as manager in its office in the Cayman Islands. Two years later, in 2014, he moved to the New York City-based Financial Accounting Advisory Services (FAAS) practice, which advises on control programs and emerging standards.

“That was very attractive to me,” he says, “to be seen as an expert who can help our clients.”

When EY was looking to build an FAAS practice on the West Coast, McLaughlin stepped up as senior manager. He was named partner in 2019 and now joins another partner to oversee a team of 34, based in Los Angeles and San Francisco, which serves the western U.S. region.

LA is also home for McLaughlin, his wife and their 2-year-old twin boys. He’s active with the Black Professional Network and several other professional and charitable initiatives within EY. And he continues to keep an eye on the horizon. 

“I can’t tell you what I’ll be working on in three months or three years,” he says, “and that’s still what is exciting to me.”