Accounting Alumna of the Year: Noelle Repetti '90
Noelle Repetti ’90 was named the 2016 LMU Accounting Alumna of the Year, only the fifth woman to be honored in the award’s 26-year history. In her acceptance speech at the Accounting Society Spring Banquet, she shared an inspiring message with accounting students: “Life is a journey and it passes very quickly. Commit to the journey, not the outcome.”
Noelle’s own journey as an accounting professional has been nothing short of impressive. She has nearly 25 years of public accounting experience in auditing and taxation and currently serves as Vice President, Tax at California Resources Corporation (CRC), the largest independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company operating exclusively within California. Prior to joining CRC in August 2014, Noelle was a tax partner in the Los Angeles office of Deloitte where she worked primarily with corporate clients assisting with tax compliance, ASC 740 and a broad range of tax advisory services. She began her career at Arthur Andersen.
“I am truly and deeply honored to be named Accounting Alumna of the Year,” said Noelle, who also holds a master’s degree in business taxation from USC. “I am especially humbled because this award comes from the LMU community which means so much to me.”
Since graduating from LMU, Noelle has stayed active and engaged with her alma mater by recruiting and mentoring accounting students as well as serving on the LMU Accounting Advisory Board.
“LMU is a very special place that has given me great friends, a wonderful husband and a career that I love,” she said. “I feel very proud to be an alum of this prestigious accounting program.”
In her speech, Noelle stressed the importance of family and giving back to others. She emphasized that it doesn’t take a significant amount of time to give back, but the time you spend can have a significant impact. She also thanked the people who have made a major impact on her career, including her mother, husband Frank (a 1989 LMU alum) and Dennis Krock, her mentor at both Andersen and Deloitte.
To better illustrate her passion for giving back to underserved communities, Noelle shared a story of how she partnered with LMU to bring a college-level accounting course to St. Mary’s Academy, a lower-income all-girls private high school in Inglewood. She recalled laying the groundwork for the course and introducing the girls to the possibility of a career in accounting by taking them to visit Deloitte’s offices in Downtown LA and to LMU for a campus tour and to sit in on an Accounting Society meeting.
“The ultimate goal was to show these girls the potential for what they could become,” said Noelle.
Out of 25 girls which met the prerequisites to take the accounting course, 15 signed up for the course and 12 completed the course. Many students from the inaugural class went on to major in accounting at local universities and work as accounting professionals. Now in its fifth year, the course continues to be taught by LMU part-time accounting lecturer Tom Ramsey.
When she’s not working hard at the office or giving back to her community, Noelle is all about family. She lives in San Marino with her husband and their three children. Needless to say, Noelle has successfully mastered the art of the work-life balance. The trick, she says, is to prioritize, spend time on what is important and learn how to let the small things go.
“What is most inspiring is Noelle’s dedication to the accounting profession and to her family,” said the late Professor George Dasaro, who taught Noelle as an undergraduate student. “The endless work that it takes to be a successful accounting professional and at the same time raise a family is something that is most difficult to accomplish. May her story serve as a goal for others to achieve.”