We spoke with Ann Bordelon, SVP and CFO of Sam’s Club, about the importance of female role models in STEM careers. She shared her own experience starting in the field of accounting:
“We need female role models to be visible to young girls. When I was a junior in high school in Leesville, LA, I took a bookkeeping class, which was really an accounting class. Because I was in a small town in the ’80s, the only accountants I knew were men. I learned in the class exactly what an accountant does — I really enjoyed it. It motivated me to become an accounting major in college.
“Doris Cook, one of the accounting professors at the University of Arkansas, was the first woman CPA in Arkansas. Dr. Cook impressed on me that public accounting was a field I should consider. When people from the top firms interviewed at our college, I saw that there were other women role models in the field and in senior roles in the firm. We need more women to step out and explain to younger women what they do and the assets to having a career in areas of science, technology, engineering and math.”
