Henry Foege interned at the USTA during the summer. Photo by Taylor Ha
On a whim, Henry Foege picked up a United States Tennis Association recruiter’s card at a Fordham career fair exclusively for accounting and finance students in the Gabelli School of Business.
“I played tennis in high school and growing up, and so I figured—accounting and tennis, it seemed like a good combination,” he says.
Foege interviewed with the association and landed a summer internship that gave him an inside look at USTA’s ramp-up to its biggest annual event: the U.S. Open Championships in New York City.
“People were excited, of course, as tennis” got underway at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, he says. “We had TVs in the office so we were able to keep up as well.”
Hands-On Internship Experience at the USTA
As an intern, Foege worked in the finance and accounting department, specifically on the accounts payable team. He contributed to budget reports and helped adjust policies around capital expenditures and invoice approvals.
One of the best things about the internship was getting assignments from various departments at USTA, which allowed him to “actually network with other people with long careers in accounting” and similar fields.
“It was just very exciting to hear where people come from and what they do day to day,” says Foege, a public accounting major.
The internship confirmed what he’d learned in the classroom—communication is key. “Which is not typically how people picture accounting,” he says. “But with tax specifically, it’s definitely one of those teams that circulates throughout the company and so, I liked getting that perspective.”
Joining Beta Alpha Psi at Fordham
Foege says a student-run club—Beta Alpha Psi, Fordham’s chapter of the honors society for accounting students—helped him build his networking skills even before he practiced them at USTA.
“Every student who attends those meetings wants to learn as much as possible: What are the various roles in accounting? Where can they go to get started?”
Support from the club includes connecting students with internship and job opportunities as well as Fordham alumni mentors working in the field.
“It’s one of those clubs that just really sets you up very well.”
Next Up: A PwC Internship and the CPA Exam
Foege credits his USTA experience and Beta Alpha Psi connections for helping him land his latest internship—in the global tax services department at PwC—while he studies to take the CPA exam.
“My general advice for people who want to do accounting is join groups of people trying to pursue the same thing,” he says. “It really just becomes a lot easier when you’re constantly talking to other people about what they’re up to, what they’re pursuing—and it opens up opportunities for yourself.”