Q&A With Alumnus David Elmer

The University of Wisconsin-Waukesha looms large in David Elmer’s life. Now a CPA and financial executive at Pewaukee-based Jannsen & Co., Elmer attended UW-Waukesha in the early 1970s, came back at the end of the decade to take businesses classes after deciding to become an accountant, and last but not least, met his wife, Louise, right here on campus.
 

 “I have audited SEC clients, appeared as a construction and manufacturing accounting expert in court trials and litigation, and so much more,” he said. “And it all began at UW-Waukesha. I can’t be thankful enough.”

Why did you pick UW-Waukesha?

In 1971, I was a National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (NMSQT) honorable mention student. I had never heard of UW Waukesha, but was invited to visit the UW-Waukesha campus by Arlene Wroblewski from student affairs. I went and liked what I saw. I was working full-time at a fast-food restaurant and attending Menomonee Falls High School full-time, my senior year in high school. I had limited means, a $100 scholarship from the state of Wisconsin, and I didn’t think I’d be able to afford to go to college. UW-Waukesha enabled me to keep my full-time job and still afford to go to school. I thought I would have to wait for college. 
 

 And I found out that UW-Waukesha has real professors teaching classes whose primary mission is to teach. Most universities use TA’s to teach until you get to your junior and senior level courses or grad school.
 

 About 1973 or 74, I had accumulated enough credits, and Mic Martin from student affairs assisted me in receiving an associate of arts degree.
 

 I subsequently quit school and headed to Texas, where I worked as an assistant manager and manager for a fast food restaurant in Clute, Texas. Ultimately, I came back to the Waukesha area about 1978 or 1979, I think, and started working full time again for a fast food chain, and headed back to UW-Waukesha. I had decided I wanted to be a CPA, and I needed to complete my business core classes in order to be accepted in to a School Of Business. 
 

What do you remember about your time here? Any specific experiences or people stand out when you look back?

Professor Carol Fischer

I don’t know where to begin with the opportunities Carol Fischer provided to me in accounting. Let me start at the end! I am a CPA, who recently finished a course of study and earned a certification for International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) – these are accounting standards of the future. That desire to dig and achieve began with Carol Fischer.
 
I am a peer reviewer for the AICPA and WICPA of other firms. A peer reviewer inspects other firms’ audit and other working papers and issued financial statements, compares them to professional standards, and gives the reviewed firm grade of pass or fail. I mention this because I have been the Accounting Standards Technical “expert” in any firm in which I have been a partner or a CPA, since finishing school in December of 1981. Carol Fischer taught us how to research technical questions, back in the dark ages, before computers. And I have considered myself an “accounting detective” ever since.
 

 I passed the CPA exam in one sitting in May of 1982 after completing 59 mostly business school credits at UWM in 16 months with a 3.49 GPA.
 

 Professor Carol Fischer encouraged me and hired me as a grader after I completed her class.
 

When I went to UWM to take advanced accounting classes, I was better prepared than the UWM students. Why would I say that?  I was getting better grades than most of my classmates.
 

Several years later, one of my UWM Professors, Gary Olsen, hired me to teach advanced accounting (a junior-senior level course) at Carroll University in Waukesha. I did that two evenings a week from 1988 to 1998. I learned much more than I taught, I think. I blame Carol Fischer for this! I enjoyed teaching. I can tell you that it takes a lot to teach, and I now know that Carol Fischer could’ve had almost any job in accounting that she wanted, but she chose to teach at UW-Waukesha. The same is true for so many of the professors at UW-Waukesha. We did not know how lucky we were.
 

 Professor Terry Rozga

The only things I can say about Terry Rozga are that she gave me a “C” in her speech class — I deserved it — but I mention it every time I see her!  But around 1980, when I needed to find a place to stay so I could finish my four-year degree, she and her husband, Phil, offered the third floor in their house at a ridiculously low monthly rental. I found out that Terry and Phil had done this for a multitude of students along the way, and welcomed the students as members of their household. I would not be a CPA today without their generosity. I have never forgotten it. It is one of the experiences that drives me. I would not have had a professor that would do this for me at any other university.
 

 Friends and Alumni, Friends and Alumni Foundation, 1998 Alumni of the Year

I guess it was because of all of the UW-Waukesha people who proactively helped me along the way that I am driven to give back. I am involved in community organizations and have served as an officer in several, but I think the things of which I am most proud are many years back when I was president of the Friends and Alumni of UW-Waukesha, and later president of the Friends and Alumni Foundation Board. In 1998, an Alumni of The Year Award from UW-Waukesha was given to me. That was the culmination of all those professors and employees of UW-Waukesha who helped me along the way.
 

Very tough economics professor. Prepared me for the business world. I wish I could’ve had him with me throughout my career. He was great. Bob Dills also thought that people should be allowed to do what they want to do, and that the market would take care of itself. And he was right on point.
 

When I returned to UW-Waukesha, there was a gorgeous Student Senate president with beautiful long, flowing, sparkling red hair who I fell in love with, and she married me. We have two great kids with great futures ahead of them. To most people, there is nothing spectacular about our lives. But, neither Louise nor I ever dreamed that our experience that began at UW-Waukesha would lead to the success we have both had. Louise is a successful IT professional.
 

This is a very tough question. It felt like home. It shaped my character. I made many lasting friendships with multiple professors and students.  I met my wife, Louise there. I have so many good memories. My life would have been totally different if not for UW-Waukesha. Don’t get me wrong, I liked being a fast-food worker, and that is the truth, but this is so much more. I am very, very thankful for UW-Waukesha.
 

The following poem appeared in the 1980 edition of The Windy Hill Review, UW-Waukesha’s literary magazine.

 

 

(“Imagine,” she would often joke,

“legal intoxication is point-one-zero.

My maintenance level is point-one-two.”)

 

 She

the castanets’ rhythm

back and forth in time

pulse in the shadow

 

Running conversation

was white noise for her confusion

--a smile on her face

and tequila in her veins

 

She would often see the sunrise

before she’d go to sleep.

She could often hear

the rhythmic castanets

while she marvelled

at the sun’s orange beauty.

 

(And she would often wish

to die before the evening came)

 

But she could always hear

pounding