Cyndy Quigley is a lifelong learner, and that鈥檚 one of the reasons she keeps coming back to Moraine Valley. Another is her desire to give back to an institution she says gave her so much.
鈥淚 love the concept of learning new things and building skills for fun or for your job,鈥� said Quigley, who grew up in Alsip and graduated from Moraine Valley in 1982. 鈥淥nce I left Moraine Valley, I came back and took courses over the years. One of them was an abnormal psychology course. It was just something I always wanted to take but could never fit in my schedule.鈥�
Her schedule is more flexible now that she鈥檚 temporarily retired from her accounting career, and one of the things she wants to do is give back.
鈥淚 did a lot of volunteering activities through my job, but once I left, I wanted to figure out how I could keep doing it,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 thought about Moraine Valley and how I always connected so it was logical for me to want to give back to the college.鈥�
She serves on the college鈥檚 alumni group.
Quigley was accepted to several major universities thanks to an outstanding high school academic career, but finances constrained her choices.
鈥淣ot being able to go to one of the larger universities did wear on me for a lot of years, but then I realized what I found at Moraine Valley and that was really what got me to where I am today,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 believe being in a smaller environment where class sizes of 30, not 500, allowed me to try different things academically.鈥�
It was the opportunity to take varying coursework that prompted Quigley to revise her career choices.
鈥淚 started out wanting to go into education. When I was at Moraine Valley, I found a passion for writing so I wanted to go into journalism. Then my dad said, 鈥榶eah, but you gotta pay the bills鈥� so I took an accounting class and really liked it. I decided to become a business major,鈥� Quigley said.
鈥淚 had some amazing teachers at Moraine Valley. My accounting teacher for all my classes was Tom Barrett. When I finished my degree, I took the Becker review for the CPA exam, and there was Tom Barrett teaching the review. This is the caliber of faculty at Moraine Valley. They teach here, but they also might be teaching at another college or have their own business or practice,鈥� she said.
With 96 completed credit hours from Moraine Valley, she transferred to where she earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree in accounting and continued on to earn an MBA in financial fraud from Saint Xavier University. She鈥檚 a licensed CPA, a certified Charted Global Management Accountant and has her certification from the American Institute of CPAs and Certified 好色先生 Forensics.
Quigley鈥檚 career included being an accounting supervisor at Arthur Andersen & Company and accounting supervisor, corporate accounting manager, operations manager, and finance program and operations lead at Accenture.
Although now retired, Quigley does plan to return to work.
鈥淭he best part of all of this is that now until I go back to work, I have time to do things because I want to do them,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 taking a break. I say I did the 鈥榳ow.鈥� I worked at the C-Suite, opened and closed the market on Wall Street. I got to work with and mentor people all over the world. I feel like I鈥檝e done so much cool stuff and don鈥檛 know what I want to do next, but I think there鈥檚 a lot of cool stuff to do. I鈥檓 very appreciative and humbled by what I鈥檝e been able to do.鈥�
As a first-generation student, Quigley said college was foreign territory to her family.
鈥淚 pretty much was on my own. As one of five kids, affordability was a big part of my decision. So it made sense to me to go to Moraine Valley. I also was able to have flexibility at Moraine Valley that I probably wouldn鈥檛 have had anywhere else, and that was huge,鈥� she said.
鈥淚 look at life as I had amazing experiences and jobs, and it all boiled down to my education and knowledge, and I got that base at Moraine Valley.鈥�
