A caring Cowboy: Ditzler named to Spears Business Hall of Fame

A caring Cowboy: Ditzler named to Spears Business Hall of Fame

Tuesday, August 13, 2024

Media Contact: Hallie Hart | Communications Coordinator | 405-744-1050 | [email protected]

Editor's note: The Spears School of Business is releasing a series of feature stories to celebrate the 2024 Spears Business Hall of Fame inductees and Outstanding Young Alumni. The series started Aug. 6 with Vickie Carr. Check back each week for a new profile leading up to the Oct. 4 ceremony.

Eddy Ditzler understands the power of recruiting.

Since his freshman year at Oklahoma State University in 1974, Ditzler has watched superstars bolster the football program, from Terry Miller to Barry Sanders to Ollie Gordon. The avid sports fan has also witnessed two Cowboy basketball Final Four runs and traveled the road to Omaha when OSU baseball reached the 2016 Men's College World Series.

Knowing what a team can achieve with outstanding talent, Ditzler emphasized recruiting in his career field. Instead of seeking commitments to athletic programs, the OSU accounting graduate scouted the university's business classrooms for prospective employees, building his team at accounting firm Grant Thornton.

"I really enjoyed recruiting because it also kept me close to the university," Ditzler said. "We would go on campus for recruiting events - we'd also be there for on-campus interviews - and then we would go to lunch with the professors, giving me the opportunity to build close relationships with them, so that was a great experience."

Life has a way of continually bringing Ditzler back to Stillwater. After years of recruiting OSU students to Grant Thornton, he retired in 2017 and taught graduate-level courses in the Spears School of Business. These days, Ditzler and his wife, Deniece, spend a lot of time on campus for sporting events, donor events and cultural events, such as The McKnight Center performances.

Ditzler's genuine investment in OSU has impacted the lives of many students and faculty members, leading him into the Spears Business Hall of Fame. Whenever the Edmond resident gives to OSU - whether it is time, money, expertise or a job opportunity - he receives the priceless reward of staying close to his alma mater.

"My wife and I, we don't do these things for recognition," Ditzler said. "We love the university and the people. We love OSU sporting events. We love the academic side. Being so involved has given us a chance to get to know many great people associated with the university and develop lifelong friendships with other OSU alumni and fans."

The classic OSU expression "Loyal and True" means something to Ditzler. Throughout a lengthy, accomplished accounting career, he worked for only one firm, Grant Thornton. As he advanced in the corporate world, he always remembered his OSU roots, maintaining strong connections with the university where he obtained two degrees. In 1978, Ditzler graduated with a bachelor's degree in accounting and, three years later, received his master's in accounting.

Growing up in Henryetta, Oklahoma, Ditzler knew he would attend college, though his parents had taken a different path. Neither parent finished high school, and his father worked as a blue-collar laborer at the Eagle-Picher zinc smelter. Despite his demanding, physical job, Ditzler's father made time to find college scholarship opportunities for Ditzler and his older sister, Syble, who also went to OSU.

"There were no ifs, ands or buts," Ditzler said. "Our parents kept us focused on going to college, and that was just never a second thought."

At OSU, Ditzler embraced the quintessential student experience. He immersed himself in the athletic scene, not only watching Cowboy football from the stands but also trying his hand at intramural sports.

It went well. Ditzler was recognized as an All-University wide receiver as his flag football team reached the All-University Championship game, and he also played softball and basketball.

"Sports have always driven me," Ditzler said. "I was always a little undersized and not the most athletic, so I had to work hard. I just loved competing."

The guys who competed alongside Ditzler and lived in his close-knit Parker Hall community are the buddies who tailgate with him at Cowboy football games today. Ditzler enjoyed an active social life, but in the classroom, he was all business. Relying on his knack for working with numbers, he never changed his major, only briefly pondering a career in math education before turning back to accounting.

Through challenging courses and real-world knowledge, OSU's faculty taught Ditzler how to apply his mathematical skills to the profession of public accounting. He remembers admiring Wilton T. Anderson, the longtime School of Accounting head, who modeled the business acumen and professionalism Ditzler strived to have.

"Although I didn't have a great deal of direct interaction with Dr. Anderson, the respect he commanded in the public accounting profession and his classic professionalism clearly impacted my career path," Ditzler said.

As Ditzler learned from his mentors, his objective became clear. He wanted to be a partner at a public accounting firm. After graduation, Ditzler took a step toward that goal and started working for Alexander Grant & Co., which later became Grant Thornton LLP.

When Ditzler went back to OSU for graduate school, the accounting firm ensured he would return as an employee, providing $100 per month as he continued his education. Ditzler grinned at the memory, jokingly comparing the offer to a Name, Image and Likeness deal in athletics.

The recruiting strategy was solid.

Equipped with another degree, Ditzler stayed at Grant Thornton for more than 35 years until retirement. Ditzler said he liked the multinational firm's approach of making personal connections with clients, which included mid-sized corporations in many industries.

After building a successful career as an audit partner, he was selected in December 2012 as one of six National Professional Practice Directors, supervising a region of offices that spanned from Minneapolis to Houston. Ditzler credits Deniece, his wife, for her constant support through those eventful years.

"Public accounting is not an easy business," Ditzler said. "You're gone a lot, you're spending a lot of hours (working), and we made a couple of moves along the way."

Although Ditzler worked three years in Dallas, he was based in Oklahoma City for most of his career, able to easily travel to OSU for recruiting. That was not his only avenue for giving back to his alma mater. Grant Thornton's matching gift program allowed him to make a major difference in OSU's School of Accounting, and he spearheaded OSU fundraising efforts at his workplace.

The pipeline from OSU to Grant Thornton grew into a mutually supportive relationship.

"It started with that process, leading the recruiting and encouraging other folks in Grant Thornton to give back to OSU," Ditzler said. "We could easily see how that would help the university and our recruiting. And it would directly help students because (OSU was) providing scholarships from those dollars that we were donating."

While his recruits from OSU emerged as dynamic Grant Thornton leaders, Ditzler watched like a proud father as their careers flourished. Kevin Schroeder became Grant Thornton's energy industry national managing partner, and Andrea Brown serves as an audit partner in Orange County, California, after a stint in Grant Thornton's Washington, D.C., SEC Practice Group. Ditzler not only recruited both from OSU, but also stayed in touch with them as their careers carried them across the country and the world.

Meanwhile, Ditzler's career brought him back into the classroom.

In 2017, he retired from Grant Thornton and returned to Spears Business as a lecturer for five years. He taught several graduate-level courses, including an auditing class he co-instructed with close friend George Krull Jr., a fellow retired Grant Thornton partner who was inducted into the Spears Business Hall of Fame in 2015.

Ditzler's vast professional network expanded to include a new group of students.

"I love seeing my former students at OSU events," Ditzler said. "It's very rewarding to see how their careers are progressing."

Although Ditzler has retired from the office and the classroom, he keeps giving. In 2021, the Ditzlers established an endowed scholarship and an endowed professorship in the School of Accounting. They are also proud POSSE members who created an endowed football scholarship and have had season tickets in football, men's and women's basketball and baseball for many years.

Ditzler admitted the dog days of summer can be a little boring for him and Deniece without Cowboy or Cowgirl sporting events, but this fall brings football season and another cause for celebration. Ditzler will be honored in the 2024 Spears Business Hall of Fame class Oct. 4 at the ConocoPhillips OSU Alumni Center.

"I'm humbled and honored," Ditzler said. "I was not expecting this, but I'm so pleased to continue growing our involvement with OSU, the Spears School of Business and the School of Accounting."