A career of commitment: Carr named to Spears Business Hall of Fame

Tuesday, August 6, 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. Check back each week for a new profile leading up to the Oct. 4 ceremony.

Vickie Carr's face lights up when she starts talking about global travel.

The Oklahoma State University accounting alumna eagerly shares stories of business trips from the past four decades, sprinkling in helpful hints only a seasoned traveler would know.

Growing up, Carr and her family never flew, but her professional life allowed her to experience the beauty of global destinations. Her first international flight was on a double-decker aircraft to Malaysia, she spent significant time in Belgium and one of her favorite memories is dining in a Turkish palace near a suspension bridge where Asia meets Europe.

She went on these adventures without leaving Deloitte, a Big 4 accounting firm with offices spanning the world. Amid mergers and technology changes, Carr has built a nearly 40-year career with the same organization, and it doesn't mean she has settled for a mundane routine.

"Deloitte has done such a great job of letting its professionals raise their hand and do something different," Carr said. "Every four or five years, I would want a new challenge or to do something different. I would raise my hand, and nearly every time they'd agree to let me do something new, so I was always energized."

Since her 1985 internship as an OSU senior, Carr never switched firms. Her rare commitment to one firm's growth opened the door to world travels, leadership initiatives and, this year, induction into the Spears School of Business Hall of Fame.

Carr, the Global Tax Accounting Group leader at Deloitte, has achieved and surpassed the goal she stated to her husband, Jeff, at the start of their relationship.

The couple met as OSU students when Jeff was bartending at the Gray Fox, an Elm Avenue social hub in the brick building that today houses The Garage Burgers and Beer. Carr wanted him to understand her aspiration to become a partner in a Big 8 accounting firm.

After 38 years of marriage and counting, it's safe to say Jeff understood. Carr said his support was one of the most important factors in her success.

OSU was also a major contributor.

Although her six older sisters didn't attend college, times had changed when Carr, basically a full generation younger than her siblings, reached high school.

Carr expected to go to college even if it meant working to pay her way through school as her father reached retirement. She credits her youngest sister and an accounting class at Western Heights High School in Oklahoma City for piquing her interest in her eventual major.

"When declaring my major in accounting, I'm not sure I fully understood what opportunities that degree would offer," Carr said. "But I did know I liked numbers, and I liked accounting."

In 1985, Carr landed an internship with Touche Ross, then one of the prestigious Big 8 firms. She simultaneously dove into work life in Tulsa and finished her undergraduate degree in Stillwater so she could advance toward her goal. She started full time immediately after graduation, passed her CPA exam and, with the support of Touche Ross, took night classes at the University of Tulsa until she obtained a master's degree in taxation.

In 1989, Touche Ross and another Big 8 firm, Deloitte Haskins & Sells, combined to form Deloitte & Touche, eventually using the name Deloitte. Carr never had to change firms, but her job sent her on the move. In 1996, she and Jeff - with their two kids, Jenna and Mitchell - headed to Memphis, Tennessee, for Carr's opportunity to become a partner. She was admitted to the partnership in 1999.

Although she achieved her goal, the next stage of her career presented new challenges. While in Memphis, Carr often found herself as the only woman in meetings, and a client even mentioned they had never had a woman business advisor. Carr said thankfully, she was able to gain their respect and stay focused.

Over the years, she learned to lean on mentors and colleagues for confidence.

"You have to find your voice," Carr said. "Sometimes, I was waiting for someone to give me permission, as opposed to saying, 'This is what works for me.'"

Carr said she benefited from Deloitte programs that focused on men and women as colleagues and an initiative called "Small things, Big differences" that helped its professionals speak up about and keep time for personal commitments.

She knew she had to balance her career with her family. One mentor, Katy Hollister, advised Carr to treat family as if "they're your most important client" and not let work consume everything.

While continuing to advance professionally at Deloitte and learning to speak up, Carr stayed true to her team-oriented values.

Carr began speaking at conferences and leading advisory groups. In 2018, she established Deloitte's National Tax Accounting Group, which ballooned from 10 to almost 50 members in a seven-year span. Four years ago, she thought bigger and helped create the Global Tax Accounting Group, which now encompasses partner-led tax accounting teams in more than 25 countries.

"That's a perfect example of what I love about Deloitte," Carr said. "It allows our partners to be entrepreneurs if they have an idea for a service offering they believe would be well-received in the market."

On a personal level, Carr and her family adapted to moves from Tulsa to Memphis to Dallas, where she and Jeff live today. She said she is so proud of her kids and what they have accomplished. Carr also credited Jeff for leaving his career as a special education teacher to support her career and the kids when they were growing up, and she knows what his commitment as a stay-at-home dad meant to the entire family.

Jeff and Vickie taught Jenna and Mitchell about Orange Power and shared their love for the OSU Cowboys. The siblings graduated from OSU and both now work for Deloitte - Jenna as a business advisor for meeting and event services and Mitchell as a tax manager.

As much as Deloitte means to Carr, she knew as she approached 40 years, she was ready for retirement. Carr will retire in September, ready to spend more time with family, including granddaughter Palmer.

Travel is still on the agenda, but the sites at the top of the list aren't as far as Malaysia or Belgium. The Carrs have a second home in Colorado, and they also love coming back to Stillwater.

"There are so many OSU traditions and memories that you don't even think about when you're going to school there," Carr said. "Our pride in these traditions has deepened over the years, and today it's a huge part of our life."

With the Jeff and Vickie Carr Endowed Scholarship in Accounting, she's constantly making a difference at her alma mater, and Spears has shown its pride in her achievements. Carr received selection for the OSU School of Accounting Wilton T. Anderson Hall of Fame and the "Spears School Tributes: 100 For 100" commemorating the school's 100th anniversary in 2014.

The next award coincidentally follows her retirement. Carr will be honored in the 2024 Spears School of Business Hall of Fame class Oct. 4 at the ConocoPhillips OSU Alumni Center.

"I'm humbled, shocked and proud," Carr said. "My education and experiences at Oklahoma State laid the foundation for who I am and what I've been able to accomplish. I will always be grateful to OSU."