Tom Ricchiuto

Title: Senior Manager
Firm: Baker Tilly
Age: 34

"What am I going to do for the rest of my life?" That's a question that haunts most people just out of school, but Tom Ricchiuto had a pretty good idea of what he did and didn't want to do.

He wanted to put his business degree with a finance specialization from Ohio State University to good use. Working on Wall Street and suffering through 80-hour work weeks was not appealing. He wanted more work/life balance. Ricchiuto also wanted to stay in Ohio so he could be near family.

Ricchiuto accepted an investment banking job in Ohio and, as expected, it required many hours, but he loved the work. Several years later, at a different organization, a municipal advisor he had worked with gave him a call. The conversation led to a job offer and he decided to make the jump to public finance. He's been at Baker Tilly for about a decade.

"One of the sweet things about this job is the great relationships you get to have with others in the industry," he said. "The work is exciting and fresh, and you are constantly learning."

Ricchiuto pointed to several transactions as being particularly satisfying in making the state he calls home a better place. The $250 million financing for the Hilton Hotel in Columbus took three years, complicated by multiple bond issuers and many stakeholders. As a banker, he also worked on a $500 million public/private transformation of the city of Dublin, Ohio's Bridge Park District.

Ricchiuto also gives back by mentoring, saying he credits his multiple mentors for building his confidence and skills and encouraging him to be himself, be human, and remember that clients and colleagues are people first.