UH degree: BBA ’73 Mānoa
Career: Senior vice chair, Ernst & Young
Homebase: Hong Kong, China
Alumni honor: 2004 inductee, Shidler College of Business Alumni Hall of Honor

When audit, tax and advisory services firm Ernst & Young looked for a senior executive to help tap the global market, they picked a rising star who started his business education at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Shidler College of Business.

As co-area managing partner for the Far East, Jim Hassett oversaw many of the firm’s fastest growing markets in a region spanning approximately a quarter of the globe and encompassing more than 21,000 employees in 16 countries including China, Vietnam, Korea and Singapore.

Hassett earned an MBA from the University of Chicago and joined the Ernst & Young offices in Houston in 1977. As a young graduate, Hassett proved early on that he had the passion, dedication and drive to succeed in the competitive industry. By age 33, he became one of the firm’s youngest partners and in 1991 was named managing partner. He also held positions as area managing partner in Cincinnati and global and Americas vice chair for assurance and advisory business services and served as vice chair of Ernst & Young’s global audit practice during the turbulent post-Enron period.

This article was adapted from Shidler Business magazine.

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