A World of Change in India
Tom Godfey, '90, at the Charminar, Hyderabad's most famous landmark.
Tom is in India working for Deloitte Tax LLP, a large U.S.-based tax services firm, as director of their Hyderabad affiliate. A lawyer and accountant by trade, he worked his way up at the firm's San Francisco office in the late '90s. In 2003 he took a job at the national office in Washington, eventually becoming director of the National Quality Assurance Group. But after a business trip to Hyderabad in 2007, colleagues floated the idea of a two-year stint heading up that office. It was a unique opportunity that Tom felt he had to consider.
"I am fascinated by travel and business opportunities on a global scale," says Tom. "The career opportunities coupled with the opportunity to live in a foreign country for a few years tipped the scales in my mind and I agreed to take on this new role."
He has not been disappointed. Since moving there in 2008, he has been enjoying getting to know the people of India, not to mention the city of Hyderabad, renowned as a cosmopolitan blend of modern advancement and technology and rich Subcontinent culture. "This is a truly magical and wonderful country," he says.
While he misses family that he had to leave behind in California (his parents, brothers, and their families are all in the Sacramento area), modern internet communications help to reduce the pain of separation. In Hyderabad, one of India's major technological hubs, it's not too hard to get a hold of loved ones several continents away online-"Something I never would have imagined during my years at PUC," he says.
In fact, Tom says the thing he appreciates most about his stay in India is the distance from his homeland, and the fresh perspective it brings to his view of the world. "Most of the global news that I'm able to watch on TV is coming from Singapore, Hong Kong and London so the views have a European and Asian perspective that probably gets lost in the U.S. news cycle," he says. "The most unique opportunity that I've had is to be working outside the U.S. during a time of incredibly significant change in the global political and financial environment - and have a non-U.S. point of view about the politics in play."
Upon wrapping up his two-year assignment in Hyderabad, Tom plans to return to Washington and continue his career at Deloitte Tax LLP. But he won't soon forget what he's experienced. "Living and working outside the U.S. has given me a different point of view," he says. "I think that having a more global frame of reference will be truly valuable to me and something that would be difficult to replicate without spending time outside the U.S."