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Q: Having joined the Atlanta office, you went onto a 25-day training program in Orlando. Can you shed some insight into that experience?

A: When I started with the firm back in 2006, PwC brought in all new associates from across the nation to Orlando for training. I think there were about 800 of us that started at that time, so I not only got to know the people in my office better, but also PwC employees across the country.

Q: Your career has certainly grown unexpectedly.

A: I was originally hired into the Threat and Vulnerability Management group, but moved into the Identity Management group. I was scared initially about the change but came to discover that my skills and knowledge were better suited to this group. Based on the knowledge and experience I gained from an internal project and then my next two projects after that, I was promoted to senior associate and people were reaching out to me for many other opportunities nationally.

Q: Let’s talk a little bit about your move from Atlanta to San Francisco.

A: I grew up in Georgia, never really living anywhere else except for a short study abroad program in college. My girlfriend at the time—now my wife—was going to graduate school out in California and we discussed moving to California long-term. I actually had a client out of the Los Angeles area, so I met with both my principal in Atlanta and also the principal on my engagement in L.A and brought up my desire to move. After I made that desire known, I probably had a response within a month saying I would be moving out to San Francisco.

Q: You recently got promoted to manager, tell us about that.

A: When I was an associate, I was typically on one project for a period of time and there was usually only one work stream in that project. The project I'm on right now is one project, but I’m helping manage about 10 work streams. I think over time, having discovered different tools within the firm and having developed my own organizational methods, I’ve been able to be successful.

Q: You have a story about your recruitment.

A: I get embarrassed every time I tell it. One of my professors in college mentioned that sometimes businesses come to him looking for who would be a potential good hire. He asked if he could pass my name on and I said yes. A few months go by and he asked if I’d heard anything back and I said no. He sent an e-mail to a recruiter at PwC asking if they had reached out to me. The recruiter responded immediately and said she had reached out to me several times and hadn’t heard anything. I realized that at the time I wasn’t used to receiving those types of e-mails so I was actually marking them as spam and deleting them! I felt horrible, absolutely horrible!

A program my college sponsored held a networking dinner one night with different businesses and the PwC recruiter that was trying to send me the emails was there. I walked over to her and she noticed my name tag and pauses mid-conversation to say, “You’re Benjamin Trice. I want to talk to you.” and I was thinking, “Oh, I’ve messed up so bad.” But we had a great conversation and here I am today. The funny thing is, she was actually my coach when I was in the Atlanta office!