Sadie Jones  ‘12, ’13

MEET Sadie Jones ‘12, ’13
EARNED: Bachelor of Science in Accounting ’12
MBA with a concentration in Financial Management ’13

Sadie Jones grew up on her family farm in Milford, Del, so it doesn’t come as a surprise that her childhood dream was to become a veterinarian. But eventually, her love for sports – particularly softball – would triumph.

“Growing up, my family pushed me to play softball, starting lessons when I was around six years old,” said Jones. And because she had spent so many years playing softball for little league, high school and travel teams, she said, “I decided it was worth pursuing a sports scholarship for college.”

After graduating Sussex Technical High School in 2008, Jones applied to Goldey-Beacom College. But like many students, her family wasn’t able to pay for college.

Jones was thrilled to receive a financial aid package which included a softball scholarship making Goldey-Beacom’s generous scholarships the game changer she needed. In fact, if it wasn’t for a grant, an athletics scholarship and an academic scholarship as well as additional outside scholarships, Jones would have been forced into debt and ultimately wouldn’t have come to GBC.

“With the scholarships I had through Goldey-Beacom and other resources, I was able to attend with almost no financial burden,” said Jones. “I only had to take out a student loan for one semester to make ends meet.”

Just over an hour from home, it was an easy decision to enroll, but the next big decision was to choose a major. Since Jones was good at math, she chose accounting.

Although she didn’t plan to become an accountant, she had established a connection and secured a part-time position with Jefferson, Urian, Doane & Sterner, P.A. (JUDS), a CPA firm in Georgetown, Del. At the same time, she enrolled at GBC to earn an MBA.

“When I was working on my MBA, I worked as a tax temp for JUDS,” said Jones. “That was my first time working on any tax-related work, and I really enjoyed the environment – fast paced and pressure to get as much done as possible in as short amount of time as possible.”

“As I was finishing up the temp role, I let them know that I was looking for a full-time position and would be very interested in staying,” continued Jones. “I had also applied for an accounting position with the state of Del. at that time, but when tax season ended, JUDS offered me a full-time position.”

Jones began to build on her solid start as a tax temp with JUDS and joined the firm full time as a junior accountant. As a new employee, Jones knew she still had a lot to learn, and said, “It takes time for everything to click into place and for you to realize *this* is why we are doing something and how it relates to what we were taught in class.”

During her tenure, she has worked on audits as well as tax work for businesses and individuals. She was later promoted to senior accountant, and then a supervisor position.

In fall 2023, Jones was promoted to her current role as a manager. Although she supervises the staff, she maintains her own client base as well as clients whom she services for JUDS partners. Jones is one of the leaders on the JUDS Coaching program for staff which includes a focus on recruiting new hires, professional development for staff and completing performance evaluations.

As Jones reflected on her time at Goldey-Beacom, she recalled that college life wasn’t always easy saying, “While some things I encountered were overwhelming, I believe GoldeyBeacom gave me a good set of skills that I could use in my career. Some of those skills came from extra credit courses that I had no idea would benefit me at the time. For example, I took Excel for a base knowledge of how to do formulas and a class for QuickBooks which helped me tremendously. I also had a good handle on debits, credits and journal entries which was a huge help when I was working on business returns at JUDS.”

While Jones advanced through each course, she said, “I learned a lot about teamwork and developed interpersonal skills that enabled me to excel in my current role of focusing on staff. Seeing how much the professors wanted me to do well really helped me understand that we (as a company) need our staff to do well, and we want them to want to succeed.”

Today, Jones looks back with appreciation for (her words) “great professors in both my undergraduate and graduate years who were willing to answer questions and help in any way – even after graduation.”Jones has earned her CPA and is a member of the Delaware Society of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of CPAs. She enjoys being involved in professional events and spending time in the community. In her time off, she likes to travel, work on her family’s farm and spend time with family and friends.

We offer a hearty congratulations to Sadie Jones who just celebrated 10 years with JUDS and earned a promotion into a management position.