Meet BDO’s 2022 Working Parents of the Year
BDO is incredibly honored to be included in Seramount’s 100 Best Companies list for the 12th consecutive year, as well as the Best Companies for Dads list.
We recognize that our culture at BDO is made more robust through better understanding the perspectives of our professionals, including those managing the needs of their growing families. Our commitment to offering and improving the resources, policies and programs that help our working parents thrive remains a priority.
We are also excited to recognize our 2022 Working Parents of the Year, Advisory Managing Director Nidhi Rao and Business Advisory Services Director Mike Tebesceff. Below, they offer insight into their experiences as working parents and a few lessons learned along the way.
Nidhi Rao, Advisory Managing Director - Legal, Monitorships & Investigations
Working Parent of the Year
One of the most important things working parents can do is swap stories and build camaraderie with other parents. Parenthood can feel like a vacuum where you’re the only one struggling to balance demands while others seem like they have it all together. The truth is it really does take a village. Communicating honestly about my experiences and listening to others helps me find commonalities and maintain perspective.
My husband is in the Air Force, and being in a military family has taught me to roll with the punches. When deployed, he can be gone for months. I work full time and have two preteen daughters. Both girls are busy with school and extracurriculars, and I try to maintain their routine when I’m on my own. The importance of building a community of friends and family who can step in and give you even a couple of hours of time to reset cannot be overstated.
Parenthood has taught me that time with family is best measured in quality over quantity. I try to put my phone away when I’m with my girls and focus on the present. The car rides to activities and reading time at night are the best moments of my day. That’s really the secret – taking it one day, one moment at a time.
Building camaraderie also extends to your professional life. I’ve worked in BDO’s litigation and investigations practice for 15 years. When my eldest daughter was born, we moved to Washington, D.C. where I was the only one in my specific practice area. Coming from a place where business development was not crucial to my job, I had to overcome my fear of networking to build my professional circles. These relationships were built on things we had in common – our work, experiences and families. The technology and flexibility offered by BDO have allowed me to manage my priorities effectively. I’m now a managing director, part of an incredible team at BDO, and absolutely love what I do. Now, my hope is that my values and work ethic shine through to my daughters.
Mike Tebesceff, Business Advisory Services Director - Business Restructuring & Turnaround Services
Working Parent of the Year
As with many couples who prioritized their careers and met later in life, starting a family presented challenges my wife Jenn and I were unprepared for. Now, with two beautiful children, our struggle with infertility was all worth it – but our experience was not without heartache. We tried to get pregnant for four years before our first child was born. After a successful delivery with our son Jack, now three years old, we tried again and were graced with our daughter Samantha, now 10 months old.
Pre-pandemic, I was working a bicoastal schedule, traveling most weeks. Our decision to start a family required me to shift priorities and delegate, especially when Jenn faced challenges during pregnancy with our daughter, including third trimester driving restrictions and an early delivery. What made the difference for me was knowing I had the support of my team at BDO to put my family first.
I’ve learned to hyper-prioritize at work – focusing on optimizing business outcomes for my clients – and to outsource smaller tasks as much as possible at work and at home, allowing me to be intentional about the time spent with family. Leaning into teamwork and trusting my colleagues also helps balance workload and empower others.
These lessons, along with benefits like paid parental leave, flexibility and remote work, have allowed me to successfully integrate my personal and professional commitments.
I’m a boomerang employee, starting my career at BDO in 2010, leaving for another opportunity to expand my perspective on the restructuring business and returning as a senior manager through an expansion in 2019. I was transitioning back to BDO just before our son was born and was able to take advantage of the generous parental leave, as well as my own saved vacation time. BDO encouraged me to take all the time I needed, and those weeks at home were critical to helping my wife recover while providing the opportunity for us both to bond with our children. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
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