Impact Donor Profile EY’s Michael Cyran Builds Relationships, Supports Accounting Students’ Success

Michael Cyran, a partner at EY, is not a Syracuse University graduate, but the relationships he’s built with faculty, staff and students at the Whitman School over the past 16 years have made each visit to campus feel a bit like coming home. His strong relationship with the Whitman School has resulted in outstanding contributions of time, experience and money, which continue to positively impact Whitman’s Joseph I. Lubin School of Accounting.

“At the time I first made a connection, Syracuse was getting more prominent in my local office, so my company asked me to take over recruitment for the University. At EY, we treat our universities like we do our clients and build relationships with them. At first, it was more of a transactional relationship, but I created a team that included Syracuse alumni and started visiting the campus and getting to know people,” says Cyran. “I’ve developed valuable relationships and friendships with the professors, the staff in Career Services and the administration. I knew if I wanted to make a difference on campus then I had to be all in. I adopted the School, and they adopted me.”

Since then, he has become a frequent visitor to campus and has long served on Whitman’s Accounting Advisory Board, where he and other professionals from top firms work together to make sure the School’s accounting majors become competitive candidates in the job market.

“Most of us on the advisory board are competing against each other for the best candidates, yet we’re still working together to see how we can help,” he says. “That speaks to the level of commitment we all have to see students succeed.”

Cyran is also a frequent speaker in accounting classes, noting a recent presentation he gave for Professor of Accounting Practice MaryAnn Monforte’s class on fixed income securities. He has also hosted students at EY, including a recent Whitman group who came to see the inner workings of the firm during a January 2024 exploration trip to New York City. He often brings along newly hired Syracuse alumni on his visits to campus, so that they, too, can get excited about reconnecting with the School. In addition, Cyran and his wife, Jacqueline, are longtime annual donors to the Whitman School and Syracuse University, including gifts to Whitman’s Beta Alpha Psi Tracy Halpin Memorial Fund and the EY Excellence Fund.

“Mike ensures that EY is highly engaged with Whitman students for opportunities at the firm across several divisions and lines of business. He always advocates for the EY/SU relationship and has been instrumental in supporting EY’s hiring of a high volume of talented students every year,” says Kara Primrose, director of Career Services. “He always makes himself available to me and the rest of the Whitman team for any needed program or professional support, and I can always count on him for open, candid conversations about doing the best for Whitman and EY. Mike puts immense time and effort into supporting Whitman in so many ways.”

Three years ago, Cyran was the recipient of Whitman’s Dean’s Citation for Exceptional Service for his contributions to furthering the accounting profession at the School, as well as his commitment to student recruitment.

“I’ve seen tremendous growth in the program and am excited for the direction that Mike (Haynie) and Alex (McKelvie) are taking the School,” Cyran says. “I’m an outgoing person, and I come to campus to work, of course, but I also have many friends there, and it’s just fun to have lunch or coffee and talk things over. I value the relationships I have built with the professors, Career Services and the administration. I get energy from meeting with students, hearing about faculty’s lives and sharing my own stories. That is a wonderful aspect of what I do. Building those relationships has helped me to become more vested in Whitman and Syracuse University, and it gives me the energy to want to do more.

By Caroline K. Reff