Together, the companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges are worth around $80 billion. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) oversees the public accounting firms (based in both the U.S. and abroad) that audit these publicly listed companies.
As of this January, DePaul alumnus Demetrios “Jim” Logothetis (BUS ’77) now sits at the PCAOB’s helm.
For Logothetis, being appointed chair of the PCAOB is a full-circle moment — literally. In addition to his main offices in Washington, D.C., Logothetis also keeps an office on South Wacker Driver: just across the street from where he spent 28 years of his 40-year career.
Logothetis first arrived in Chicago, though, as a 13-year-old Greek immigrant. He didn’t speak English; his parents weren’t even sure if they’d stay in the U.S. long-term.
Logothetis knew he wanted to go to college. But he wasn’t sure where to turn. He considered medicine (too bloody) and law (not applicable should he decide to return to Greece).
Ultimately, he landed on economics. And — following the footsteps of a relative — he decided to study at DePaul.
At DePaul, he fell in love with accounting. He liked how each concept built upon the next.
Accounting also helped him find a role model. His next-door neighbor ran a small accounting firm. Throughout college, Logothetis worked for him.
“I was able to see the entire accounting model” in practice, said Logothetis. “It was small numbers, but it involved revenues and expenses and balance sheets and income statements — even tax returns. So it was small scale, but it actually gave me the bigger picture.”
A career defined by making his own path
When he graduated, Logothetis imagined that he might one day open a small firm himself. In the meantime, he opted to earn his MBA, then gain experience by working in big accounting firms.
He joined Ernst and Young in 1979. Bit by bit, year by year, Logothetis moved up.
Even as he moved up, it was sometimes hard for Logothetis to see himself in his chosen field long-term.
“Back then, there were expectations that you’d have a network you could reach out to in order to generate business” — especially if you wanted to make partner, he said. “In my mind, that was unreachable. I spoke with a little bit of an accent. My parents never really learned English. I didn’t have a natural business network of my own.”
Instead, Logothetis made his own way.
“I persevered,” he said, “and my clients appreciated my technical knowledge and my eagerness to learn. They appreciated the relationships I was building: the network I was building.”
Client relationships, ultimately, were what convinced Logothetis that the Big Four could be part of his career for the long haul.
“I enjoyed being able to support clients: to help them, to guide them,” he said. “And I thought, ‘maybe partnership is not such a bad idea after all.’”
In 1990, Logothetis made partner at Ernst & Young — not in Chicago, but in the firm’s offices in Frankfurt.
The USSR had just collapsed, and business was booming. Logothetis helped make critical connections between the German office and clients in America: a bridge between East and West at a time of great upheaval in the world.
“It was exhilarating,” he said. “I went to visit clients in Berlin after the wall fell. I pinched myself all the time. I could not have been more blessed and thrilled to be there.”
Ultimately, Logothetis’ career took him and his family back to the U.S. He describes his career as exciting and challenging in equal measure. He rose to regional management partner, leading multiple major, global accounts, including the account for Coca Cola.
A legacy of service
In 2019, Logothetis retired. For Logothetis, retirement has meant giving back. He’s served on numerous boards, including spending ten years on DePaul’s Board of Trustees.
He sees his role at the PCAOB not as a break from his service but as continuous with it.
“I’ve lived the American dream to the fullest. That’s why I feel so compelled to give back. And working here at the PCAOB gives me a chance to give back to a profession that I’ve really enjoyed.”
DePaul was a significant part of Logothetis’ American dream. He can remember his accounting classes “like [they] were yesterday.” He sees himself in the many fellow first-generation college students that DePaul still serves today.
Logothetis’ involvement in the Greek American and Greek Orthodox communities is part of his American dream, too. He has served on the boards of numerous Hellenic cultural and religious organizations.
One organization particularly near and dear to Logothetis is the Hellenic American Academy, based in Deerfield, Illinois. He’s the founder and chairman of the academy’s board. The academy is also where his ten grandchildren have had the chance to connect to the Greek language, culture, and faith.
Keeping his heritage alive — if only for one more generation, or two — is part of Logothetis’ American dream. It’s another full-circle moment: a way of uniting the version of himself who oversees the audit profession with the version of himself who arrived in Chicago as a teenager all those years ago.
"From a historical point of view, from a multicultural point of view, I think it is so important for all of us to understand our roots,” he said. “It's important to learn from them: to learn from history. And I feel really blessed that I’ve had the opportunity to do that.”