Studying languages and foreign cultures during her time at MMI inspired Sydney to pursue career and leadership opportunities abroad. Sydney’s father, Atty. Donald Karpowich, served on MMI’s Board of Directors from 2005 to 2013, and her sister, Stephanie ’11, is also an MMI alum. These deep roots, paired with experiences that fostered a love of international business, offered her a strong educational and personal foundation. Building on this, Sydney has grown into a global citizen who fully embodies what it means to be a Distinguished Young Alum.

During her freshman year at Villanova University’s School of Business, Sydney received international accounting experience through an internship in Singapore. As an Audit Intern with Audit Alliance, Sydney had the opportunity to work abroad with a team of international auditors performing sampling, vouching, and other audit procedures. This experience served as a stepping stone towards Sydney’s future accounting career. Here, she achieved a global perspective on accounting principles and practices that she’d continue to develop as an intern at Ernst & Young, a top global accounting firm.

Her international experience only grew from here. Throughout her time at Villanova, Sydney served as an Iacocca Global Entrepreneurship Intensive project mentor to a group of international high school students and presented an import strategy to Collesi, an Italian beer company.

After graduating with a Bachelor of Business Administration and majors in Accounting, Data Analytics, and International Business in 2022, Sydney received a U.S. Fulbright Grant. This allowed her to work abroad as an English Teaching Assistant in the Slovak Republic, fostering cross-cultural exchange and academic development. This proved to be her most impactful experience abroad. Throughout the school year, Sydney taught courses on the English language, communication, and U.S. culture, served as a cultural ambassador for the U.S., and attended conferences with other Fulbright grantees and global leaders to discuss cross-cultural issues facing the U.S. and Slovakia.

After her Fulbright experience ended in 2023, Sydney returned to Ernst & Young as a Financial Services Assurance member. In this role, she specializes in financial services with experience auditing public insurance companies. Her work, bolstered by her experiences abroad, has shaped her into a distinguished global leader.