Building Careers and Giving Back: Jeff Aughton Reflects on 35 Years at Deloitte & Touche LLP

Ilitch School of Business Board of Visitors Chair Jeff Aughton has seen a thing or two in his 35-year career at Deloitte & Touche LLP. Starting as a part-time administrative assistant, Jeff has worked hard and has risen to the pinnacle of his field as Partner and Audit National Professional Practice Director.

“When I started, we didn’t have laptops,” said Aughton. “They would hand you a pencil and paper and would say go at it with your calculator, and you worked your way through it. Now I can’t go two minutes without my phone or my computer, or some modern technology.”

While Aughton has found great success in the accounting field, this was not the path he saw for himself in high school, as he approached graduation. 

“I never planned to go to college,” said Aughton. “I grew up in a family where we did not have a whole lot. In high school, I did debate, and my coach asked me about my college plans, and I told him I wasn’t planning to go. She helped me apply, and find scholarships to go to Wayne State, so I was able to come on a debate scholarship.”

Aughton found the education and community at Wayne State transformative.

“I met my future wife at Wayne State, and the best man at my wedding was one of my fraternity brothers,” said Aughton. “It’s not just a place you go to school, but it becomes part of your community and your life. It is easy for me to see because of the impact.”

To receive his debate scholarship, Aughton enrolled as a political science major but quickly decided to make a change to business. He gave up debate, and his scholarship, but found more time to take on a second part-time job to cover tuition and living expenses. This switch introduced him to accounting and to the rest of his career. 

Aughton took his first accounting class with Professor Sue Garr, who connected him to his first job at Deloitte.

“She was a phenomenal teacher, she really attracted me to accounting,” said Aughton. “She said, ‘I’ve got a contact at Deloitte and they need somebody to help as an admin staffer part time’, and she thought I would be interested. I already had two part time jobs, but she impressed on me that this is something I needed to do.

“I had to wear a suit, which I did not have,” recalled Aughton. “I went to Sears that night and bought a suit for my interview and I got the job. Professor Garr was a great mentor for me, all the way through Wayne State.” 

Two years later when Aughton graduated from Wayne State, he accepted a full-time job at Deloitte as an accountant. Now, Aughton serves as an advisor to other partners, managing directors and engagement teams at Deloitte, offering guidance and helping with professional practice matters.

Recently, Aughton was a Dean of the new hire program at Deloitte University in Dallas, where he helped new accountants acclimate to Deloitte. He is often asked to share how his experience at Deloitte has changed throughout his career, and Aughton was happy to report on the lifetime of development he experienced.

Throughout his career Aughton found time to give back to the Ilitch School. He has spent ten years serving on the Board of Visitors, advising on the development of the Ilitch School. In 2024, he was asked to take on a new position, as Chair of the Board of Visitors, a role he quickly accepted.

“I want to make sure the business school is a tremendous resource for every student,” said Aughton. “The Ilitch School provides an education, and then they get to take it from there and build a career that actually changes the rest of their lives. I think it’s tremendously rewarding because if I hadn’t gone to college, I have no idea where I would be today.”

To accomplish this goal, Aughton has been working with a student experience committee, to dive into what it is like to be a student and identify what their needs are today to advise resources and address these needs.

Virginia Kleist, Dean of the Ilitch School, was also pleased to have Aughton take the Chair role on the Board of Visitors, commenting that “Jeffery is a dedicated individual, who embodies everything that the Ilitch School is all about. He has had an amazing journey from college to career, and I am thrilled that he will be chairing our Board of Visitors and sharing his experiences to contribute to our programs and to improving our student’s experience.” 

Aughton and his wife, Sarah, have also started a scholarship fund, with a funding match from Deloitte, to provide financial support to accounting students who need funding to pursue their degree, as Aughton did as an undergraduate student. As he reflects on his career, it is kindnesses like this that made all the difference. 

“The fact that my debate coach reached out and helped me go to college, the fact that Professor Garr pushed me to go to the interview, and coached me through the rest of business school, those are the kind of things that I want to promote,” said Aughton. “When I left Wayne State, it gave me the foundation to feel comfortable that I had a skill set, and that I was able to prove that I was on the same playing field as students from any other university.”

Aughton currently lives with his wife of 30 years Sarah, with whom he has raised three successful adult children. He hopes to continue serving WSU for years to come.

-Patrick Bernas, Information Officer III

The Wayne State University Mike Ilitch School of Business prepares students for challenging and rewarding careers, advances the boundaries of scholarly and practitioner knowledge, and enhances the economic vitality of the city of Detroit, the state of Michigan and beyond through its programs, research and community engagement. Established in 1946, the business school was renamed in 2015 in recognition of a $40 million gift from Mike and Marian Ilitch. Thanks to this lead investment, the school moved to a new state-of-the-art building in the heart of the District Detroit in 2018, and academic programming and collaboration with city businesses are expanding. For more information, visit ilitchbusiness.wayne.edu.