The Business Journal is celebrating the positive impact that foreign-born business professionals have on the regional economy with this new recurring feature. The first subject in our spotlight is Mauro Adornetto, owner of the Katonah-based accounting, tax and advisory services company Adornetto & Company LLC.
When did you come to this country?
“It was June 8, 1986, when my father, my mom, myself and my sister decided to come to the U.S. I was 16 years old. We came to visit my uncle who had been here for many years and was living in New Rochelle.
“At the time, my father had a well-established construction company in Sicily and he said to us, ”˜We”™ll go see your uncle. And if you guys like it, you can stay.”™ And I have been here for the last 35 years.”
Did you speak English when you first came over here?
“In Europe, you are required to take two foreign languages while you”™re studying. I took French and I took English ”” my French was stronger than English, for some reason.”
How did you decide on your career path?
“When I was in Italy, I already chose a career to be an accountant. When I graduated from high school, I decided to go to Westchester Community College for an associate accounting degree to let me see how it was. I loved that and then I transferred to Iona College in New Rochelle, where I got a bachelor”™s degree in public accounting in 1990.
“I had an opportunity to work for an Italian bank in the city called Banco de Sicilia. I was there for three and a half years as an assistant chief accountant, and it was great. I was offered a transfer to Rome, but declined because my family had already moved here and I didn”™t want to move back.
“After that, I decided to change my career, because the accounting that you do in a bank is different than you do with the public. But that wasn”™t easy because nobody would hire me because I didn”™t have the experience in public accounting. I found a firm in Westchester that did engage me because I had banking experience and they were doing banking work, and I was with them for seven years.”
When did you decide to begin your own firm?
“When my mom passed away in 1998, I decided to leave the firm to support my dad in his construction business, but he advised me to do what I really love and continue in my career. I thought I would try to do this on my own, which wasn”™t easy because I didn”™t have enough clients at that time. But I took a chance to start my own business and since then I”™ve been on my own.”
Who are your current clients?
“I have a very diverse menu of clients. I have nonprofits, for-profits, sophisticated real estate companies, small pizzerias, construction companies. I have consulting, lawyers, doctors, so I have a little bit of everything. I am not certain about an exact number, but I have over 200. And I have four people working for me now ”” before Covid, I used to have seven.”
How did the Covid pandemic impact your business?
“Businesses were looking for us for support for applying for the PPP loans, so I was busy all the time. I had to restructure the way we were working, because we were not seeing clients in person and were working from home, but we never shut down.
“I have a lot of hair salons and gyms as clients, which suffered the most. And we were there assisting them to obtain phase one loans and phase two PPP loans, which helped them to stay in business. Payroll was one of the main key factors to comply with PPP loans, so it was very important for us to be there at that time when we were needed.”
How do you spend your time after work?
“For the past 14 years, I used to coach soccer. I have three beautiful girls and I used to coach them ”” we did a lot of competitions. That was one of my favorite things because I was a soccer player when I was in Italy.
“As a hobby, I love to make wine ”” I always dreamed that one day I would own a vineyard of my own. I remember when I was little going with my father to pick and crush the grapes and all that stuff. So, I continue that tradition. I like to do gardening and growing vegetables.”
Do you get back to Italy frequently?
“I”™m planning to go next month. My father moved back and before Covid we used to go.
“I always say that America is a great country and I am who I am because of America. But for me, Italy is like having a mother to go back to the roots because that”™s where it all started. Now, I have a chance to go because my father is 89 years old and I haven”™t seen him since Covid struck.”
