From the Intern Desk: Matthew Bickert
Welcome back to our fall blog series, From the Intern Desk! This blog series will continue to feature our current staff members. Our next featured staff member is Matthew Bickert. Matthew is the Chief Financial Officer for the Chamber and has been with the Chamber for three and a half years. A fun fact about Matthew is that he attended Wilkes University and graduated with a degree in Math and Accounting with a minor in Statistics.
Matthew’s life at the Chamber began when the Chamber was looking for a Senior Accountant. He was originally working in the Lehigh Valley area, but his wife lived here and he wanted to come back to this area. When he was hired at the Chamber, he liked that the accounting system was a project that he enjoyed reorganizing.
Question and Answer Time!
I had the opportunity to sit down with Matthew and learn more about his life and position here at the Chamber of Commerce.
What has been your most positive experience from working here?
“The most positive experience for me has been the Chamber’s audit. We have been getting a clean audit report and that is awesome. Before I got here, it was a concern that needed to be changed. For just about the past four years, we have been getting clean and quick audits.”
Can you summarize your typical work day?
“I get to the office at 8:00am and make all the deposits. They take between 15-30 minutes of the day. Every Monday, I do reports for the staff. At the end of the month, I generate reports for our finance meetings. Overall, it varies day by day.”
What advice would you give a student interested in interning at the Chamber?
“Ask as many questions as you can. There is no dumb question. What you learn in theory and practice is different and that is where an internship comes into play. We always want you to ask us questions because it can lead to more discussions, which will
be beneficial to you.”What are the other staff members like?
“I think we are a young, energetic group of people who love their job. We are all cool and we all have a mission.”
What has been your biggest take-away(s) from working here?
“The fact that we can do good here is my biggest takeaway. When we all came on board, there were a lot of problems. We are growing and going after the community with all our events. Our main highlights are the Young Professionals and Women’s Network that the Chamber is heading.”
What do you love the most about working here at the Chamber?
“I like the staff. I’ve worked in an office with one other person, and this is the most fun I have ever had at a job. We are all friends here.”
Interesting Facts Time!
While we were talking, Matthew also gave me more insight into his life. He describes himself as a huge nerd. He collects board games, mainly strategy games. Matthew loves spending time with his son, Matt. He plans on teaching him Pokémon, board games, and video games.
Matthew is a kid from the 80s and 90s, so he had the original Nintendo. Matthew played Dungeons & Dragons and board games at a convention and now he and his wife continue to go to these conventions. He began collecting the board games after the attending the conventions.
In his free time, Matthew loves playing board games, playing video games, hanging out with baby Matt, and reading the news. His favorite board game is Legendary and his favorite video game is Super Mario 3.
Matthew is a part of the NEPA Rainbow Alliance Board, where he is the Treasurer for the past three years. He is also a part of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA). During tax season, Matthew will go there one day a week after work and on Saturdays to do taxes for people with low income or students.
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