Corralling Longhorns Into Their Dream Jobs

Mitch Bramlett, BBA ’92, MPA ’92, takes joy in finding and guiding MPA alumni to PwC

It was a lucky coin toss that brought Mitch Bramlett, BBA ’92, MPA ’92, to PwC more than 30 years ago. But it’s his passion for mentoring that has since brought dozens of other Texas McCombs accounting alumni to that Big Four firm. 

Through the years, Bramlett has balanced a successful career in PwC’s tax practice in Dallas with a leadership role in recruiting McCombs students to the firm. Serving as a lead client tax partner at PwC since 2007, Bramlett is an active member of the Department of Accounting’s Advisory Council and serves as PwC’s relationship partner for The University of Texas at Austin. The position entails visiting campus several times a year, getting students excited about PwC, and bringing top talent to the firm. 

A FAMILY AFFAIR 

“We try to get as many folks as we can from UT,” he says. Currently, more than 850 PwC professionals working in the U.S. are UT graduates, says Bramlett. 

“There’s this network of UT folks at the firm, and we really enjoy working together and coming back to campus to recruit,” Bramlett says. “As a UT student, I learned from legendary professors. Staying connected to the University helps me to build a bridge to folks who are the future of the firm.” 

For Bramlett, UT is a family affair. He met his future wife, Sara Pearce Bramlett, at the University, and two of their children attended Texas McCombs — daughter Audrey, BBA ’20, and son Andrew, BBA ’18, MPA ’19. Andrew and his wife, Sarah Stubbs Bramlett, BBA ’18, MPA ’19, also work for PwC. 

When Bramlett enrolled in UT’s five-year accounting program, he chose to focus on tax, as did his identical twin, Matt Bramlett, BBA ’92, MPA ’92, who has held finance leadership roles at several companies after starting his career in tax. 

“We were so fortunate to have such highly regarded faculty, the nationally renowned professors leading the accounting program at UT,” Mitch Bramlett says, referring to people such as Steven Kachelmeier, Ray Sommerfeld, Gary Waters, Anna Fowler, and Steve Limberg. “I still think about what they taught us,” he says. 

FRIEND AND MENTOR 

When job offers came in, the twins flipped a coin to see who would choose which firm to go to first, as they didn’t want to join the same company, but rather have separate, unique experiences. Mitch won the toss and accepted a role as an intern at PwC in 1991. 

In his current role at PwC, Bramlett works primarily with private companies. He recalls a standout career moment during the pandemic when two of his clients went public on the same day, both situations involving complicated tax structures. 

“Mitch bleeds orange,” says Divya Patel, BBA ’08, MPA ’09, whom Bramlett recruited to PwC in 2007. Patel had received job offers from all eight of the top accounting firms and narrowed it down to two, including PwC. “Then I met Mitch,” she says. His energy, enthusiasm, and kindness drew her in. 

Patel started full time with PwC in 2009, working in the Dallas and Fort Worth offices before moving in 2012 to Austin, where she focuses on tech clients. From 2021 to 2023, she completed a rotation with the firm’s San Jose, California, office and learned about the tax issues faced by companies in the tech sector. 

Today, she is active in UT recruiting along with Bramlett. “It’s Mitch’s passion that gets everyone else excited,” says Patel, who credits him in part for her own success. “I would not have made partner at PwC without his support over the years,” she adds. 

Mike Hayes, BBA ’11, MPA, ’12, met Bramlett while going through the interview process in 2009. “I struck a special relationship with Mitch from the start,” he says. “He was very thoughtful, a mentor during the process, and ultimately the reason I joined PwC.” 

Hayes decided partway through his PwC internship senior year that he wanted to pursue audit instead of tax. He was worried about telling PwC and Bramlett. But, he recalls, “Mitch couldn’t have been kinder about it.” Bramlett put him in touch with a PwC partner and fellow UT graduate who helped Hayes seamlessly make the switch. 

Bramlett also brainstormed with Hayes on how to pitch his supervisor on his desire to complete an international rotation in Australia. The pitch was successful, and Hayes’ time in Australia helped accelerate his career. 

KEEPING A ‘FINGER ON THE PULSE’ 

“I really try to cultivate relationships with the folks that I bring in,” Bramlett says, “whether they stay at PwC or not.” When Hayes made the difficult decision to leave PwC after a 12-year run for a job too good to pass up, he talked through the decision with Bramlett, who helped him leave on good terms. 

“The hardest part was leaving Mitch, my mentor,” Hayes says. “He’s been like family to me.” Now, Hayes works as executive vice president at Exeter Finance in Dallas. 

Meanwhile, through Bramlett’s work on the department’s Advisory Council, he helps faculty members think through curriculum changes and enhance enrollment. When he first joined, it struck him that many of the professors he had as a student were still at UT. “It’s a destination job for a lot of faculty who could teach anywhere,” he says. 

Recent Advisory Council discussions have addressed the accountant shortage and incorporating more content on data analytics into the accounting curriculum. “Having a pretty constant finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the department in this way also really helps me when I talk to my clients,” says Bramlett.