Schools
EPCHS Alum In The Spotlight: Kevin Hovorka, Class Of 1984
An executive for one of the world's largest consultants traces his love of accounting back to Evergreen Park Community High School.
EVERGREEN PARK, IL — A lead accountant with a billion dollar organization remembers exactly when he knew that accounting was the work for him. It was at Evergreen Park Community High School.
Kevin Hovorka, EPCHS Class of 1984, is coming up on a quarter-century with Crowe, LLC, a public accounting, consulting and technology firm with offices around the world. He’s worked in many of those offices, including New York City and South Africa, and is now based out of Chicago.
Hovorka has consistently risen through the ranks at Crowe, starting as an auditor and now working as a strategic accounts leader. He’s also a member of the company’s executive committee, a seven-person board of directors for one of the largest consultants in the world.
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“The work I do in mergers and acquisitions has been part of the growth of Crowe and our clients,” Hovorka said.
“I’ve worked with some pretty exciting deals,” he added, noting one particular deal that included philanthropist and American business magnate Warren Buffett.
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But accounting wasn’t always what Hovorka envisioned for himself. That didn’t come until his sophomore year at EPCHS in Mrs. Zephllin’s accounting class.
“That’s when I found my passion,” Hovorka said. “I was on the path to become an electrician, but after that first accounting class I started getting all A’s, became an honors student and it really took off from there.”
Still, Hovorka’s favorite thing about his alma mater is the people.
“The friendships,” he said. “I probably have the same 10-15 friends from third grade at Southeast Elementary School, and we’re still friends today.”
And the sports. Hovorka played football and baseball at EPCHS.
“We still had all the legacy teachers,” he said. “The original teachers who were there when the school was built.”
Mrs. Brown, who Hovorka had for public speaking and college writing, was one of them.
“Those are the 2 courses that you use every day,” he said. “I do more speaking and writing than accounting.”
When Hovorka isn’t on the job, he’s likely to be found on the ice. He’s been playing hockey for fun since his EPCHS days, and still competes today as a member of the Elmhurst Sharks.
