When Jeffrey Pickerd graduated from the BYU Marriott School of Business with his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting, he knew he wanted to return as a faculty member someday. Now a new associate professor in the School of Accountancy (SOA), Pickerd has seen the Lord’s hand guiding his journey back to BYU Marriott as he continued forward in faith.
Pickerd has loved BYU since he was a child, spending the summers on campus with his grandfather, who was a faculty member. This childhood love of all things BYU has evolved into a deep admiration for BYU’s mission. “BYU is helping The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints advance its mission,” he says. “I just want to be a part of the work.”
Working toward his goal of returning to BYU and advancing its mission, Pickerd earned his PhD in accounting from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. During this time, he met his wife, Britny, through a mutual friend.
Pickerd and Britny were both BYU alumni who, to their knowledge, had never met before. As they packed up to move in together after their marriage, Britny found a note complimenting her piano playing from more than eight years before—signed by Jeffery Pickerd. “So somehow we had met years before at BYU, and I wrote her a note and she kept it,” he says. “Think about that—how many nice notes in those young single adult wards do you keep?”
The reappearance of Pickerd’s long-lost note confirmed the newlyweds’ faith that God had a hand in their lives and knew the best ways for them to proceed. Pickerd leaned on that assurance while he taught at the University of Mississippi, dreaming of one day making it back to BYU Marriott. “We were taking every footstep knowing that whatever happens will happen,” Pickerd says. “And if what happened wasn’t BYU, we would continue to find what the Lord would need us to do.”
While he taught at Ole Miss, Pickerd collaborated with several BYU Marriott faculty to research the use of AI in accounting, networking with many people both inside and outside of the SOA. In summer of 2024, his prayers and efforts were answered, and Pickerd returned to BYU Marriott with his wife and their three daughters.
Now, Pickerd begins a new journey to find the ways he can best contribute to the SOA. “If this position was just about being an accounting professor, I’ve done that for eight years,” he asks himself. “But how to be a BYU Marriott accounting professor? What does mission-inspired scholarship and inspired teaching look like? What does Christlike service look like?”
In order to find answers to his questions, Pickerd has gathered information from speeches given at and about BYU. One of the common themes he found was the journey toward “education in Zion,” which requires continual improvement and service. He is excited to incorporate these principles into his research and teaching at the SOA.
In addition to the Church’s and BYU’s missions, BYU Marriott’s vison, mission, and values are especially inspiring to Pickerd. “We’re assisting others in the quest for perfection and eternal life and transforming the world through Christlike leadership,” he says. “We’re developing students of faith, intellect, and character, with values of integrity in action, respect for all, excellence, and faith in Christ.”
He is eager to guide his students on their journeys, just as his mentors helped him. “As a student, I benefited greatly from a lot of people who looked at me and saw potential,” he says.
Pickerd hopes to live up to his potential and learn how best to serve BYU Marriott and its students as he moves forward in faith. “This is a place where things will be accomplished that can’t be done elsewhere,” he says. “This is a place of dreams.”
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Written by Melissa Een