Meet the Mazzas
Energized by their daughter’s success, Peter and Lisa Mazza share why they support professional development at the Fisher School of Accounting.
It isn’t easy to let your firstborn move away for college, but when Peter and Lisa Mazza found the accounting program at the University of Florida Warrington College of Business, they knew they had to let their daughter go.
Peter and Lisa have worked hard to get to where they are today, pursuing their careers on Wall Street and in real estate acquisition and as a physician assistant, respectively. They’ve encouraged the same work ethic in their children, and when their eldest, Gabriela, was preparing to apply to accounting programs, they started looking into options that would set her up for success. Rankings and personal recommendations put a spotlight on the Fisher School of Accounting, and every part of Gabriela’s college experience since enrollment has affirmed that they made the right choice.
“The guest speakers were amazing,” they exclaimed. “She had this one guest speaker from Deloitte and she said, that’s it, that’s the direction I want to go.”
Opportunities to interact with potential employers, practice mock-interviews, take on internships and other practical methods to prepare for a business career made the program very attractive to the Mazzas. An education should leave you with more than a diploma, they believe, and have generously gifted an endowment that provides support for students enrolled in professional development programs at the Fisher School of Accounting.
“It’s a top tier institution and we wanted to do our part of it to be a part of it, and obviously to help prepare students for the real world and what lies ahead of them,” the Mazzas shared. “And we know that in Gabriela’s case everything that she’s experienced so far within Warrington has done that, so we want to be able to do that for the next 10, 15, 20 years of students that are coming through. Hopefully, it will [be] the same positive experience for them as it [has been] for Gabriela.”
The Mazzas just helped Gabriela move back onto campus for her junior year and their youngest daughter, Angelina, for her freshman year in the university’s English program. With football season just around the corner, they are looking forward to visiting their daughters on campus and cheering on the Gators as a family.
