By Cecilia Yontz, OSCPA marketing and communications intern
Angie and Erik Wurtenberger went to a company Christmas party with a group of friends and ended up sitting next to each other. Now, they are approaching their 10th wedding anniversary.
“We worked at the same firm, Von Lehman and Company in Northern Kentucky,” said Angie. “Erik worked in audit, and I was in tax. We didn't have too much overlapping work, but we had to work late a couple nights a week, and there was a group of us that would go out together after work and unwind, so we got to know each other that way.”Both CPAs, they continued to work for Von Lehman for a couple of years before leaving to pursue other opportunities. Currently, Erik is an audit manager for Barnes Dennig in Cincinnati, and Angie is a managing partner at Brixey & Meyer’s Cincinnati office.
Even though accounting brought them together, it was not Angie’s initial major. She started out studying fashion design. It was after taking an accounting class and loving it that she made the change. As for Erik, his journey is “a much more boring story,” he joked.
“My dad is a CPA, my brother is a CPA, so I probably knew what an accountant was much earlier than most people,” he said. “During college, I loosely thought about moving to something else, but I stayed with accounting.”
Outside of accounting, Angie, a self-proclaimed “pop culture nerd,” enjoys watching movies and TV shows, and crocheting. Erik collects and restores pinball machines and co-runs a local convention centered around pinball called Pincinnati.
“Together we're really into live music, we go to a lot of concerts. I have a daughter from a previous relationship who's 17. Now that she's a little bit older, we travel a little bit more on our own, but we normally go on a family beach vacation to Florida and try and do a Disney vacation every couple years,” she said. “For the three of us, Angie, Abby and I, we also have season tickets to basketball at the University of Kentucky. We really get into this time of year and March Madness,” added Erik.
Having a partner in the same industry has been both unique and beneficial. Angie and Erik talk about their work together like other couples, but they can better relate to each other’s experiences.
“It's like we know exactly what the other person is going through,” Erik said. “Our day-to-day isn't exactly the same, but our industry is very similar. We can actually bounce ideas off each other and help each other through some of these things that other couples might not be able to.”