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Leavey School of Business Santa Clara University
Department ofAccounting

Rath, Don

Don Rath

Lecturer, Accounting

Don J. Rath joined the SCU Accounting Department as a faculty lecturer member in Spring 2024.  He has taught ACTG 11 (Financial Accounting), ACTG 12 (Managerial Accounting) and ACTG 138 (Tax Planning and Business Decisions) at the undergraduate level.

Don brings over 35 years of professional experience into the classroom. He started his accounting career at EY where he spent ten years in the tax practice, servicing primarily public and private companies.  He moved on to become the Chief Tax Officer of four public companies in the life sciences and software industries before retiring from full-time work in finance.  His primary areas of focus are corporate taxation, international tax planning, mergers and acquisitions, and accounting for income taxes (ASC 740).  He has also served as a Chief Audit Executive and interim Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer, and has led finance transformation initiatives.

Don also teaches in the Graduate Taxation Program at Golden Gate University.  He is a published fiction writer and has served on the board of a Bay Area nonprofit organization dedicated to foster families and foster youth.

Don holds a B.A. in Sociology from Yale University, an M.B.A. from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, an M.S. Taxation from Golden Gate University, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Queens University of Charlotte. He is a CPA in California.