07 Feb Alumni Spotlight: How Sunny Gill Transformed His CSUF Experience into a Thriving CPA Firm
At Associated Students Inc. at Cal State Fullerton, student leaders are constantly being developed into the leaders of tomorrow. While new students join in as current student leaders graduate, the impact they continue to make post-college as they pursue their careers is evident.
Sunny Gill, a 2018 CSUF business administration graduate with an emphasis in accounting and finance, recounts his time in ASI as integral in developing him into the leader he is today. Starting in one of the Big 4 accounting firms after college and eventually creating his own CPA firm with CSUF friends, Gill’s journey demonstrates one thing: college is the time to use your resources and maximize your strengths.
Gill was involved in ASI from 2015-2018 and chose to run for ASI leadership from 2016-2017, where he was the Vice President of Finance and sat on the IRA (Instructional Related Activities) committee.
“I grew up and went to high school in Rancho Cucamonga. Both my parents are from India. I wasn’t too into school back then, but I was lucky enough to get into Cal State Fullerton,” he recounted.
Gill standing with the CSUF ASI Executive Board members. / Credit: ASI Marketing
Once on the familiar Orange Country campus, Gill’s innate interest in numbers drew him to advocate for transparency and equity in fee usage.
“I really wanted to see what I could do for ASI to get students to understand where their fee goes. I realized that students didn’t really see what their $95 student fee was going towards. Many students come from various colleges and may not see or entirely understand the accounting and finance aspects of leadership. That was one of my main challenges and goals: getting students and student leaders to understand proper budgeting practices and seeing it all through a financial lens,” he shared.
As a result, Gill worked on launching the student fee education program at ASI and developed a flyer breaking down fee allocation to make finances digestible to college students. Apart from being able to apply budget practices, decreasing the budget deficit every year and increasing reserves with his team, his favorite memories in ASI involve the relationships he made in leadership.
“I really enjoyed just getting to work with the other student leaders. One of my fondest moments was the ASI Leader Camp, which happened at the beginning of each year. I enjoyed learning leadership skills but also building that rapport with everyone,” he recalls. “It was exciting to see how we took what we learned during the student leader exercises and applied it throughout the year.”
Gill and members of the CSUF Indian Student Association. / Credit: Sunny Gill
Looking back at his time in ASI, Sunny remembers the humbling yet uplifting feeling of being a student leader who could make significant decisions for his campus.
“As a student, I led the committee on IRA, which comprised half students and half faculty, staff, and professors. All these individuals looked to me as the chair to be the decision maker regarding how funds should be allocated,” he shared. “The proud moment for me was learning the communication skill of being able to look a faculty member in the eye and saying, ‘Hey, you’re most likely not going to get approved; you need to make changes. ””
At ASI, student leaders are not merely told what to do and what decisions to make but are trusted to make significant decisions on campus for their peers.
“There were times when I was told, ‘Hey, you’re just a student; I’m going to go talk to the person in charge.’ and they would go to the executive director. Sometimes, people would go over my head to go straight to pro-staff to get them to overturn a decision I had made. And then they would ultimately be told, ‘Sunny is the decision-maker.’ It was humbling when my decision wasn’t taken seriously but uplifting that ASI trusted me as a student leader.”
While working with faculty, staff, and campus leaders with years of expertise and experience, Gill took the most pride in the reputation and integrity that his finance team could uphold.
“What makes me proud was that the committee stood strong in ensuring our values of how we wanted to allocate the funds were fair and equitable. We followed through on that,” he said.
Gill with his Xel Inc. business partners. / Credit: Sunny Gill
To CSUF students who were unsure when or how to get involved with ASI, he shared one thing.
“This is an experience not many people get. Students should join ASI or student leadership because this will give you a level of real-world experience that you won’t get anywhere else,” he advised. “The only place I’ve seen adults consistently take students seriously is in ASI. And I would tell anyone who wants to work in the Big 4 that if you don’t communicate what you want and need, you’ll never get it.”
Right after college, Gill became an auditor for Deloitte and then worked for RSM US LLP in mergers and acquisitions. However, he truly found his stride when he partnered with three close CSUF alums to co-found their own CPA firm, Xel Advisors, Inc.
“That was in 2021; we’ve been doing that since then. We have our own company, four offices, and well over 2000 clients. Many of that can be attributed to the connections we made while at CSUF. Ultimately our whole career trajectory fell in line with what we accomplished at ASI as well.”
At the end of his college journey, Gill concluded that leadership in any field requires communication, persistence and resilience.
“You learn that communication skills are part of leadership; you learn to be resilient and deal with problems. You learn that not everything will be under your control at the end of the day. So, you control the controllables and let the cards play out. The outside world is ruthless, so being prepared with persistence, resilience, and communication skills will make your voice heard.”
ASI Titan Student Union for its 2016 grand opening / Credit: ASICSUF Flickr
As an Orange County native chasing his dreams, Gill also enjoys playing golf, watching TV, and spending quality time with his fiancé and family.
“At the end of the day, it’s not the career, it’s not the money, it’s everything around that. It’s everything that you do all that for. If you keep that in mind, you’ll be good.”
Five years from now, Gill sees himself committed to his company’s purpose, hoping for a bigger team, more resources and building upon the reliable reputation his company has built.
“There’s no greater feeling than seeing someone smile because you saved them a lot in taxes or getting that ‘thank you’ for explaining how they could do better or what they could’ve done with their money.”
Gill’s journey as a CSUF and ASI student leader alumni is a testament to how college is a moldable experience for all, where you can truly make it a steppingstone for future aspirations. With years of experience, he was quick to offer more advice to anyone looking to pursue their passions and make a difference.
“The most important thing is you never know until you try. You’ll never know if you like accounting and finance until you do it. You’ll never know if you would like to be an art major or be in STEM unless you try it. Everything in life is a risk. If you’re contemplating a decision, make sure it’s the best decision you could make, go all in and give it your all. If you don’t give it your all, you’ll never know it’s truly what you want to do.”