Few can say they’ve been on the balcony of the New York Stock Exchange for the closing bell. And fewer still can say they did it standing next to a giant pink bunny. But Jackie Burwitz is one of them. As vice president of investor relations at Energizer Holdings, she was one of a handful people invited to Wall Street for the special event in 2009, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the iconic Energizer bunny and marking a personal highpoint in a rewarding career that kept going, and going, and going.

“I've had an absolutely wonderful career,” said Burwitz, who joined Energizer during a time of unprecedented growth and expansion. For 22 years, she played a crucial role at the company, connecting the iconic brand with a wide range of investors. And now, she’s bringing that experience to Gies College of Business as the newest member of the College’s world-renowned finance faculty.

Burwitz’s life in the high-flying world of corporate finance was far from the one she originally imagined. “I wanted to be a pharmacist,” said Burwitz. “But I graduated high school early, and my scholarship at St. Louis College of Pharmacy didn’t start until the fall.” Instead of sitting around, she decided to go to Southern Illinois University for a semester. And that’s where she discovered an interest in accounting that changed all of her plans.

Instead of transferring out, Burwitz went all in, graduating with a degree in accountancy in 1989. From there, she worked briefly as a tax accounting at KPMG and a budget analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis before joining the tax department at Zeigler Coal Holding Company. When Zeigler went public in 1994, they invited her to serve as the director of investor relations, opening the door to a whole new world.

“I wasn’t afraid to take new opportunities,” said Burwitz, who reached for the brass ring and discovered a career she loved. Before long she was writing scripts for earnings calls, fielding complicated investor questions and taking the management team on the road for important meet-and-greets. For a “people person” with accounting skills, it was the perfect job.

Burwitz played the same role briefly at Trans World Airlines before accepting a job at Energizer Holdings, where she earned her place in the VP suite. For the next 22 years, she helped the company navigate an impressive string of acquisitions that included Schick, Armor All, Playtex, Hawaiian Tropic, and other iconic consumer brands. In 2018, the company made one of its biggest plays yet, acquiring competitor Rayovac as part of a $2 billion buyout.

“We probably did at least 10 acquisitions while I was there,” said Burwitz. “And each one of those was a different learning opportunity.” Now, she’s transforming those learning opportunities into a teaching moment at Gies Business, where she’s leading a course on financial statement analysis.

“I had a very unique role at Energizer,” said Burwitz. “And I think bringing financial statement analysis to life and showing how it’s used in the real world will be beneficial to students.”

Burwitz, who earned a master’s in business administration at SIU Edwardsville, has two strong connections to Gies. One is Brian Hamm, a good friend and former Energizer CFO who taught accounting at Gies and spoke very highly of the program. And the other is her daughter, who graduated from Gies with a bachelor’s in marketing and management in 2024 and was a member of the Illini Swim and Dive Team.

Their enthusiasm for the program led to multiple visits to campus, where Burwitz was impressed both by the resources available to faculty, and the excitement she saw in the students. “You can feel the energy as soon as you enter the building,” said Burwitz. “I loved being in the atrium and seeing the students collaborate. You can tell that the program is really growing at Gies, and they really have an interest in helping students learn and expand.”

Burwitz, who has been teaching accounting part-time at SIUE since leaving Energizer in 2022, said she wants to do more than teach students how to read a financial statement. “I want to create students who go into a company ready to learn everything,” said Burwitz, who followed her own advice and found a seat at the table in a role she never imagined.

“Learning doesn’t stop when you graduate,” said Burwitz. “So, try to learn everything you can.”