Communication. Integrity. Passion. For Gwen Sherman, these three elements have played an essential role in her professional career, from her days as a Southwestern University student to her current position as director of administration and controller for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Sherman grew up in Victoria, Texas, the daughter of two Southwestern alumni who highly valued reading and language. During her high school years, the importance of communication heightened dramatically for Sherman as she left, knowing minimal Spanish, to spend a year as a foreign exchange student in Naranjo, a small Costa Rican town with only two other English speakers. Today, Sherman says her strong communication skills have been vital to her professional success.

“Every job I’ve ever had required me to excel at communication in order to succeed,” she says. “An inability to write will impede your success, regardless of the area of work you choose. And I see candidates go down in flames at the interview stage, because they can’t put ideas together in a cogent, thoughtful fashion.”

Once she returned from Costa Rica, Sherman stayed close to home for two years, fulfilling family duties and attending Victoria Community College. When she was ready to move on, Sherman visited Southwestern, and knew at once it was right for her.

“I loved it right away,” Sherman remembers. “I felt immediately at home on campus, and it felt like a place where I could both learn and contribute.”

Sherman says living and learning within the values-based environment at Southwestern has helped her develop a strong work ethic and sense of integrity — both characteristics she believes have contributed to her success.

“I once heard a definition that resonated with me: ‘Integrity is always staying in the right relationship with others,’” Sherman says. “That serves as a good guide when choosing how to behave, what and when to communicate, and evaluating appropriateness.”

Sherman graduated with a bachelor of business administration degree in accounting, and went on to work for CPA firms in San Antonio and Austin, as finance director for the City of Georgetown, and—following a move with her husband, Ben, to the Pacific Northwest—as director of finance for the Seattle Children’s Home and as financial planning manager for the City of Redmond, Wash. Then, in 1999, she noticed a job announcement up on the lunchroom bulletin board.

“The job was for controller of the Gates Learning Foundation,” Sherman recalls. “I literally got goose bumps as I stood there. I knew it was the right job for me.”

Sherman earned the job, and when the Learning Foundation merged into the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Sherman was promoted to her current position, where she now oversees 25 employees; facilities in Seattle, Washington, D.C., and New Delhi, India; and the Foundation’s $29 billion in assets.

“The best part of my work is doing what I love for an organization that is working to make dramatic, significant progress against some of the world’s biggest inequities in health, education and poverty,” Sherman says.

Passion has been paramount to her ultimate success, and she advises today’s students to seek that out, even as they search for a career path.

“Follow your passion,” Sherman counsels. “Take courses in the things that most interest you. Work is about problem-solving, and you’ll be more effective at solving problems if you’re fundamentally interested in the nature of the work.”