Tina Szwak, ’01, Andrea Sorli, ’11, and Shannon Snellman, ’05, all graduated from La Salle’s Accounting Program. Now they’re representing Explorers in Philadelphia’s professional sports scene.

La Salle University’s Accounting Program may not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about the Eagles, the 76ers, or the Phillies, but it should be. Andrea Sorli, ’11, Tina Szwak, ’01, and Shannon Snellman, ’05, all graduates of the program, are currently heading their accounting departments.

“Tina, Shannon, and Andrea have achieved remarkable success as Vice Presidents of Finance for major league Philadelphia sports organizations. Their accomplishments reflect not only their individual talent and dedication, but also the strength of La Salle’s Accounting Program in preparing students for leadership in highly competitive industries,” Kristin Wentzel, Ph.D., chair and KPMG professor of accounting at La Salle, said. “Having three Explorers leading the financial operations of professional sports teams is a point of immense pride and a testament to the real-world impact of a La Salle education.”

Sorli, originally from South Jersey and a self-described homebody, looked at several local schools, but La Salle had something none of the others did. The Business Scholars Co-op Program was “the tipping point” when it came time to make her choice.

All three women ended up at 20th and Olney in different ways and for different reasons.

Szwak, who had been doing general office work for an aerospace company throughout high school, wanted to stay in state and get her degree at a university that she could commute to so that she could continue to work. La Salle felt like a perfect fit for her.

Snellman, who was a field hockey player, toured a number of schools and liked La Salle the best. Coming from Lancaster, PA, it felt like she came to “the big city,” for school, she said.

Although none of them became an Explorer for the same reason, they all felt the same way about their time here.

“I loved my time at La Salle,” Snellman said, with Sorli and Szwak echoing the sentiment.

The Accounting Program and its professors played a big part in that for all three of the women.

“I like that it was small. Honestly, I don’t think I would have thrived very well in a big lecture hall with a thousand kids in it,” Sorli said, adding that she built great connections with her classmates and professors that still exist today. “I didn’t ever feel like I was just a needle in a haystack.”

Szwak and Snellman agreed.

“I think the education at La Salle, specifically the Accounting Department, is something that I don’t think that you can get somewhere else,” Snellman said. “The teachers look out for you, they help you get jobs, they want you to succeed. It’s just so unique.”

The connections they made as members of La Salle’s School of Business helped all three get their foot in the door of the accounting world, and for two of them, it provided their first experience of the teams that they work for today.

Snellman interned at the Phillies every summer when she was a student at La Salle. After attending a Business Scholars Co-op orientation meeting, Sorli heard from the then student intern at the Eagles. She told the program director at the time that she wanted that position when it opened and kept asking. Eventually that internship became hers.

“I truly don’t think I would have gotten the internship at the Eagles if I hadn’t been at La Salle,” she said. She’s been with the team ever since.

La Salle didn’t only help the three women with their careers, but also with life lessons that they have taken with them long after leaving 20th and Olney.

Szwak learnt that not everyone has the same journey and that’s ok.

“There isn’t just one path. There’s a bunch of different ones,” she said. “And it might not be a straight line, it might be a very wiggly line, but you’ll end up in a place that fits for you and that’s important.”

For Snellman, her time at La Salle drove her to want more from her career.

“I never felt like anyone at La Salle was just doing a job,” she said. “They had something that they were trying to accomplish and what they were doing was fulfilling them. It was never just a job.”

Sorli managed to turn her self-professed biggest weakness into one of her greatest strengths. Working in groups was something she was dreading about some of her classes, she said.

“Working as a team used to be my answer for my weakness, and now I feel like it’s one of my biggest strengths,” she said. “I realized at La Salle that you could know everything, but if you can’t develop relationships and work with people, you’ll never really get anywhere.”

Since she secured that internship, Sorli hasn’t left the Eagles. She started as a staff accountant straight after graduation and is now vice president of finance and accounting.

After her Explorer summers interning with the Phillies, Snellman benefited from the relationships she made with her professors, being introduced to people working at the Big Four accounting firms, where she had always hoped to go after graduating, and eventually getting a job at Ernst & Young. After working there, she moved to a pharmaceutical company before the Phillies reached out to her looking for someone to do financial reporting.

“It took me about ten years to get back to the Phillies, but I was thrilled to return to sports,” Snellman, who is now vice president of finance and controller for the team, said.

Szwak is the only one of the three who didn’t have a previous connection to her team. She got a job offer in public accounting after completing an internship as a student. After working there for a couple of years, she went to Aramark Corporate to do venue accounting. It was while she was there that she was recruited to interview with the 76ers. She hasn’t looked back since, has been with the team for 20 years, and is now vice president
and controller.

Similarly to their time at La Salle, Szwak, Snellman, and Sorli got to their respective roles in different ways, but all three share the same thoughts about the best part of their job.

“My favorite thing is that it’s not mundane,” Sorli said. “There’s never a dull moment and a lot of great opportunities tend to come up.”

Sorli has made the most of those opportunities. Other than during her two maternity leaves, she’s been to every Eagles home game since 2010. Having been with the team for three Superbowls, she’s also had the chance to be part of the Friends and Family program, where she helps secure travel and accommodation from Philly to the host city, for the huge number of Eagles attendees.

Non-Eagles events take up a lot of her time too, things like securing the FIFA World Cup events at Lincoln Financial Field. She’s worked every game and special event that’s happened at the stadium.

“It’s a lot, it’s long hours, but it’s obviously a lot of fun,” she said. “And getting to ride down Broad Street two times and having two Superbowl rings is like the icing on the cake.”

Like Sorli, Szwak loves the unexpected. She also loves being part of something that involves all of Philly.

“Being a part of the team, growing with the team, going through the ups and downs, it can be hard and challenging, but when there are good times it’s really so fulfilling,” she said. “When you get to experience milestones with everyone, it’s really something special.”

As well as never being bored, Snellman also gets to work for a team of which she’s been a longtime fan.

“I always tell people that accounting is accounting, no matter where you work,” she said. “When you get to do it in an industry that you really enjoy, specifically for a team that you’ve always been a really big fan of it just makes a difference in your day-to-day.”

The three women didn’t know about the link between their positions and La Salle until they participated in a women in sports panel for the School of Business in 2025. They’re all excited about what it means for 20th and Olney.

“I think it’s remarkable. I think it’s a really cool thing that deserves to be celebrated,” Snellman said. “It’s an awesome thing for La Salle, and specifically La Salle Accounting.”

“It’s really interesting that we’re all at the same level, we’re all successful in our own sports, and we all came from the same place,” Szwak said. “I think it says a lot about La Salle’s Accounting Program.”

“I think all of our titles were pretty much exactly the same when we sat down for the panel, and I was like ’what an interesting fact’,” Sorli said. “All I know is we’ve got to get somebody as the VP of finance at the Flyers. Sorry to whoever it is now, but we definitely need to do that.”

-Naomi Thomas