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Getting to Know Andrew Sussingham of PPB Capital Partners

Apparently, Assistant Vice President, Fund Accounting, Andrew Sussingham is an overachiever … in a good way. Instead of submitting 15 answers for the latest edition of “Getting to Know,” he answered 26. When asked to recommend a book, he named two.

He has been at PPB for two years and is an invaluable member of our Fund Accounting team. Despite working for a landscaping company in the summers while growing up, he doesn’t enjoy cutting the grass. Perhaps what he learned about himself recently plays into that as well. And based on his description of the perfect pizza, it sounds like Detroit style is the way to go.

Enjoy getting to know Andrew.

Name: Andrew Sussingham
Title: Assistant VP Fund Accounting
Hometown: Reading, Pennsylvania
College: Albright College
Years at PPB: 2

1. What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
   “80% of the pile is in the bottom half.”
   This comes from my neighbor growing up who ran a landscaping company and would occasionally hire me for summer gigs. One morning, as I was spreading mulch, I had gotten through the top of the pile quickly and told him I would be done sooner than expected. He gave me that very good piece of advice, which I think applies to all of life.
   
2. Think about your favorite teacher or professor from high school or college. What was it about them that made an impression on you?
   Dr. David Martin was my advisor in college, and he was also an amazing professor.
   
3. What did you find to be the biggest surprise of working with alternative investments?
   From the accounting side, my biggest surprise of working in the alternatives space is just how naturally these investment types come together at the end of every quarter to create a final product.
   
4. What was the biggest influence on you working in the alternative investments industry?
   Working in crypto-asset-based hedge funds. It was fast paced, and I learned a tremendous amount.
   
5. What was the last book you read?
   The Shadows by Alex North – A gripping novel of about the tragic and mysterious death of a young boy in a small town. Told from the perspective of the suspected, now grown, man who returns to the town after many years for his mother’s funeral.
   
6. What is the one book you would recommend to anyone (and why)?
   On the exciting side: The Shining – a master class of suspense and storytelling.
   On the boring side: Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital – basically a blueprint for large market movements driven by technology.
   
7. Which is more useful and why … intelligence or wisdom?
   Intelligence. Intelligence is something that helps solve problems or create new and/or better solutions. Wisdom, on the other hand, is learning from experiences and passing along lessons to others.
   
8. What is something you’ve recently learned about yourself?
   I have recently learned (the hard way) that I am very much allergic to poison ivy.
   
9. How would you describe your job to a classroom of 4th graders?
   If there was a cake filled with money. I show people how big their slice of cake is.
   
10. What is a non-work-related goal you are working toward right now?
    My fiancé and I are planning our wedding. Organizing and executing details of that is where all my time is going outside of work!
    
11. Which movie scene will always give you goosebumps?
    Wow … tough one. Probably the speech in Miracle right before team USA plays Russia. Or Whitney Houston singing the National Anthem at Super Bowl XXV (not a movie – but chilling all the same).
    
12. Which time/location setting from a TV show or movie would you most like to live?
    I would have loved to be a cowboy wandering the barren landscape of a midwestern dust bowl on my noble steed.
    
13. If you were running for public office, what would your campaign slogan be?
    “A 4-day work week” because honestly… who would not vote for that.
    
14. You’re out on the town with your friends and it’s karaoke night. What song are you choosing?
    “The Distance” by Cake. Most people don’t realize that it’s basically talking in a certain pitch.
    
15. If you could receive credit for any invention in history, what would you choose?
    The wheel … because nobody would ever reinvent it.
    
16. When in elementary school, what did you what to be when you grew up?
    I always wanted to work in investments and portfolio management. As an accountant working on behalf of those that do that, I ended up pretty close.
    
17. Which household chore do you hate the most?
    Cutting the grass. I love everything else about yard work, but I cannot stand cutting the grass.
    
18. If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
    Super strength would be nice.
    
19. You can only choose one dessert. Are you taking ice cream or cake?
    Ice cream for sure!
    
20. If Hollywood were to make a movie about your life, which genre would it be, and who would play you?
    It would be a rom-com for sure and it would be played by Daniel Radcliffe.
    
21. If you could only have 3 apps on your phone for the rest of your life, which ones are you keeping?
    Assuming that the phone and text message icons are not “apps,” I would have to say Instagram, Spotify and the calculator.
    
22. Imagine you could go back in time. Which moment in history would you choose to see?
    The construction of the Pyramids in Egypt. What a sight that must have been to behold.
    
23. You have 1 hour and a limitless credit card for a shopping spree in the store of your choice. At which store would it be?
    Home Depot. I would be ordering lumber, soil and other supplies to build my dream greenhouse.
    
24. What is the most irrational fear you have?
    Dropping my keys down a sewer grate. For whatever reason I am always on high alert walking over a storm drain.
    
25. What is your favorite family tradition?
    Opening Christmas presents on Christmas Eve.
    
26. If you’re making the perfect pizza, what toppings are you adding?
    Cupped pepperoni—and the pizza must be well done.