Steve Gillette ‘26 MSA Trades Police Badge for Business Balance Sheet
UConn Today
October 26, 2026
Imagine waking up one morning and trading a police uniform and bulletproof vest for a dress shirt and tie. The handcuffs, patrol car, and emergency sirens are gone, replaced by the new tools of the trade: spreadsheets, financial statements, and the latest accounting software.
For most people, such a transition would be a shock to the system. But for Steve Gillette ’26 MSA, a former Glastonbury police officer turned accountant, that change was a hard but intentional choice.
Gillette, who recently earned a Master of Science in Accounting from the UConn School of Business and passed multiple sections of the CPA exam, is happy with his career shift. That redirection began in the summer of 2024, when he got his acceptance letter into the accounting program.
That summer he began a new chapter marked by many late nights and a shift away from his career in law enforcement. For 6 and a half years, Gillette had been a patrol officer and school resource officer for the Glastonbury Police Department after a short-lived stint as a financial advisor. Prior to being a financial advisor, Gillette had gotten his bachelor’s in accounting and economics from the University of New Haven.
“By my junior year of college, I thought I wanted to be a financial advisor, but once I started doing it, I absolutely hated it,” Gillette says. He revisited his earlier goal of becoming a police officer, and applied to the Glastonbury department.
Gillette had also landed on that career path because of his experience in the U.S. Marines, where he had been in the infantry and was stationed in multiple places, including South America. For many veterans, policing is a way to use their training and skills, while receiving good compensation and benefits.
But all the money and benefits couldn’t take away from the anxiety and fear Gillette felt on the job, including an incident in 2023 that changed his perspective on policing.
“There were a few times during my time in law enforcement that were hairy, including a suicide-by-cop incident,” Gillette says. “Dispatch sent out a call, and I was the closest. I sped over there, got out of the car, and the suspect immediately started attacking me with a knife.”
Gillette then was able to put distance between himself and the suspect until another officer showed up to assist, which allowed them to eventually arrest the man without injury. Although Gillette walked away unscathed, the incident haunted him.
“It definitely sparked thoughts around the fact that I have opportunities to use the education that I had already gotten,” Gillette says. “I had worked so hard to get my degree and I had other, safer options.”
And even more beneficial for Gillette was the fact that he qualified for the Connecticut Veteran’s Tuition Waiver Program, which covered his tuition at UConn. He is now working as a staff accountant at Premier Equipment Solutions in East Hartford.