Matthew Parrish
Accountant
Matt has almost a decade of professional experience in the field of accounting and finance, ranging from healthcare consulting and compliance, to small business accounting and tax services, to individual tax services. Matt’s knowledge of financial reporting, tax law, and accounting help him to take seemingly-complex financial issues, and make them understandable for decision makers of various organizations. He is thrilled to be able to do this for the WHRDA with the challenges and opportunities that they face in this area.
Matt first began training in Hwa Rang Do as a college freshman in late 1997. A combination of looking for a way to stay active during the long Wisconsin winter, coupled with a lifelong curiosity about martial arts led him to join some of his college friends in the basement of the sports center at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. A few years later, Matt was standing before Master David Kijek, earning his Tae Soo Do black belt. Injuries, distance, and life changes took him away from training for about fifteen years, until he moved to the Twin Cities, Minnesota-area to take a new job. Having—at the time--recently become parents to twins with his wife Sarah, he wanted martial arts training (particularly Hwa Rang Do) to be a part of their upbringing. Reasoning that the best way to get them interested in martial training was to be the example of what he wanted for them, he paid Master Dylan Sirny a visit at his school, and signed up to begin training again. Today, he is a proud member of Master Sirny’s Tek Geung Team, and his children are themselves new Tae Soo Do students.
In both of Matt’s iterations of his training in Hwa Rang Do, he went to the organization looking to join for pragmatic reasons. However, both occasions, once he was a member, he found camaraderie with his fellow students, mentorship from his instructors, challenges to face, and subsequently, accomplishment. Matt recalls a pamphlet that was given to him at his first class explaining that training in Hwa Rang Do could “Maximize (his) Human Potential.” Hwa Rang Do is an avenue for that; one can improve their physicality, develop mental fortitude, and hone a deeper connection with the other people in their lives and communities. Matt believes in Hwa Rang Do’s ability to help people maximize their human potential, and is honored to serve the World Hwa Rang Do Association.