Holly Erickson grew up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and dreamed of becoming a music teacher. She envisioned a future filled with music and teaching students to find their voices and passion. However, when Erickson entered Davenport University during the 2008 recession, she was forced to reconsider her career path. The economic downturn made job security a pressing concern, and Erickson realized she needed a profession that would provide financial stability for her future family.
Though she had no formal background in the subject, Holly had always been naturally gifted with numbers. This aptitude led her to pivot toward accounting. Her ability to quickly grasp complex financial concepts earned her Davenport’s prestigious President’s Scholarship, solidifying her path toward an unexpected yet promising career.
Determined to succeed, Holly pursued not one but two Bachelor’s degrees at Davenport—one in Accounting Information Management with a specialty in internal auditing and another in Accounting Fraud Investigation. She graduated in 2012, stepping into a field she had never originally considered but had come to embrace.
Holly’s professional journey began with an accounts payable position at a small company, where she gained firsthand experience in financial operations. This role gave her insight into managing financial records and ensuring accuracy in transactions.
She soon transitioned into recovery auditing in the retail sector. This experience sharpened her investigative skills, teaching her how to identify financial discrepancies and recover lost funds. Little did she know that these skills would eventually take her beyond corporate finance and into a field that directly impacts people’s lives—health care.
In January 2022, Holly took a major step forward in her career by joining SpendMend, a company specializing in recovery auditing for hospitals. As a quality assurance specialist, she reviews audits to improve financial recovery processes. Her work helps hospitals recover missing funds – money that might otherwise go unnoticed due to process inefficiencies or accounting errors.
The numbers speak for themselves. Over the past three years, Holly has helped hospitals recover more than $10 million in lost funds. In 2023 alone, SpendMend recovered a staggering $413 million for hospitals across the country. These funds go directly back into hospitals, allowing them to invest in critical areas such as research and development, hire more staff, upgrade medical equipment and ultimately improve patient care.
Holly’s role involves conducting deep financial analyses to identify process gaps that cause hospitals to lose money in the first place. By addressing these inefficiencies, she helps health care institutions not only reclaim lost funds but also prevent future financial losses, ensuring more sustainable operations.
While this work was fulfilling, in 2023 her mission took on a new level of urgency and personal significance.
That year, Holly’s father passed away due to an inability to receive the medical care he desperately needed. His passing was a heartbreaking and life-altering moment for Holly. The work she had once seen as a meaningful way to support hospitals now carried a deep personal purpose.
“What I do now isn’t just about financial recovery—it’s about making sure other families don’t have to suffer the way mine did,” Holly shared. “Now, my goal is still to help hospitals find the money they’re missing, but it’s a whole new level of taking this seriously.”
Her work had always been impactful, but now it had a new level of meaning. Every audit, every recovered dollar, and every process improvement could be the difference between a hospital being able to provide life-saving treatment or not.
Beyond her auditing responsibilities, Holly has also been instrumental in building a team within SpendMend, expanding its capabilities. Her leadership ensures that hospitals nationwide continue to receive the financial support they need to operate efficiently and provide high-quality care.
Holly’s dedication to excellence traces back to her college years. While a student at Davenport University, she worked as a work-study assistant in Career Services. This experience instilled in her the value of mentorship, problem-solving and professional growth, qualities she carries into her work today.
Holly Erickson’s journey—from aspiring music teacher to financial auditor in health care—is a testament to adaptability, resilience and purpose.
She may not be teaching music, but in many ways, she’s still helping people find their voices, whether it’s hospitals struggling to regain lost funds, patients in need of better care or families hoping for a different outcome than the one she experienced.
With each audit, Holly is making a difference one hospital, one patient, and one recovered dollar at a time.
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