In 2009 I graduated from the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce with concentrations in finance and management. After graduation I began working for Vanguard in their Accelerated Development Program, which rotates participants throughout different areas of the organization. My interests, and rotations, resided on the investment side of the business, and ultimately ended with me launching into their Fixed Income Group as a trader. Over the next six years I spent time in various roles throughout the group before starting at Fuqua in July 2015.
My decision to go to business school was twofold. I loved the opportunities and development I got at Vanguard and saw it as somewhere I wanted a longer-term career, but it was the only place I had ever worked. So I needed business school to distance myself from Vanguard and surround myself with new perspectives and experiences if I wanted to be impactful in the future. Secondly, I was ready to transition into formal leadership and I was at a good pivot point in my career to make a clean break.
Fuqua offered exactly what I wanted—a well-rounded program with balance across industry specializations and a strong leadership program in the Fuqua/Coach K Center on Leadership and Ethics. I was accepted into Fuqua the fall of 2014, began classes the summer of 2015, and graduated spring 2017.
Post-Fuqua I am back at Vanguard in a leadership role in our Fixed Income Group in Melbourne, Australia, with my wife and our chocolate lab Duke.
