Alumni Spotlight: Sarah and Andrew Bramlett

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Andrew and Sarah met early on during their time in the Business Honors Program at Leadership Kickoff their Freshman year. Both Sarah and Andrew come from burnt orange and accounting families and have been avid Texas fans their entire lives. The couple got married in 2021 and you can often find them hanging out with family and friends watching Texas athletics over some good Tex-Mex.

Both Sarah and Andrew majored in Business Honors and Accounting and continued onto the iMPA program to earn their Masters in Professional Accounting. Andrew also majored in Plan II Honors. Sarah stated that she was drawn to the Business Honors Program for its small classroom settings, the personal professor-student relationships, and its rigorous course-load. After some time in the program, she found that her favorite aspect of the program wass the tight-knit community that it built.

Now, Sarah and Andrew are both Senior Associates at Pricewaterhouse Coopers in Dallas, TX. Sarah works in the audit group where she serves public Consumer Service and Industrial Products clients. She works with engagement teams to perform audit procedures over companies’ internal controls over financial reporting and their financial statements to provide reasonable assurance that the financials are free from material error, as well as provide specific audit findings, to users of their financial statements. Andrew works in Capital Markets Accounting Advisory Services, which is a part of the Consulting solutions practice, specifically in the Deals platform. He provides accounting services for transactions – IPOs, acquisitions, divestitures, etc., helping both industry and private equity clients. Sarah and Andrew are also a part of the PwC UT Recruiting team!

When asked about what impactful moments led her to her career at PwC, Sarah said, “Throughout my career I have always prioritized raising my hand – to help others or take on more work, etc. At times this effort has brought an overload of work, which over time has allowed me to learn to build work/life boundaries; But often, this effort has provided me with numerous opportunities to be faced with a challenge in which I typically was unable to solve alone. These challenges taught me to use all resources I have access to, to reach out to my superiors and learn from their experiences, and to also share in the knowledge I gain from conquering these challenges.”

Separately, Andrew said that it was his class with Professor Steven Smith that convinced him to go into accounting. Furthermore, growing up he often recalled a the national championship UT won in 2005, which encouraged him to work hard in high school so he could attend UT.

 

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“Canfield helped me in many ways, but I would say the two biggest are giving me a great community of friends in college that helped drive me to work hard and think about my future, and secondly by putting me in numerous group work situations. The group dynamics are probably the most important thing about the jobs that business students will go in to, and there are no better teams than those of BHP students”, said Andrew when talking about the moments he felt that Canfield Business Honors most impacted his career.

Sarah and Andrew will soon be making a big move to PwC Switzerland. There, they will be partaking in a 2-year rotation with the company. They have always wanted to live and Europe and have had a shared interest in the region since they each studied abroad in Europe in 2016 (Sarah – London, Andrew – Rome). During this rotation they will continue their same work that they are currently doing as US audit/consulting resources.

We asked both Sarah and Andrew if they had any advice for current Canfield BHP students, and this is what they had to say:

Sarah: “I recommend all BHP students participate in everything the program has to offer – HBA, professor/TA office hours and events, optional courses, group study sessions, program socials, etc. The BHP faculty and community is one of the best resources I invested in while I was at UT and I am forever grateful for the knowledge, skill sets, friends and mentors it has provided with me throughout the years.”

Andrew: “Enjoy the 4 or 5 years – you don’t get it back! Join as many clubs and organizations as you can your first 2 years – those relationships you build will remain very important in your careers. Don’t worry about getting a job – you’ll get a great one.”

Student Spotlight: Gabe Acevedo

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Gabe Acevedo

On paper, Junior Gabe Acevedo is a Canfield Business Honors major with plans to double major in finance. But when he’s not in the McCombs School of Business studying, you might find him recording music in a studio or performing at live music venues across Austin. As the rhythm guitarist for West 22nd, an upstart band made up of five UT Austin students, Gabe has spent the past year pursuing his passion for both business and music.

Gabe came into college wanting to start a band after attending a small sports-oriented high school in Atlanta. In fact, one of the reasons he picked UT was Austin’s reputation as a vibrant music city with large events like South by Southwest as well as many smaller live music venues. During his freshman year, Gabe focused extensively on singing, playing his guitar, and songwriting, and he played at open mic nights to meet other people in the local live music scene. From these open mic nights, Gabe met another student from the Atlanta area, Logan Madsen, who became West 22nd’s lead singer.

During the summer after their freshman year, Gabe and Logan spent time riffing off the top of their heads, writing lyrics, and developing chord progressions. By August, Gabe and his friends had filled out the remaining positions for their band, and they created a name—West 22nd—based on the street they all lived on during their freshman year. Then, by promoting West 22nd on social media, the band started to take off and become a regular presence around the UT Austin campus. Fast forward to today, and West 22nd has recently released an original single, Sunburns, and an EP, All the Way Home. The songs are now available on major streaming platforms, such as Spotify and Apple Music, which was a major goal the members of West 22nd had originally set for themselves.

Gabe says you can find West 22nd performing anywhere there is a crowd that wants to hear live music, so the band has played at fraternity events, philanthropy shows, South by Southwest, and 4th Street. West 22nd has also traveled to College Station and Oklahoma to perform. One of Gabe’s favorite West 22nd memories is performing in front of the famous UT Tower as the opener for Remi Wolf during Forty Acres Fest. West 22nd had won the opportunity to open for Wolf after successfully performing in UT Austin’s Battle of the Bands, and Gabe enjoyed this chance to blend his passion for music with his identity as a UT Austin student by performing in front of the tower. 

While Gabe has been pursuing his musical goals, he has appreciated the support of the Canfield BHP program, which allows him to explore his dual passions for business and music. Gabe said Canfield BHP is the reason he ultimately decided to commit to UT Austin, and he enjoys the tight-knit community. From the Canfield BHP advisors helping him build out his degree plan to Mr. Phil Canfield ‘89 and Mrs. Mary Beth Canfield hosting Gabe and other students for dinner at their home, the personalized attention has made Gabe feel right at home.

As for the future, Gabe has ambitious goals for the band but is also focused on finishing his degrees and graduating from UT Austin. In five years, Gabe said he would love for West 22nd to sign a record deal and go on tour across the country during the summer. In the meantime, Gabe is concentrating on making new music with his bandmates, completing his coursework, and exploring the entrepreneurial aspects of his band. In particular, Gabe likes being involved in the marketing and finances associated with West 22nd. 

Even with all these goals, Gabe says West 22nd tries to live in the moment, and the band takes things one week at a time. Wherever Gabe and West 22nd go, his Canfield BHP community will be there cheering him on! 

Canfield BHP Alumni Advisory Board Welcomes New Members

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The Canfield BHP Alumni Advisory Board is pleased to welcome new board members Will Acheampong, Sunil Jaini, Zachary Schultz, Bethany Rolan, and Brian Smith.

Every year the CBHP Alumni Advisory Board meets to guide the direction and accomplish the mission of the business honors program. It is comprised of Canfield BHP alumni who share the goal of supporting and improving one of UT’s finest undergraduate programs. In particular, the Advisory Board assists in fundraising, student recruitment, student mentorship, alumni engagement and helps to increase the overall awareness of Canfield BHP. 

Check out the alumni advisory board page to see the complete list of members.

 

Will Acheampong

Will is an Associate at Redstone Strategy Group, where he helps philanthropies, nonprofits, and governments solve the world’s most urgent social issues. Prior to joining Redstone in New York City, Will served clients in early education strategy, non-profit management, and digital transformation while at the Boston Consulting Group in Dallas, Texas.
Will is a graduate of the Canfield Business Honors Program at the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned a BBA, as well as a BA in Humanities Honors with concentrations in Statecraft, History, and Conflict. While on the Forty Acres, he founded Friends of Médecins Sans Frontières, supported the CBHP office as a peer advisor, and served as an undergraduate fellow in the Robert Strauss Center for International Security and Law. Before graduating in 2021, Will was the sophomore recipient of the 2019 Texas Exes President’s Leadership Award and was named the John L. Adams McCombs Scholar of the Year in 2019.
Originally from Houston, Will spends his free time waking up early to support Chelsea Football Club, running up and down the touchline while coaching youth soccer in Brooklyn, and capturing special moments with friends and family on his film camera.
Sunil Jaini
Sunil Jaini is currently an Investment Banking Senior Associate at Morgan Stanley. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Sunil worked in investment banking at Goldman Sachs and at ConocoPhillips in various energy trading and strategy and business development roles.
Sunil graduated in 2010 and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance from the Canfield Business Honors Program at The University of Texas in Austin, Texas and an MBA from London Business School in London, UK.
In his free time, Sunil enjoys spending time with his wife and family, distance running and traveling to new countries.

 

Zachary Schultz

Zachary Schultz is currently working in Cloud Product Finance at Google in the Geographic Expansion organization. Prior to joining Google, he spent several years in Finance roles at technology companies including Dell Technologies and AMD. In addition to the CBHP Advisory Board he has served as a CBHP Austin Alumni Chair for several years.

Zachary lives in Austin, Texas and has appreciated spending time working with nonprofits outside of his corporate roles over the years. He is currently President of the Susan G. Komen Young Professionals Council in Austin. He enjoys traveling with friends, playing tennis or pickleball, landscaping and spending time on the lakes.

Zachary graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in 2017 with Business Honors and Supply Chain Management degrees. In addition, he completed a Liberal Arts Minor in African & African Diaspora Studies. While at UT, he was awarded the Texas BBA Student Leadership Award, the Cactus Standout Award, the George Mitchell Student Leadership Award and the Undergraduate Business Council David L. Furhman Award.

 

Bethany Rolan

Bethany graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in 2017 with a BBA in Supply Chain Management and Business Honors and a BA in Economics. After graduation, Bethany joined McKinsey & Company in thier Houston, Texas office as a Business Analyst. Bethany received an MBA from Harvard Business School in 2022 and then returned to McKinsey & Company as an Associate. During her time on the Forty Acres, Bethany served as President of Texas Orange Jackets; worked as a Peer Advisor for the Business Honors Program; conducted research in the McCombs management department; and held board positions within Best Buddies and Campus Events + Entertainment. In 2017, Bethany was selected as the BBA Rising Star Award Recipient and served as a McCombs BBA board member on the Diversity & Inclusion Taskforce from 2017-2020. Bethany is thrilled to help create opportunities for Canfield Business Honors Program students as a member of the board!

 

Brian Smith

Brian Smith is the CFO and COO of Multicoin Capital, a crypto and blockchain focused hedge fund and venture capital investment firm in Austin.  He previously worked in New York and San Francisco as a public equity investor at Tiger Management, a private equity investor with Fox Paine & Co. and an investment banker at Greenhill & Co.  He also served as the vice president of finance at Bazaarvoice (NASDAQ:BV) overseeing FP&A, investor relations and corporate development, including helping to lead the IPO.He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2003 with a BBA in finance from the Business Honors Program.  He serves as a member of the board of directors of two software companies and has served as a board observer or advisor to over 30 early and late-stage technology companies and investment firms.  He was appointed by the governor of Texas to serve as a member of the board of trustees and member of the investment committee of the Texas Emergency Services Retirement System, a public pension fund for firefighters.  Since 2016, he has served as a guest lecturer at the undergraduate business school teaching classes on IPOs, blockchain and crypto.

Student Spotlight: Cassandra Guzman

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Cassandra Guzman

During the school week, you’ll likely find Canfield BHP sophomore Cassandra Guzman working and studying for her business classes. But come Saturday, her focus turns to Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium and, more specifically, her responsibilities as a member of the UT Longhorn Band (LHB). Through several hours of practicing and performing, Cassandra has made great memories on and off the field with her bandmates, and she loves LHB’s tight-knit community.

 

Read on to learn more about Cassandra’s experience in LHB and Canfield BHP!

 

1.) How did you become involved in the UT Longhorn Band?

I have been involved in the Longhorn Band since my first semester of college. I heard about LHB when I was still in high school. I had a friend who had graduated and told me to audition, so I auditioned the week before my first semester in college. We had to send an audition video for the first round in May, and if we passed, we were invited to attend Band Week (a week before college starts) to audition. I’ve been in LHB since!

 

2.) What does a typical week look like as a member of the UT Longhorn Band?

A typical week as a member of LHB involves lots of rehearsing. We have rehearsal every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Along with that, Saturdays are for game days, so if we have a morning game, we have to be up and ready by 7 a.m. on Saturday; if the game is at night, we usually have to be ready by 10 a.m.! 

 

3.) What’s your favorite memory from the marching band?

My favorite memory from LHB was traveling to the Cotton Bowl Stadium for the 49-0 vs. OU game! The energy in that stadium was exhilarating, and I have never been to a football game where it felt SO good to win. In addition to the actual game, the saxes have their own traditions for OU weekend, which involves eating dinner together, staying in our own Airbnb, and getting to know each other better. It was a great bonding experience for the section and one of my favorite memories!

 

4.) What are some of the major takeaways/lessons you have learned from being a part of the UT Longhorn Band, and how does this experience tie into your broader goals?

One of the major lessons I have learned through LHB has definitely been time management. Of course, with such a busy schedule, you learn to get most things done before game days and to give yourself enough time to practice as well. Furthermore, LHB has taught me to pursue what I love, which has been to continue to play my instrument.  And the last major lesson that LHB has taught me is to appreciate my community and those around me. I know that I can depend on those in my section for anything that I need, and I will always do the same for them!

 

5.) In addition to your UT Longhorn Band community, how has your Canfield BHP community helped shape your college experience?

The Canfield BHP community has helped shape my college experience by teaching me to be more independent and disciplined with my studies. Additionally, it has shaped my experience by providing many opportunities that are worth attending, like networking opportunities and Canfield BHP events. Canfield BHP has helped me explore many different aspects of business (and beyond) that I was not aware of before!

 

6.) What has been your favorite Canfield BHP class and why?

My favorite class in Canfield BHP so far has been BA 324H: Business Communication with Dr. Prilipko. It was one of the first business honors classes that I had during my first semester of college, and it made me feel welcome to just be myself. The class was fun to attend, and Dr. Prilipko encouraged us to get out of our comfort zone. Along with improving my presentation and writing skills, I made my closest Canfield BHP friends in that class, and I still study with them for my classes today.

Alumni Spotlight: Alexi Cortez

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Alexi Cortez

Meet Alexi Cortez, a 2018 BHP graduate and new entrepreneur living in Austin, TX. She worked in gaming since graduation – doing gaming ads, product management, and marketing. Recently, she made the leap into the entrepreneurial world, starting Chain Reactions, an organic marketing agency focused on building online communities. Outside of work, you’ll find her frustrated on the golf course, trying to become a TikTok influencer and cooking.  

Alexi initially started off her journey at UT studying pre-dental and Business Honors but quickly dropped the pre-dental and added a Marketing major. She came to find out that chemistry was not her strong suit.   

She wanted to be a dentist and was given advice to take business classes in addition to her pre-dental core classes so that she would be well-equipped to run a private dental practice. During her college search, she quickly found that there were very few universities that were strong in the sciences had strong business programs, or even offered business degrees. UT offered both. 

Canfield BHP was compelling to her given the strong curriculum. She knew she could graduate and be confident in my ability to run a private practice. The biggest selling point to her was the small cohort – she was intimidated going to a big school and was excited knowing that she would have her own community from day on.  

Alexi’s worst subjects by far were MIS and STA, but they were also her favorite. She loved knowing what was possible with data but was struggled with the the execution. 

Her second internship was with Facebook, where she was tasked with sales prospecting for the gaming team. They had her initially doing a ton of manual vetting that was taking days to complete, was not scalable, and was just BRUTAL. She remembered predictive modeling from her statistics class and was able to create a predictive model that could identify high-quality sales leads in minutes. The project was a huge success, and she was asked to return to Facebook on an established team instead of a new grad team.  

After working on the gaming team at Facebook, she joined a web3 gaming start-up where she led all marketing efforts and built a strong organic community for our game. She recently left that company to start Chain Reactions.  

Alexi attributes a lot of her current success to the time and effort she put in during her internship. She says “If it hadn’t been for my success during my internship, I wouldn’t have returned to the gaming team full time, which led me to the gaming start-up, which eventually led me to starting my own company.” 

When Alexi talks about how she felt Canfield BHP prepared her for future work she states, “The hands-on training from Canfield BHP really paid off in the real world. It equipped me with strong skills in Excel, stats, sales, management, and communications. I noticed these were areas others often found challenging, but thanks to the business honors program, I was able to stand out and bring extra value to each team I have been part of. 

Alexi leaves us with some advice to future and current Canfield BHP students, “Do it all – learn as much as you can, network as much as you can, and say yes to everything you can. If you do that, you’ll have every opportunity within arm’s reach.”