Tag Archives: Texas BHP

Internship Spotlight: Lisa Kao – BHP Junior

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Company: Northern Trust

Position: Hedge Fund Services Intern

When Lisa Kao started her internship with Nothern Trust, she never imagined how drastically work experience would change her career aspirations. Discover how Lisa found a laid-back, friendly community in a large, conservative organization.

 

What steps did you take to secure your internship?

I found out about this internship at the McCombs Spring 2013 Career Expo. After getting to know the recruiter a little better, I decided to apply for the job through OCR. There were two rounds of interviews. A few weeks after my second interview, I received a phone call notifying me I had secured an internship position with Northern Trust.

What were the responsibilities for this role?

Within the Hedge Fund Services (HFS) division, I worked specifically on the Cash & Collateral Management team. My daily responsibilities included: providing quality control on overnight batches for OTC margin monitors, issuing and responding to clients’ OTC margin calls, and creating productivity tools for increased client coverage and efficiency. I also had the opportunity to help lead college information sessions for underprivileged children in the Chicago area on behalf of Northern Trust.

Describe the culture within the organization.

My experience with Northern Trust might have been a little different from the other interns’. Northern Trust itself has a conservative culture; it is a bank with over 120 years of history. However, the division I worked under, HFS had a relaxed, fun culture. Many employees were only a few years out of college and were very relatable to college interns. The relationship I had with my manager was easy-going and friendly, although still professional. HFS encouraged its employees to get to know each other on a personal level and hosted several networking and social events throughout the summer. Dress code in the HFS division was not quite as strict either; instead of suits on a daily basis, employees could wear jeans and Sperry’s. I truly enjoyed my time as an intern in HFS and am grateful I was placed in that division!

What was the most surprising or unexpected during your experience?

Coming into this internship, I thought most of my learning would be done through the work I was assigned. However, I learned the most about my career interests and about myself as an individual through talking to the people around me. The principles I thought I valued in my future career are no longer the same. It is both exciting and scary to realize that there is no “right” career path for me to follow anymore.

What advice would you offer your peers in the Honors Program about getting the most out of an internship?

I would say the most important thing is to truly get to know the people you work with. Every employee and intern comes from a different background, and you can learn something from each person whether or not you may think so on first impression. Make sure you ask many questions and take advantage of the resources around you. Another important piece of advice is to enter your internship open-minded. You should never go into your internship thinking you MUST like/dislike your experience there. Your internship is your opportunity to grow and discover your interests. It’s okay if the internship does not end up being how you expected it to be, good or bad. In the end, it is always a wonderful learning experience!

How did you find your classes in the Business Honors Program at the university to be applicable during your internship?

Definitely. I personally find it a little exciting whenever I’m given a task at work that requires me to apply skills and knowledge I’ve previously learned in class. Honestly, working helps you learn the concepts you learn in class on a much deeper, more thorough level. A concept you may not have understood in your accounting class can suddenly make sense once you are given a real-life financial statement to analyze.

How did this organization ensure you got the most out of your internship experience?

Northern Trust has a very well developed, well-structured internship program. A highlight of the program is the weekly “Lunch & Learn” session. During these sessions, executives from different divisions throughout the company would come speak to the interns about his/her career background and current responsibilities. Everyone in the company, even high-level executives, were generally very willing to make time to meet with interns and offer advice to those who reached out. In addition, Northern Trust hosted several service and social outings for the intern class.

What are the most valuable lessons you gained from this internship?

Although this was a finance internship, the most valuable lesson I gained from this internship was not finance related at all. Being a student in the business school, I think it can be very difficult to block out all of the artificial expectations society sets for you and to truly ask yourself what you value in a career. This summer, I met so many people who have completely changed their careers to pursue their passions and have become happier people because of their decisions. You will be successful in your career as long as you are doing something you are truly passionate about. I am grateful to realize and understand the importance of this now rather than later.

Alumni Spotlight: Jeff Wilser – Class of ’98

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Jeff Wilser, BHP ’98, isn’t a typical BHP grad. He may have started on the path of a typical business grad, but that path veered into something quite different. Jeff is a writer, and has just published his third book. Most of his writing is on the topic of guys’ perspectives on relationships and culture. His website touts that he is, “likely the only person alive to have written for both GQ and The Knot.” He has made a number of TV appearances and frequently contributes to various magazines and newspapers. We sat down with Jeff, who currently lives in New York City, to find out more about his career path and what is on the horizon for him.

You have quite a variety of experience. Take me through your career trajectory.

I started in corporate finance at Intel and I realized early on that it wasn’t what motivated and challenged me. I actually had a spreadsheet with pros and cons of different career options, including being a history professor or a writer. I decided to try one more business before totally switching, so I went to Gap, Inc. in San Francisco as a senior analyst in marketing strategy. I stayed there for about a year and then moved to New York to get my Masters in Fine Arts (MFA), with a concentration in Fiction.

I didn’t really do any writing prior to that. The first short story I wrote was for my MFA application.  There was only one tiny problem with Fiction writing: I wasn’t very creative. But I found that I really enjoyed non-fiction. My first paid job was writing about bars. It paid $12 a review. I lost money every review because my tab was more than my pay. It snowballed into nightlife writing. I got more editorial experience and was doing a lot of freelancing for other publications. I was mainly writing about pop culture, relationships and men’s interests. I was approach by a publishing company about writing a humor book about “man rules.” Also around that time, I was approached about starting a website that would be a resource for men getting married called ThePlunge.com. The publisher liked my voice and wanted me to write it. Then I started writing about that subject for various magazines. I just released my third book and am also doing some marketing strategy and analysis work for a company on the side.

At this point in your life, what do you enjoy doing the most?

Writing-wise, I tend to gravitate towards guys’ thoughts on relationships, but have enjoyed going outside of that this year, like talking about the world’s next super powers, or military history, or how California is exporting more wine to China. Writing gives you constant intellectual nourishment. I am enjoying more exploration of niche topics. I wrote an article about ancient monks this year.

You have made some bold career changes. Did you view those as risks? How did you overcome the fear of learning and doing something new?

I definitely viewed them as risks and it was actually part of the appeal. I am a bit of a risk seeker. I joined the Marine Corps when I was at UT. I liked the idea of testing myself. This was another way of testing myself. Sticking with the chosen path of finance would have been the safe and optimized path as far as money, but I knew it didn’t really jive in my gut with what I wanted to do. I knew at that gut level that the writing path squared with my deeper motivations, so I was able to ignore the risk and move forward. My business background also provided a safety net. I knew I would always be able to find another job in finance or marketing if I wanted to.

Tell me about the books you have written.

The first book I was approached about writing was The Maxims of Manhood: 100 Rules Every Real Man Must Live By. I don’t claim to be an expert. I just try to be entertaining. After I published that book, I was framed as a “man expert.” My second book was The Man Cave. Clearly that’s my Pulitizer-bait. Andrea Syrtash and I wrote a new book about how dating rules are all dumb, titled It’s Okay to Sleep with Him on the First Date: And Every Other Rule of Dating, Debunked.

I wasn’t prepared for people I knew actually reading my books. When my first book came out, people I hadn’t talked to in years were contacting me about it. That book was very personal. I included more than I would have if I had thought through who would be reading it. It was both cool and horrifying that people I knew – and my parents—were reading it and asking me about parts of it. It is very hard to write about relationships while you are in a relationship and I have made mistakes in the past, revealing maybe more than I should. I don’t do that anymore, but it is still awkward to write about my private life in detail. It is a major career hazard.

As someone who has never been married, what prompted you to start ThePlunge.com, a website for grooms, and why do you think people connect with your advice?

It was important to us to have a mission of brutal candor and be really honest. We felt like the other websites out there for grooms weren’t true to how guys think. The publisher actually really liked the fact that I wasn’t married. I wasn’t biased by my own experience and I wasn’t accountable to a wife and could be really honest. I do a lot of research and do a lot of interviews to try to instill grooms’ perspectives and voices into my articles.

I think people connect with the irreverence. A spoon full of sarcasm helps the wedding planning go down. The tone is different. I think guys can really relate to my voice.

How do you think BHP prepared you for all you have done?

It pushed me to ask questions, challenge myself, and do new things. I love that I have BHP as my background. My favorite class was advanced stats with Dr. Jay Koehler. He talked about how so much of the world is explained by statistics. It has influenced my writing. That business background—I hope—gives my writing more texture. It has been useful to have a business foundation.  Having done business at the beginning of my career, it gave me more confidence to do something very different and really do what I wanted to do.

What is the most valuable thing you have learned in your career so far?

Say yes. It was especially important at the beginning of my writing career. I had a lot of wacky writing offers that didn’t make sense at first. I tended to say yes and that has opened surprising doors. Now I can look back at my career and see a through-line. The hub is guy’s perspectives on relationships and culture. While I was doing it though, it felt really random. I was open to rolling the dice on new projects, and there were a lot of positive ripple effects.

What is next for you?

I am working on a new book of personal essays about the awkwardness of dating as an adult, defined as being of a certain age when most of your friends are married. There is pressure when the rest of your friends are all married and have children. Also, more freelance writing for magazines.

Any words of wisdom for current BHP students?

I don’t know how wise this is, but I don’t think there is a chosen path that anyone has to follow. No matter what you are studying now or what your interests are now, that might change. Don’t be afraid to explore other interests. Even though it might not be the logical next step, it might pay off in the long run.

Alumni Spotlight: Greg Gerstenhaber, Class of ’97 – Partner at Bain & Co.

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Greg Gerstenhaber is a partner in the Dallas office of Bain & Company. Greg graduated in 1997 with degrees in BHP and Finance and joined Bain immediately after graduation. He has been with the company for 16 years now and his experience includes airline, automotive, defense, construction, retail, manufacturing, and waste management. Most of his recent work has been in the industrial practice covering strategy and performance improvement. We visited with Greg to hear more about what he is doing now.

Tell me about your career progression coming up to what you are doing now.

I started with Bain as an associate consultant right after graduation. I did that for three years, then left for two years to get my MBA from Harvard. My business school tuition was paid for by Bain with the expectation that I would come back, and I did. When I returned, I was a consultant for two years, then was promoted to a manager and did that for four years. I was promoted again in 2008 to partner. Now my time is mostly spent on strategy work as well as performance improvement.   I also lead our MBA recruiting efforts for Texas as well.

You consult with a number of different industries. Which type of industry do you enjoy working with the most and why?

There isn’t any one industry. I have the most fun when I am working with industries that are going through a lot of change and the work we are doing has significant impact on our client’s business. In 2008, I was working with home building and there was so much change taking place with home prices falling dramatically that it was really challenging and exciting work.

What is most challenging about the work you do?

It is fast-paced. It is always a challenge to learn a new industry. To learn a new industry you have to really dig into analyst reports and other industry materials to try to absorb as much knowledge as possible. We have found over time that one of the key ways of delivering value to clients is integrated expertise. By being able to work in different industries and different types of companies, we develop our expertise in a certain industry, but we also bring new ideas and perspectives from having worked with other industries and clients. There is a threshold level of expertise that we bring to a client, but we also know that we create a lot of value by bringing a broader perspective to the table.

How do you approach the strategy work you do?

We have a tried and true approach that we use for strategy work. We start with the same core sets of tools. We first make sure we understand the current situation and have a data driven factbase.  . We then work closely with our clients to identify strategic options and then evaluate them with data. We will come up with a hypothesis of what the answer might look like, then collect the data and do the analysis to prove or disprove the hypothesis.   Through all of this, we use a methodology called “profit from the core”. Companies should define and understand what their core is, and look for opportunities that are as close to the core as possible. We have a very tried and true core strategy approach that is very effective at creating value for our clients.  .

How can students prepare themselves to do something similar to what you are doing?

We look for people who are passionate about what we do and have a track record of being challenged and doing well academically. We also want people who have been involved on campus and have taken on leadership roles on campus. Strong analytical skills are important in this job.  We utilize a case interview method which is a very effective way for testing fit for the associate consultant job.

How have things changed at Bain over the 16 years you have been there?

I will tell you what has and hasn’t changed. What has changed is that we have grown at a very high rate. We are substantially larger now vs when I started in 1997. We have probably grown about 10 percent a year since I started working here. We have also moved towards more of a practice area focus. We have developed and advanced IP, while still enabling people to have a variety of work experience. The biggest thing that has not changed is our core mission and our core values of how we work with and deliver for our clients. We take the time to periodically reevaluate our mission and priorities, but we always come back to the same core set of values.  Our business is all about our ability to deliver for our clients and help them to achieve results.  Our entire DNA as a firm revolves around that.

The one constant at Bain no matter what level you are at is that you will always feel challenged.  The type of work you do and roles and responsibilities will change overtime. I am less involved in the analytics and spend more time with the actual clients now. Someone coming into Bain could expect that their responsibilities will continue to grow over time, as they have for me.

How do you think your BHP education prepared you for what you are doing now?

I think it prepared me really well. The emphasis on case studies really helped to lay the ground work for the variety and the types of cases I see. The curriculum was challenging and it prepared me well. BHP has so much respect within Bain. We know that people in BHP are being prepared well and coming from a respected program. The program has benefited me in such a tremendous way.  We are truly excited to come back to campus each year and meet the BHP students.

Do you have any regrets from your time on the 40 Acres? Anything you wish you would have done differently?

I wish it didn’t go as fast as it did! I feel so fortunate to have been in the BHP. I was really involved in the business council and was president of that my senior year. I was in HBA and the Cabinet of College Councils as well. These experiences were incredibly valuable to me and gave me real practical experience in working with teams to accomplish something. It was also just a lot of fun. I made friendships that have really stayed with me.

I have had a lot of good networking opportunities with my BHP classmates since graduation. When I started by MBA at Harvard, there were a couple BHP grads there who I connected with. I have also kept in touch with BHP grads in the Dallas area who are in prominent positions that I can call upon when I need advice or help.

Do you have any advice for current students?

Your time in the BHP is one of the best times you will have to learn. Take advantage of the variety of great learning experiences you get to have. Get involved in various activities on campus and have fun.

Student Spotlight: Jay Shah – Texas 4000 Rider

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Junior Jay Shah is majoring in BHP, Finance and Computer Science. Much of his time this year has been devoted to being a member of the Texas 4000 team. He will be one of about 70 students to ride from Austin to Alaska this summer to raise money and awareness for cancer research. We sat down with Jay to find out more about him and his experience so far with Texas 4000. You can read more about Jay on his blog at jayshah.me.

What have you enjoyed most about being in the BHP?

I come from a small high school, TAMS, and was used to having a close-knit community and it has been nice to have that experience again in the BHP. I transferred in my sophomore year. I really wanted to be a part of BHP and take advantage of the small class sizes and great community. BHP students are eclectic and high-caliber. It is refreshing to be around people that are so driven.

You are also a computer science major. How do your degree plans complement each other and what do you plan to do after graduation?

Both degrees challenge me in different ways and the culture of both majors is very different. I feel like I am having a very holistic experience doing both majors. In computer science, everyone is very focused just on that, but in business, there is a lot more career diversity. In computer science you are thinking very logically and technically, but it is not strategy like it is in business with the cases we work on. Computer science is almost all theory. After graduation I would like to go into consulting or tech management.

Tell me about Loku, the start-up that you are involved in?

Loku is a website and a mobile app. Their moto is helping you live local and they aim to connect people with every local aspect of their community. It was started by a BHP alumnus and I heard about them my freshman year. They reached out to me and asked me to help them with their business development. I ran the sales team for a month, helped with user acquisition strategies, helped with the PR and social media, and much more. Being at a start-up you get to wear multiple hats. I learned so much that summer – from management to sales, to marketing, and even some engineering.

What is the Texas 4000 for Cancer and why did you get involved in it?

It is a group of about 70 students who bike from Austin to Alaska to raise money and awareness for cancer. We ride for 70 days, for a total of 4,500 miles. All proceeds go to cancer research at MD Anderson, and last year they raised $350,000. The non-profit has raised around $4 million since its inception in 2004. I really wanted to do something outside of the business school and learn more about non-profits. Leadership is stressed at McCombs, but this program has helped me learn how to really connect with people and be a better leader. The people in Texas 4000 have different ways of thinking, yet we all do it for a common cause. I think the program has helped me learn how to motivate people and connect with people on an emotional level.

What is your role in it this year and what are your personal goals related to it?

I am on the program committee, so I am the program lead. We host programs in every city we stop at along the way. We share information about why we are riding, cancer statistics, and encourage people in the local community to get cancer screenings. I am in charge of that programming. I train our riders on how to connect with people when presenting and be memorable. If more people get screened earlier and donate to the cause after hearing the program, I will feel we have been successful.

Every rider is required to raise a dollar for every mile we ride ($4,500), so we have all been reaching out to our friends, families and communities. Riders in the past have raised as much as $20,000. I would love for anyone who wants to donate to the cause to help support us. No amount is too small. Every day we share stories about how cancer has affected people, so people who donate whose life was impacted by cancer can let me know and I will share that with the group. My donation site is Bit.ly/donatetojay.

You have participated in multiple case competitions during your time here. Why do you enjoy doing them?

Case competitions are great because you get the chance to apply what you learn in the classroom to real life examples. It isn’t just about how strong of a solution you have, it is also about how well you can convey your ideas and how strong of a speaker you are. It is also a great creative outlet, where you can take what you learn and find new ways to apply that information to solve problems. I find it interesting to learn how companies critique ideas to help prepare for the workplace. Judges will ask certain questions that you never really thought about. It is also a great way to work with a team and learn more about your personal strengths and weaknesses.

Fun and Games at Professor O’Hara’s HBA DWAP Event

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written by Rachel Solomon

On Thursday, April 11, 2013, Accounting Professor William O’Hara and his wife, Beverly, took a group of 80 BHP students to Dave & Busters for a night of food, games, and bonding. After feasting on a delicious (and unlimited!) buffet of salad, chicken, salmon, rice, and an enormous plate of desserts, we rushed over to the arcade and started competing against each other in games of trivia, Dance Dance Revolution, and much more. Professor O’Hara challenged a group of students to a game of trivia and ended the night with a round of Doodle Jump on a giant screen.

As a small thank you to Professor O’Hara, we decided to follow the trend started by last year’s DWAP (Dinner With A Professor) attendees and pool our tickets together to win a giant teddy bear, musical tie, camcorder, and several other prizes for O’Hara.

While leaving Dave & Buster’s, I overheard many of my friends talking about how much fun it was to just be a kid again. Running around in an arcade and racing cars, throwing basketballs, and beating each other in air hockey was just the escape we needed from the stress of midterms, recruiting, and securing our summer plans. On behalf of everyone who attended the DWAP, we want to thank the O’Hara’s for providing us with the opportunity to relive our childhoods, if only for a couple of hours.