Mary Elizabeth Johnson

May 6, 2019
Senior Project | Final Report

I set out on this Senior Project to explore careers in fields that interest me to gain an

understanding of how my current skill set can translate into a profession. The purpose of this

project is to give my college experience more direction as I will have a better understanding of

the types of careers and educational opportunities beyond my four years. Through interviewing

individuals with diverse backgrounds who are at different stages in their career, I hoped to glean

as much advice and information as possible to kickstart my journey down whatever path I

choose. I also have begun building a network of successful individuals I can reach out to for

advice in the future.

I am attempting to squeeze every last drop of knowledge I can get out of The Walker

School. As a Walker student, I am surrounded by peers with successful parents who come from a

wide variety of backgrounds and have found success in an array of endeavors. Looking into the

future, I do not know when I will ever have the same opportunity to be surrounded by individuals

with such a wealth of knowledge, experience, and advice to give.

Over the course of my Senior Project, I spoke to eight people about their careers and their

unique paths to their current positions. I talked to CEO’s and entry-level consultants two years

out of college. The individuals I spoke to have education levels ranging from masters to high

school graduates. I was able to gain a better understanding of careers in banking, consulting,

philanthropy, business, law, and campaign managing. The following are reports on everyone I

had the pleasure of interviewing.

Mary Elizabeth Johnson
May 6, 2019
Senior Project | Final Report

Paul Murphy:​ Cadence Bank: President and CEO

Paul Murphy is the President and CEO of Cadence Bank. Mr. Murphy lives in Houston,

Texas, where the national Cadence bank is headquartered. He was visiting Atlanta to meet with

his board of directors. Mr. Murphy occasionally travels, next week he will travel to New York to

give a presentation to possible investors. Speaking with Mr. Murphy gave me insight into the

world of commercial banking. He went to Mississippi State in Starkville, Mississippi and moved

to Houston upon graduation, there he began his banking career a Junior Commercial Loan

Officer with Allied Bank of Texas and continued to move up the ranks and became President of

Southwest Bank of Texas, until they sold the company to Zion bank. Cadence Bank is a

culmination of multiple failed state banks, purchased by an investment group as a result of the

financial crisis in 2008 and streamlinned the banks operations into the national bank Cadence is

today. Cadence recently went public.

Mr. Murphy has a diverse day-to-day experience, most of the time, in some way involves

a great deal of communicating. As the President and CEO, he is in charge of the operations of the

entire company, and communicating with the six people on the board of directors.

When asked about getting an MBA, he said it is not always necessary. "Some companies

need you immediately, and you can pick up on a lot of the skills you would learn through work

experience.” Mr. Murphy highly recommended taking accounting classes in college and said that

the "liberal arts undergraduate degree is one school of thought in business," and just getting a

business undergraduate degree is another.

Mary Elizabeth Johnson
May 6, 2019
Senior Project | Final Report

Mr. Murphy has a six-week internship program at Cadence Bank over the summer, but

offered me a three-week internship, due to my busy schedule, and offered a place to stay for the

three weeks I would need to be in Houston.

Sloan Coolbroth:​ Manhattan Associates: Consultant

Sloan is a consultant for Manhattan Associates, a company that sells software and helps

to incorporate the software into the purchasing companies to achieve the most efficient results. A

majority of his time is spent as the communicator between the managerial team at the company

and the individuals based in India who are writing code for Manhattan Associates software. A

graduate of the University of South Carolina, Sloan majored in International Business and saw

himself pursuing a career in International Business traveling abroad for work and getting his

MBA within five years. Currently, he has no plans to get his MBA, the opportunity cost of

sacrificing a full-time salary to work part time and divide his focus between night school and

work is not advantageous at the moment. Sloan said that entry-level consultants have about a

50% chance their firm will pay for them to pursue an MBA.

Sloan enjoys traveling to an extent, some projects he works on could last a couple of

weeks, and some a couple of years. His travel fluctuates depending on the companies needs.

Currently, he is out of town one out of every two weeks, consulting with the Belk company.

Sloan said he can easily grow tired of living out of a suitcase in a hotel and only eating out for

weeks at a time.
Mary Elizabeth Johnson
May 6, 2019
Senior Project | Final Report

A piece of advice Sloan gave for when I am looking for a job, to look for a company that

has a training program that heavily recruits straight out of college. He has a class of about 30

young adults his age that have become an immediate group of friends. Going to college out of

state, this helped Sloan transition back to Atlanta.

Sloan hasn't thought too much about what he sees himself doing in the next 20 years, but

he knows he eventually wants to own his own business and be self-employed. He is beginning to

dabble in real estate and considering commercial real estate as a possible future career.

Melanie Mortimer:​ SIFMA Foundation: President and CEO

Melanie Mortimer is the President of the SIFMA Foundation, an organization that

teaches financial literacy to underserved populations. The foundation has four programs called

"Invest it Forward,” “The Stock Market Game,” “Invest Write,” and the “Capitol Hill

Challenge.”

The SIFMA Foundation reaches 60,000 students, 12,000 schools, and 15,000 teachers a

year in all 50 states, and 60 countries. SIFMA partners with 30 other non-profits who help with

outreach including at least one in every state, for example, the Virginia Council of Economic

Education. Operating on a total of 5 million dollars in donations a year the SIFMA Foundation

has 12 full-time workers and five part-time workers.

Investment in technology is a vital part of the foundation's successful operation. The

foundation has created a simulation of an investment platform like Charles Schwab or Etrade that

is the only one of its kind. As a result, the technology department has to be continually updating
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May 6, 2019
Senior Project | Final Report

and fixing technical issues. Ms. Mortimer explained to me some of the topics included in their

curriculum; one of which was impact investing which is investing in a company that is making

an impact or doing something with which you agree.

As the President, Ms. Mortimer oversees all the foundations operations and reports to a

board of directors which is made up of volunteer individuals from different sectors including

CEOs from the banking and financial industries. Her day-to-day varies, between meetings she

usually answers emails or works with the foundation staff. A large part of Ms. Mortimer's job is

raising money for operations and getting marketing/technology approved by the board of

directors, writing grant reports and planning awards ceremonies for students who complete the

SIFMA curriculum.

The SIFMA Foundation has worked with all 535 members of Congress, matching each

person with a school in their respective district. Ms. Mortimer commented that many of these

congressmen haven't been inside of a high school in many years, so the visit often serves as an

eye-opening experience. She mentioned that policymakers at the state level are responsible for

deciding whether or not there should be financial education in schools. Ms. Mortimer often

interacts with volunteers from the financial sector who serve as guest speakers or invite students

to shadow them at their firms. The Foundation has taken many of the students it serves to see

NASDAQ, the Opening/Closing Bell, and the New York Stock Exchange.

Ms.Mortimer was an English Literature and Creative Writing major at Agnes Scott

College with a passion for writing. She was granted a fellowship to intern, study International

Management, and earn her MBA in Japan. While in Japan, she interned for City Magazine and
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May 6, 2019
Senior Project | Final Report

worked her way up to Senior Editor concentrating on intercultural communications. She enjoys

telling a story and uses this skill a lot in her current position especially when writing grants and

speaking to media. Non-profit work requires storytelling mixed with the art of persuasion to be

able to secure funding. Ms. Mortimer then spent four years at the Tokyo Journal. Next, she

moved to the corporate sphere which required technical writing for business, speechwriting for

CEO's, and a spearheading a Global Magazine for the company for which she worked. She was

responsible for all of the correspondence that had to be written in English. After seven years in

Tokyo, Ms. Mortimer moved to New York City and worked for a corporate foundation

(essentially giving their money away for them). She focused on granting money to organizations

that Educated Underserved Youth. Ms. Mortimer then took a job at the Merrill Lynch

Foundation where she read and made grants. This job allowed her to visit the White House

several times, work with the Sesame Street producers and the United Nations where she met with

ambassadors. Ms. Mortimer was doing a plethora of different tasks at Merrill Lynch drawing

upon her marketing and communications skills as well as her global experience until the

leadership at the company was restructured. Under new leadership, her job became more of

record keeping, CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) which is primarily managing Merrill

Lynch's commitment to diversity.

No longer content with the work she was doing, Ms. Mortimer searched for a new job

and was approached by three foundations that were merging. They needed someone to do the

merger. Ms. Mortimer admits that this project chewed her up and spat her out. As she dealt with

organizational challenges, rebuilding the boards, and fixing financial issues. Ms. Mortimer was
Mary Elizabeth Johnson
May 6, 2019
Senior Project | Final Report

willing to challenge herself by taking on this project and try something new. It took a great leap

of faith for her to leave her steady job and create a position for herself through merging these

three foundations. But, out of the merger, the SIFMA Foundation was born. Ms. Mortimer has

spent the last ten years at the SIFMA Foundation.

In her current position, Ms. Mortimer taps into all of her skills and enjoys having a deep

meaning to her job as she feels she truly makes a difference. Her advice for working in the

non-profit sphere is to focus a lot of energy on budgeting, be respectful and honest to those you

work with, always be willing to learn something new and innovate on what you have done in the

past. Her favorite parts of the job are "building a community of people around the impact of

work." She loves talking to students, especially the young ones, who go through the program as

well as their teacher. Looking back on her time at SIFMA she says she also finds extreme joy in

receiving a million dollar check in the mail from a grant into which she poured her heart and

soul. Her favorite part of financial literacy is when students defy what is expected of them by

their wealth of financial knowledge after graduating from the program.

The hardest part of her job is without a doubt fundraising as there are more and more

non-profits every year and the pool of donations becomes more focused and harder to access.

Presenting to a company and then being denied and not receiving the grant of funding is another

challenging part of her job. As financial education is an intellectual issue, many large companies

do not see its importance when there are so many other issues, for example, hunger or poverty,

but what these companies do not realize is that financial education breaks the vicious cycle of
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May 6, 2019
Senior Project | Final Report

poverty and allows these students to be self-sufficient in the future. The issue of financial

illiteracy is becoming more, and more of a problem as student debt continues to rise.

Ms. Mortimer's advice to me, as I am interested in pursuing a career in philanthropy, is to

research foundations and find one I am passionate about. She suggested I visit

"philanthropynewyork.org" and explore the different foundations to see if any of them align with

issues that are important to me. She then advises I look at my plan for the next four years in

college and see if my coursework compliments non-profit work in the specific area I have

identified and apply early for an internship.

Jim Lauder:​ Global Index Advisors: President and CEO

Jim Lauder grew up in south Alabama attending the University of Alabama for one

semester before "failing out." He then enrolled at the University of South Alabama pursuing a

degree in Finance. He graduated as the top finance student and was always told to go into

banking. Upon graduation went to work for Bobby Guthans and soon participated in the

American South Bank management training program (like an internship) in Birmingham. He

worked for four years on both the retail side of banking working with people and the commercial

side of banking. Mr. Lauder commented that he enjoyed the commercial side more than retail

which he described as "awful." Mr. Lauder decided after the suggested five years of business

experience that it was time to get his MBA. Emory's Business School gave him a scholarship and

an accelerated path to be done in 12 months, as he was married with a house in Mobile, AL

Emory was the best option for him. Business strategies and business statics/forecasting interested
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May 6, 2019
Senior Project | Final Report

him during his time in business school and he participated in some directed studies. He borrowed

$75,000 to pay his way through school. At the time, he wanted to pursue consulting as it is a

"good career for a young person," because of the frequent travel, expense accounts given to each

person, and the diversity of work as you move from assignment to assignment fairly quickly.

While Mr. Lauder was consulting and traveling frequently, a headhunter came to him and asked

if he would be interested in pursuing internal consulting strategy at Suntrust Bank, this was in

2000 when his first child was born, and he took the offer looking to travel less. After a year with

Suntrust, he left due to disagreements with his boss. This was around the time of 9/11, so work

grew hard to find. In 2002, through connections, Mr. Lauder got in contact with a man looking

for help running the business side of his startup called "Global Index Advisors." The company

had about $70,000 in sales and was backed by a venture capitalist who ended up going bankrupt.

Global Index Advisors threatened bankruptcy several times, and at one of the low points, Mr.

Lauder purchased 750 names and started cold calling people in an attempt to find more backers.

Through making cold calls, he found that he enjoyed selling things. Mr. Lauder then

designed the product that skyrocketed Global Index Advisors into the 20 billion dollar company

it became. The product Mr. Lauder developed was "a strategy for managing money mutual

funds," my understanding is that it is an algorithm that calculates risk and spreads investments

across different platforms to minimize the amount of risk in investing as much as possible. He

was able to "quantifiably reduce risk." Mr. Lauder says that designing the product involved a bit

of "dumb luck," but he truly believes that his nonconventional background gave him "fresh eyes"

when looking at the market. Global Index Advisors proceeded to sell the product "like crazy,"
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May 6, 2019
Senior Project | Final Report

and Mr. Lauder found himself presenting across the country, selling to Dow Jones and Wells

Fargo. He sold Global Index Advisors a couple of years ago; he wanted to "get work out of the

way so he could play." While working as the President and CEO of Global Index Advisors, Mr.

Lauder's day-to-day involved "talking to people." The company had shareholders, and for two

out of three weeks Mr. Lauder would travel trying to win business. He describes the position of

CEO as being the "lead sales guy." Every year, Mr. Lauder would be asked to speak at four to

five conventions, so time in his office might be spent working on presentations or forecasting

(managing the books).

Mr. Lauder enjoyed being "at the top of the big business game," but another career he is

interested in, looking back, is being a consultant hired to manage a businesses 401k. Because

401k's are tightly regulated, they need consultants to help the company meet "fiduciary

standards." He would recommend a career in consulting to any young person, because of the

travel, but admits it is hard to reach partner level on this path. On the investment side of

consulting, as the consultant you get equity in every project you work on, so you get returns on

projects even after you've finished working on them.

Mr. Lauder had me write down the company "KPMG Consulting - Mergers and

Acquisitions" as a company I should look into in the future if I am ever interested in pursuing

consulting. He also had me jot down "Mackenzie Strategy Consulting, Booz Allen Hamilton, and

Cambridge Consulting."

He also suggested I seize every opportunity to network with people especially at the

University of Virginia as he says I will want to network with "that caliber of people."
Mary Elizabeth Johnson
May 6, 2019
Senior Project | Final Report

Additionally, he advised that, as a young person, I should take more risks and save aggressively.

Saving 10% of your income and letting someone invest it, is one of the best things a young

person can do to establish a solid fiscal foundation.

Mr. Lauder's Book List:

White Papers - Behavioral Finance

Think Tank

Fooled by Randomness

Guns, Germs, and Steel

A Brief History of the World (Major Lessons)

Swinson Moore:​ Vista Equity Partners: Consultant (“Internal Consulting”)

Swinson Moore currently works for Vista Equity Partners which is the largest company

in the world that only invests in SAS (Software as a Service) and Data Companies. Vista Equity

Partners has around 52 billion dollars to invest in these types of companies. Swin describes his

specific role at the company as "internal consulting," essentially he works with the management

team of a specific company Vista Equity Partners has purchased to help them streamline their

operations. He will work on making the company more efficient, essentially running the

company is Swin’s responsibility until Vista Equity Partners sells the company. Currently, Swin

is working with a company called "Numerator."

Mary Elizabeth Johnson
May 6, 2019
Senior Project | Final Report

While in his sophomore year at Dartmouth College he got an internship in investment

banking through Dartmouth alumni, Murray Beach, a Senior Advisor to TM Capital Corp. Swin

worked in mergers and acquisitions which he described as "being a real estate broker but for a

business." His time was spent composing financial models on companies, and he learned a lot

about different types of businesses.

After graduating from Dartmouth, Swin worked at TM Capital Corp for a period of time

before enrolling at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business. Swin currently works

for Vista Equity Partners while he is finishing up his MBA. At Vista Equity Partners, a majority

of Swin's time is spent analyzing data, and creating presentations to present to senior leadership

at the company, essentially convincing them to approve the project Swin thinks would be

profitable. Swin admits that his least favorite part of his job is the data analysis and data

aggregation, but his favorite part is time on the ground with the company talking to the

management. Additionally, Swin enjoys face to face conversations, conceptual thinking, and

strategizing. He spends 1 - 2 weeks a month at the company to frame his thinking around the

product. In his time at Vista Equity Partners, he has delivered three presentations all about three

hours in length. Swin's dream job is to be the CEO of a company.

Swin's advice to me is to start early with internships and jobs to build a skillset and learn

about different business models. Work experience, he says, is one of the best ways to prepare

yourself for a business career. He also suggested I at least minor in Philosophy. As a Philosophy

major, Swin attributes much of his logical frame of thinking to the classes he took, specifically

one class called "Reason and Argument."

Mary Elizabeth Johnson
May 6, 2019
Senior Project | Final Report

​Swin has spent around a quarter of a million dollars on his education in the past two

years; when factoring in opportunity cost, he will have spent about $400,000 - $500,000 to get

his MBA. When asked "cost versus return, is an MBA worth it if you are not sure exactly what

you want to do," Swin replied that if you were able to make enough connections in Business

school to be able to make one deal that turns a profit greater than your cost (and opportunity

cost) of getting your MBA, then it would be worth it. Swin wholeheartedly believes that the

name of the MBA program matters and he suggests that if I were able to get into a top five

business school, I should go.

Courtney Moore:​ Morgan Stanley: Wealth and Estate Planning Specialist for Private
Wealth Management

Mrs. Moore is the Wealth and Estate Planning Specialist for Private Wealth Management

(PMW) in the Southeast for Morgan Stanley in the Tax, Trust, and Estates section of Family

Office Resources. She oversees Morgan Stanley clients in the Southeast which encompasses

states from Maryland to Florida. She loves her current job, specifically her ability to work from

home most days and travel sporadically for work. Working, at most, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm five days

a week (including travel), her schedule is relatively flexible when she does not have client

meetings. She has a yearly salary with a yearly bonus that fluctuates depending on a series of

factors, like how much revenue she brings in for the company, how well the company did that

year etc. The amount of bonus she is given is, however, arbitrary (made up not by a formula, but

by a series of factors defined by the firm). Some lawyers are paid by the hour, the client will pay
Mary Elizabeth Johnson
May 6, 2019
Senior Project | Final Report

a guaranteed flat rate to meet with the lawyer, and some are paid a yearly salary, partners, on the

other hand, are paid a negotiable percentage of the firm's' earnings.

One of the main takeaways from my conversation with Ms. Moore is that there are many

types of law; one does not need to do litigation law to be able to make use of a law degree. Ms.

Moore's insight on law school was constructive as she explained that the name of the law school

matters to an extent, stating that "hard work at any law school can still get you where you want

to be, but the path is more difficult." Additionally, she was told that where you decide to go to

law school should be somewhere near where you want to settle down (and possibly practice).

One of Ms. Moore's regrets, looking back, is not setting herself on a track to be a Partner

and continuing to work while raising her children. She explained that the road to Partner is made

almost impossible if one spends years away from a firm to raise kids. Ms. Moore shared that she

didn't enjoy the idleness that came with being a stay at home mother as she enjoys using her

mind and solving problems. I find myself always trying to keep busy and growing bored on

extended breaks from school, so Ms. Moore's account resonated with me in this respect.

Christopher Brimer:​ Board Member at Canal Partners Media: Campaign Media

Mr. Christopher Brimer is a partner at Canal Partners Media. The firm consults

Democratic candidates and interest groups across the country and buys media time for the

candidates. The candidates will give his firm a budget and the consultants employed at the firm

will discuss with the candidate their best plan of action. Once they have agreed upon a plan of
Mary Elizabeth Johnson
May 6, 2019
Senior Project | Final Report

action Canal Partners Media will carry out the plan by calling the different media entities and

schedule air/radio time or buy ad space.

I had the opportunity to visit Mr. Brimer at his office at the Atlanta Battery for his

interview. During my time at the office, I interviewed Mr. Brimer and founder of the firm Mr.

Bobby Kahn as well as several strategists that work in the office. I also had the opportunity to sit

in on a presentation by "radio.com." The media platform "radio.com" came to Canal Partners

Media (and brought lunch) to encourage Canal Partner Media to use and recommend their

platform specifically because of its ability to target audiences underrepresented by traditional

media platforms.

Most of the partners at the firm have different backgrounds, some in political science,

some in law, and business. Mr. Brimer has experience in political science working for

campaigns. I also spoke with Mr. Bobby Kahn, founder of the company, who has a background

in law as well as working on campaigns, as the Chief of Staff for the Governor of Georgia, and

the Chairman of the Democratic Party. He started the company after suing a series of media

firms for mistreating candidates. (Candidates are supposed to receive the same benefits and

discounts as corporations which they were not before Mr. Kahn's lawsuit which went all the way

to the Supreme Court.

Mr. Brimers' hours fluctuate throughout the year when the firm has many clients

(candidates or interest groups) during the offseason (not election season) his hours are lighter

around 9:00 am - 4:00 pm. However, during election season everyone at the firm will be in the

office from "the early hours of the morning" until "late in the evening" and then working at
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May 6, 2019
Senior Project | Final Report

home. Mr. Brimer told me that during November he usually wakes up at 4:00 am and leaves the

office at 10:00 pm.

One of Mr. Brimer's favorite parts about his job is that he feels he is doing good for

causes and candidates in which he believes. He admits that most candidates he interacts with are

career politicians, but some he genuinely believes are "in it for the right reasons." Mr. Brimer

also enjoys strategizing and thinking through the best ways to get clients message out there in a

way that will make the voters respond. I found the giant United States map they had on the wall

very interesting as it was marked with the different candidates and interest groups they were

working on across the country.

Carmen Foskey Bergman:​ Georgia Republican Party: Campaign Managing

Carmen Foskey Bergman, formerly Carmen Foskey, was the Georgia GOP director at

21-year-old. At 16, she was an intern for U.S. Representative Austin Scott, then at 17, she was a

staffer for David Perdue’s U.S. Senate campaign (take note she was still in High School). She

then ran state Representative Shaw Blackmon’s campaign. Next, at 19, she ran the campaign of

businessman Eddie DeLoach, running for Savannah mayor, and won. Savannah hadn’t elected a

Republican-leaning mayor since 1991. While managing Republican U.S. Rep. Doug Collins’s

re-election bid, she enrolled at the University of Georgia and was soon the chief-of-staff for the

Student Government Association’s president. Finally, she worked on John Watson's campaign

for GOP chair. The common thread with all of these campaigns is that she won them all. Foskey

was then named the Georgia Republican party’s political director and spokeswoman.
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May 6, 2019
Senior Project | Final Report

In my meeting with twenty-three-year-old Mrs. Bergman, she informed me that she is

still enrolled at the University of Georgia and taking classes online. She is about two years away

from graduating. She shared the journey that led her to her current position starting with her

internships in high school. Her senior year she was accepted to Brown University, which Mrs.

Bergman relays was her "dream school," however she deferred her acceptance to continue her

work. With every intention to attend Brown after a semester she received a letter from a Brown

student who heard about her work in the Georgia Republican Party and asked if Foskey could

“find the time to sit down" with the student so they could "help [her] see the light.” At that point,

Foskey decided to decline her acceptance to Brown and put all of her efforts into her work.

Carmen Foskey Bergman works extremely hard, especially on campaigns, as she feels it

is necessary for the winning streak she has. She works remarkably long hours and is a firm

believer that hard work beats strategy. Bergman admits that she has very little interest in running

for office as she enjoys the behind the scenes work. Additionally, she does not believe that she

would enjoy lobbying as a profession as it requires a lot of schmoozing, which she does not

enjoy. (Foskey works closely with many lobbyists including John Watson).

When asked about whether or not she feels discriminated against or treated differently at

work because of her sex, Bergman replied that she does not feel discriminated against as a

woman working within the Republican Party as she believes she is respected for her work, not

her gender.
Mary Elizabeth Johnson
May 6, 2019
Senior Project | Final Report

Conclusion​:
A common philosophy of every individual I spoke with was to get as much work

experience as possible in paid or unpaid internships over the summer or after school. Work

experience is more valuable than anything learned in a classroom. From meeting with these

individuals, I learned that time is precious, especially your time in college. In high school, the

best way to make oneself marketable to a college is largely based off of the grades one earns, the

classes one takes and one’s involvement in the community. In college, the best way to make

myself marketable to an employer is to fill my time with meaningful hands-on work experiences.

My Senior Project experience solidified my existing desire to seize as many meaningful

opportunities over the next four years as possible, but it also helped me narrow the breadth of

opportunities of which I am willing to take advantage.

Learning about each person’s career was extremely interesting because I had no idea a lot

of their positions even existed. But, I had to be able to take a step back and imagine doing their

job every day. Often, when imagining myself in interviewee’s shoes every day, their career

becomes less intriguing. I spent a great deal of time contemplating whether this was simply the

nature of a “job,” or if I just had not found the right one yet. The saying “if you love your job,

you will never work a day in your life,” rings in my ears, but I have no idea what job that could

be for me. A couple of weeks ago I saw a commercial for the TCM Wine Club, which is a

booster club for Turner Classic Movies. To be a member, one pays a flat monthly fee, and they

send you wine paired with a Turner Classic Movie. During the commercial, they interviewed the

woman who sources wine for the TCM Wine Club, she travels all over the world sourcing wine
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May 6, 2019
Senior Project | Final Report

and pairing each bottle with a movie. She concluded the short interview about the technique she

uses to pair each wine and film by saying, “I love my job.” I would love her job too. There are

many jobs I think I could find immense happiness doing, being a food critic in New York or a

reviewer of Broadway shows. Studying movies for Disney or Universal Studios and helping the

design team bring the film to life in one of the theme parks. Working for a think tank where

people present me with information and want to know what I think about it would be enjoyable.

There are probably many of these “gem” careers out there, but as my father says, “they aren’t

interviewing for these positions straight out of college.”

After my mini-existential crises about how inevitably I will probably have to have a job I

do not enjoy all of the time, I got realistic. Mr. Lauder said it best, “I got work out of the way so

I could play,” and if I can’t find a “gem” career that I love to death, I will work to get work out

of the way.

Going into my conversation with Swin Moore, I assumed that an MBA was a necessary

part of pursuing a career in business. As Swin is at Booth Business School at the University of

Chicago, I asked questions geared towards what is needed to succeed on his chosen path. I did

not think to take a step back and ask if his path was the only way to get to his ideal ending

position or if it was the most efficient way. Talking to Swin, it became apparent that if I intend

on spending the entirety of my career in some way related to business, getting an MBA from a

top 5 program would be well worth the cost.

I was not until I spoke with Paul Murphy that I learned an MBA is not always necessary.

Some firms or companies hire young adults straight out of college and prefer you stay at the
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May 6, 2019
Senior Project | Final Report

company and work rather than sacrifice two years of experience and revenue to get an MBA. Mr.

Murphy is in the commercial banking industry, but his comment held when I spoke with Sloan

Coolbroth later that day. Sloan explained that he has no present intention to get his MBA unless

an incredible opportunity arises. For example, his current employer agreeing to pay the cost of

tuition while keeping him as a part-time employee. The opportunity cost of getting an MBA after

one has been working a few years is high.

Overall, the most valuable part of this Senior Project was kick-starting my network.

Everyone I spoke to was extremely willing to share their wisdom, connect me with other

individuals and assist me in finding internships. Mr. Murphy offered me a three week internship

at Cadence bank in Houston this summer that I am seriously considering. As I continue to

explore possible careers, this is a network of successful individuals I can call or ask for consul in

the future.