Eleven first-year full-time MBA students in finance are gaining mentoring and scholarships this year as recipients of Fellowships in Investment Banking, Investment Management, and Entrepreneurial Finance.
The Investment Banking Fellowship Program, now in its ninth year, welcomes Travis Axelrod, Carl Choi, Pablo Garcia, Gabe La Mothe and Uday Vadula. The Investment Management Program, now in its third year, welcomes Rajeev Chanderraj and Daria Filippova.
New this year is the Entrepreneurial Finance Fellowship, intended to assist students with career goals in finance at startups, venture and impact investing and emerging financial services technology. This fellowship goes to Zeina Fayyaz, Alexis Kastrenakes, Duy Nguyen, and Andrew Wu. During their time in the program, all fellows receive a $5,000 scholarship and are paired with a mentor, typically Haas alumni or former fellows working in an investment banking or management or entrepreneurial finance field. All fellows receive priority enrollment in finance electives.
Fellows are selected for showing strong interest in and setting career goals in their chosen field and for a positive representation of the Haas School. All applicants are required to submit a short essay discussing past experiences and career goals, and were interviewed by past fellows.
Christen Chen, MBA 15, received mentorship in stock investing from Hallie Marshall, MBA 11, a portfolio manager at Dodge & Cox, as part of her Investment Management Fellowship in 2013.
Marshall helped prepare Chen for internship interviews, drilling her particularly on how to do a stock pitch, a typical part of an investment job interview. “A lot of our time together was having me pitch to her and she would give me feedback about what I needed to focus on and improve on,” Chen says.
Overall, Chen says the fellowship “means that you are very serious about this as a career path — this is not something you just want to dabble in. It’s showcasing the Haas brand when I am out in the world representing myself as a fellow. I am very conscious of what that means.”
Fellowship winners join Morgana Davids, MBA 16, who earlier this year was named the year’s CJ White Fellow in Finance. Davids also receives priority in finance electives, matching with a mentor, and a scholarship awarded upon enrollment.
Davids says the fact that her mentor, Sam Snyder, MBA 2011, a former CJ White Fellow, is taking the time to share his experience and knowledge with her speaks to the meaning of the Fellowship.
“This fits very well with the culture I have found at Haas,” she says. “Our 4th defining principal, "Beyond Yourself," is something that really seems to resonate with all Haas students I have met. We all want to share the benefits of our own experiences with our classmates to help each other to achieve our goals.”