Alumni

“The Puelicher Center has helped me in my personal and professional career post-graduation more than I could have imagined. Not only do I have increased competencies in financial analysis that I developed through the curriculum, but the personal interactions I had with the faculty and staff prepared me for life in a complex corporate environment. Many of the classes that I took in conjunction with the Puelicher Center trained me to consider both the broader, theoretical perspective and the technical aspects of many of the financial issues General Mills is facing today. Instead of concentrating just on the problem itself, I have learned to question many of the surrounding assumptions, processes and decisions. The technical analysis I obtained combined with my personal development under the guidance of the center’s faculty and staff have made me a much more efficient and effective business partner and leader. As a former Puelicher Center scholarship recipient, I remain continually grateful for both the academic and extra-curricular opportunities and support provided by Professor Johannes during my years in the School of Business.”

“The two years I spent as a project assistant student at the Puelicher Center paved the way for my successful career on Wall Street and beyond. Under the guidance of Professor Johannes and the support of the center, I made a promising transition from a PhD graduate in Physics to a student in the Masters for Quantitative Finance at the Wisconsin School of Business, while acquiring hands-on experience developing the center’s first website and first real-time analysis of macroeconomic and financial data from the FRED website. This real-time data analysis and the accompanying website established the foundation for the Puelicher Center research efforts and its outreach program for its banking education mission. I am proud to have been one of the earliest students at the Center and honored to have worked under Professor Johannes’ guidance and support.”

“Dr. Johannes is knowledgeable and an excellent communicator. He is a great instructor and I have met several of his former students that commented that he was their favorite professor. I introduced myself to Dr. Johannes at an orientation session my first week of graduate school. I told him that I had been a bank examiner with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago for several years and that after graduating I want to continue my career in banking. Realizing he has a full schedule, I was surprised and impressed that he suggested I switch from my assigned advisor to have him be my official advisor for my MBA program. During my graduate studies, it was also a privilege to be his part-time project assistant. He assigned me some interesting projects and I enjoyed our frequent conversations on the banking industry in general. Dr. Johannes periodically inquired to how I was doing personally and how my classes were going.”

“Looking back on when I was a struggling graduate student at UW, the single most beneficial event was when I ran into Jim Johannes the day he happened to be looking for a research assistant. From that initial meeting, Jim became a mentor and a guide for me. Jim’s vast knowledge of the banking system, economics and econometrics is a resource that has been immensely valuable to every student who has had the pleasure of taking Jim’s courses. There are far too few top-level researchers who are able and willing to be good teachers. Fortunately, the Wisconsin faculty achieve that goal; in that regard, however, Jim is the best of the best. Jim has high regard for his students that comes across in every lecture and every question that he fields. What I have been able to learn from his lecture notes and in discussion with him have been invaluable in my career.”