Letter from the Director
Spring is here and we’re excited to be celebrating our Class of 2024 on May 11th! We are proud of the many accomplishments of our students and look forward to seeing their finance careers unfold! We’re also excited to begin implementing several key initiatives that we feel will impact our enrollment and better prepare our students for finance careers. In this newsletter, we’ll share a spring semester recap, Class of 2026 Admissions update, and summary of key initiatives as we look ahead to our next academic year.
We’re very appreciative of the many ways our Nicholas Center Alumni and community contribute to our students success during the program and beyond. Thank you for your continued engagement and support and we hope you have a terrific summer!
On, Wisconsin!
Barb
Spring Semester Recap
Career Trek to Minneapolis
In February, the Nicholas Center planned a two-day career trek to Minneapolis and we visited Target, 3M, Piper Sandler, and General Mills. Students gained valuable insight into the corporate culture of each firm and learned more about corporate finance pathways and the various financial business implications. We are so thankful to our Advisory Board members, Alumni and other recruiting contacts who made this trip possible (Special thanks to John Hulbert & James McLean at Target, Ted Willems at Piper Sandler, Kristi Johnson at General Mills, and Sarah Tennessen at 3M). First-year MBA student Nick Wong wrote a great Career Trek blog post of our trip which highlights our on-site visits and you can view a recap video of our experience as well!
ACG Cup Case Competition
This Spring, finance students from the BBA and MBA program participated in the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) Cup case competition. The ACG Cup challenges students from WI’s top MBA programs in a realistic private equity and investment banking case study competition. Teams present their recommendations on a complex business case that requires a combination of corporate strategy, finance and valuation skills and provides an opportunity to gain presentation experience in front of M&A leaders from members of ACG Wisconsin. On April 10th, our Wisconsin team advanced to the final round competing against UW-Milwaukee and Marquette at Northwestern Mutual.
Congratulations to Connor Mann (MBA), Shokhrukh Shodiev (MBA), Olivia Barfnecht (BBA) and Sam Stelling (BBA) for taking first place and earning a $4,000 prize. Their team mentors consisted of Bart Blohowiak (Director of Commercial Operations at Fisher Barton) and Jeanine Ubl (SVP of Finance at Evans Transportation Services). You can read our Nicholas Center blog post for more details and pictures of this event!
Class of 2024 May Graduates
We’re thrilled to be celebrating the success of our Class of 2024. We have four students who will graduate on May 11th and embark upon their careers in finance.
From left to right, we feature Goncha Muradli, Xander Kessler, Heuiyun “Henry” Jeong, and Hector Aviles. We’re extremely proud of our graduates! In fact, all four of these students received honors at our recent Advisory Board and Alumni Meeting in Milwaukee on April 19th for their significant contributions to the program.
Our Ab Nicholas Award was presented to Xander Kessler for outstanding contributions and achievements to the Nicholas Center program, student body and community as a whole. Xander was also presented with a Graduate Award of Excellence from the MBA Program Office. Xander will join Pfizer’s full-time rotational program in New York City upon graduating. Read our Xander’s full student spotlight on our Nicholas Center blog!
Our Howard Thompson Award was presented to Hector Aviles in recognition of his outstanding leadership skills and mentorship to others. You can read Hector’s full student spotlight to learn more about his achievements and experiences in the program. Hector will be joining Sam’s Club full-time as a Merchandising Analytics Manager and will relocate to Bentonville, Arkansas.
A Certificate of Achievement was presented to Goncha Muradli for embodying the principles and core values of the Nicholas Center throughout the program. Goncha was also presented with a Graduate Award of Excellence from the MBA Program Office. Goncha has interned this past year at American Family Insurance as an Enterprise Strategy Management intern and will join them full-time this summer. You can read Goncha’s full student spotlight to learn about her background and experience!
A Certificate of Appreciation was presented to Henry Jeong in recognition of his high level of professionalism, collaborative mindset and strong work ethic throughout the program. Henry will return to South Korea and work full-time at the Industrial Bank of Korea. You can read Henry’s full student spotlight to learn about his travels and experience in the program!
Class of 2025 Internship Placements
We’re excited for our first year students to be joining so many wonderful companies for their summer internship. Our CFIB students have secured internships at Baird, FTI Consulting, American Family Insurance, Ametek, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Hoffmaster this summer. We also have two students who are actively pursuing internship opportunities, so please let us know If you have a position that would be well suited for our Finance MBA’s (in the area of corporate finance and consulting). You can email us or you can also reach out directly to students by accessing the below resume books.
Student Spotlights
Shabnam Azimova is a first year CFIB student and Treasurer of the Graduate Women in Business (GWIB) organization. She grew up in Azerbaijan and completed her economics undergraduate degree at Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankura, Turkey. She worked for KPMG prior to joining the MBA program. Shabnam will be interning at Ametek in Madison this summer as a Finance Intern. You can read Shabnam’s full student spotlight on our Nicholas Center blog!
Daniel Ofurum is a first-year CFIB student who brings more than six years of experience in financial services, having lived and worked in Nigeria prior to joining the program. Daniel has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Babcock University in Ilishan-Remo, Nigeria. Daniel has accepted an internship at American Family Insurance this summer. You can read Daniel’s full student spotlight on our Nicholas Center blog!
Don Condon Speaker Series
We continue to invite industry guests into the classroom and virtually on a weekly basis and we had a terrific lineup this semester! We are so thankful to all of our spring speakers who consisted of Advisory Board Members, Alumni, and other friends of the Nicholas Center.
- Hoffmaster, “Journey to CFO” – Aaron Holt
- Procter & Gamble, “Mentorship & Careers” – Nick Rauer & Ann Schwister
- Molson Coors, “Career Paths in Finance & Business Analytics” – Erin Schmidt
- Microsoft, “Finance Skills & Digital Transformation” – Gulru Gurkan
- Collected Strategies, “Advisory Communications in Finance” – Nick Lamplough
- Modine Manufacturing, “Business Analytics Workshop” – Ezra Swanson
- SC Johnson, “Careers in Corporate Treasury” – Shawn Dahlke
- Ankura Consulting, “Intellectual Property Valuation” – David Harkavy
- SC Johnson, “M&A Transactions at SCJ” – Kristi Petersen, Chris Peery, Michael Katte
- Target, “ESG & Investor Relations” – John Hulbert
Advisory Board News
Spring Advisory Board & Alumni Meeting on April 19th
We held a spring board meeting on April 19th in Milwaukee at the Iron Horse Hotel. This was the first spring meeting for the Center since 2016 and we were pleased to have 14 of our board members along with 14 alumni and our first- and second-year students in attendance. We’ve welcomed five new board members since the start of the school year and we were glad to come to together to discuss our strategy.
We thank all who attended and look forward to our next board meeting which will be held October 25th, 2024. For a full summary of our Board meeting activities on April 19th, please visit our Nicholas Center blog post!
Nicholas Center Welcomes New Board Members
Dave Honan, EVP & Chief Operating Officer – Quad
Jenny Kray, Chief Financial Officer – Ashling Partners
Erin Schmidt, Director, Commercial Analytics, Molson Coors
Troy Van Beek, CFA, CPA, Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer, American Family Insurance
John Weyers, Chief Financial Officer, Industrial Physics
Coming up in 2024
Class of 2026 Admissions – Final Application Deadline June 4th
We remain focused on our Class of 2026 recruitment and ask for your support in referring potential students to us! We have one remaining application deadline on June 4th before we will solidify our Class of 2026 cohort! To date, we have eight admitted and accepted students, with two additional students with decisions due soon. The Nicholas Center is hosting open informational sessions for anyone who is interested in learning more about obtaining an MBA in Corporate Finance and Investment Banking now or in the future. We also invite you to share our LinkedIn post with your networks to help us connect with potential students!
CFIB Information Sessions:
Info sessions are an opportunity for prospective students to join center staff, current students and admissions representatives in a virtual meeting to learn about the CFIB program, student experience, as well as career pathways and employment outcomes!
Tuesday, May 14th – 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Thursday, May 16th – 6:00pm – 7:00pm
Fall Advisory Board & Alumni Meeting
SAVE THE DATE: On Friday, October 25th, we will be hosting a Fall Advisory Board and Alumni meeting in Madison at the Fluno Center. We look forward to gathering with current students, board members, alumni, and friends of the Nicholas Center. We will also be hosting a social hour the evening before at Cento in Madison for those that will be traveling in early. More details coming soon.
Career Trek to Chicago!
The Nicholas Center is heading to Chicago this Fall. Career treks provide the opportunity for students to engage with finance leaders in the field and gain valuable perspectives to develop their finance skills and learn about careers. If you’d like to host our students, please email us to discuss!
Applied Corporate Finance Class Consulting Projects
We are accepting ideas for case studies and requests for consulting projects for Fall 2024. Contact Barb Bolens to discuss!
Case Studies: During the first few weeks of the semester, students will perform a financial analysis and/or valuation of a company, generally a public company where data is available. The analysis will be used to answer strategic questions and students will present their financial review and strategic presentation in three weeks time.
Consulting Projects: Students work with a Corporate Sponsor who provides a project that has a finance and strategic element and high degree of complexity. Projects could also have operational, regulatory, governance and other elements. Students work on teams of 4-5 and begin their work late September through mid-December, and their work is culminated with a professional presentation with the sponsor. Sponsors are also present on a weekly or bi-weekly basis to answer questions.
Support the Nicholas Center
Join our Speaker Series
This fall, our Speaker Series will be part of a new course: FIN 760 Current Topics & Applied Learning in Finance. We’re looking forward to bringing in additional finance speakers to connect classroom learnings to real world application. Contact Barb Bolens or Andrea Sorenson to further discuss.
Give to the Nicholas Center
Making a financial contribution is one way to make an impact and help further the Nicholas Center’s mission. We welcome donations to the Don M. Condon and Linda M. Condon Graduate Fellowship Fund. Donations to this fund are used to provide financial support to students who exemplify Don’s spirit, commitment, and leadership in the field of corporate finance.
Engage on Social Media
The Nicholas Center is increasing its social media presence, and we’d love for you to connect with and follow our accounts on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook to stay up on our news and other events. Click on the icon links below to connect.
Nicholas Center Contact Information
Barb Bolens
Director, Nicholas Center
P: +1 608-264-0273
Andrea Sorenson
Assistant Director, Nicholas Center
P: +1 608-262-1553
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