Background
Although Xander was born in Germany, he’s been a Badger fan since he took his first steps. His family immigrated to the US when he was just a toddler and settled in Fort Atkinson, WI. It was an easy choice when it came time for Xander choose where to pursue his undergraduate degree. He graduated from UW Madison with a Biochemistry major and initially had his sights on pursuing medicine.
Xander’s deep interest in health, medicine and disease, led him to pursue biochemistry. During his first undergrad internship, he returned to Germany to work in a pharmaceutical chemistry lab, synthesizing and characterizing three peptide inhibitors, with one moving on for a toxicology study in mice. Throughout his undergrad program at UW, he shadowed physicians, observed surgeries and began working in a virology lab on campus as a researcher. While working in the Ann Palmenberg’s Lab, Xander worked primarily on rhinovirus C and its receptor CDHR3 (cadherin related family member 3). One accomplishment that he’s most proud of was developing 9 monoclonal antibodies for CDHR3, which he and three others in his lab will actually receive royalties from!
Career Path
Xander decided to pursue his MBA in order to find a more fast paced career. He enjoyed the learning, analysis, creative thinking, and excitement from discovering or inventing something new, but the day to day of running experiments wasn’t as fulfilling. Although business is now his focus, Xander is still leveraging his background in science and is thrilled to be pursuing a business career in biotech/biopharma. During the MBA program, Xander has worked as a business development intern for the startup, Immuto Scientific. He’s obtained valuable experience at Immuto learning about the biotech/biopharma landscape, including the intricacies of B2B operations, legal contracts, raising capital, and even assembling office equipment!
This past summer, Xander interned in New York City at Pfizer as an MBA Finance Summer Associate on the Internal Medicine Commercial Finance team, where he served in an FP&A capacity primarily supporting the MyFembree and Eliquis brands. He learned how brand P&L’s are managed and gained insights into the drivers behind financial forecasts for both well established brands (Eliquis) and newer brands with more recent launches (MyFemBree). He made an impact by volunteering to develop a rollout plan for a new company-wide project management software which allowed him to manage undergraduate interns, as well as work under different managers to gain additional exposure in the company. Furthermore, Xander pitched an external partnership idea to the finance organization that led to further discussions with senior leaders within the company. In May, Xander will return to Pfizer full-time as a Finance Rotational Manager, where he will experience four six-month rotations in areas such as commercial finance, supply chain finance, R&D Finance, audit, treasury, controllers, strategic pricing, and others.
MBA Experiences
Xander has thrived in the MBA program, serving in various leadership positions, such as Treasurer for the Graduate Business Association and Vice President for the Graduate Finance Organization. In addition, Xander is a Teaching Assistant for RMI 300, an undergraduate risk management and insurance class.
One of Xander’s favorite classes was Fabio’s Financial Accounting Class. Xander often heard of the dry nature of accounting, so he expected an uneventful class. However, to his surprise, Fabio made interesting and easy to understand, and most importantly, fun! Instead of exams, they had “celebrations” complete with party hats, streamers, and cupcakes. Fabio’s attitude and way of teaching impacted Xander in a way that made him realize that people and mindset are what can drive the quality of experiences, and even boring things can be exciting and engaging. Xander hopes to take this mindset with him in his career to motivate others and boost productivity.
Once of the most impactful parts of the MBA program for Xander has been the consulting project experiences. Xander had the opportunity to gain exposure with different companies from various industries (Wilson, Zillow, Adage Capital, Allstate, and some startups). He shared, “rarely do companies do things the same way so it is often more important to know the basic concepts and be able to apply them in ambiguous situations”. Taking concepts learned in the classroom and recognizing when and how to apply those concepts in real world settings was incredible impactful to his experience. (Xander co-authored a blog post about the Applied Corporate Finance consulting projects – read the article here). Xander also credits the advice and mentorship from Nicholas Center leadership, Advisory Board members, alumni and his peers that have helped him grow professionally and better define his career goals.
Hobbies & Interests
When he’s not in school or working, Xander enjoys all things Wisconsin Sports and is a huge Badger fan. He also enjoys playing pick up soccer and following European soccer teams. His most recent vacation adventure was skiing in New Mexico, as he and his family take a trip out west every winter.
Xander will graduate from the Wisconsin School of Business in May 2024 with his MBA in Corporate Finance and Investment Banking. He also will have received his Business Analytics certificate. Follow Xander on LinkedIn to watch his career journey unfold!
Categories: