NO BUBBLY GAIN, NO PAIN, NO TARP - School of Business ...

FINANCE STUDENTS
LAND INTERNSHIPS IN
A TOUGH ECONOMY
By Laura Wolfe
Despite the difficult economic times the country faces,
School of Business Finance students continue to find
relevant internships in 2009.
“KU Finance students continue to successfully
compete with top national talent,” said
Director of Business Career Services, Jennifer
Jordan. “Prospective employers are impressed with the motivation,
resourcefulness, work ethic and knowledge of finance that KU students
and graduates exhibit. Finance professionals, whether KU or not, have
come to appreciate how talented our students are.”
RACHEl BERRy (top left), senior and
Finance major from Abilene, Kansas,
worked as an intern for Koch Industries in
Wichita. After attending a Koch Industries
social event following the School of Business
Career Fair, Berry decided she wanted to
work for Koch. She worked in Koch Supply
and Trading in the credit division.
Senior JASON CuRRAN (top right)
from Salina, Kansas, interned for Paragon
Capital Management in Kansas City. Curran
learned about the opportunity through the
Finance Scholars Program, where he was
put in contact with KU School of Business
alumnus Craig Novorr. His internship
consisted of equity research, which primarily
involves updating Paragon’s research
reports on covered stocks and trying to find
potential new investments for the company.
STEpHEN FESSlER (2nd row left),
senior from Lee’s Summit, Missouri, had an
internship with Five Elms Capital in Kansas
City, an investment firm run by KU alumnus
Fred Coulson with an investment team
staffed by a small group of KU School of
Business graduates. Fessler did analytical
work with an emphasis on due diligence for
prospective investments. Fessler contacted
employees at Five Elms Capital in the
summer before his junior year and accepted
the internship last October.
BAilEy GRAy (2nd row middle),
Accounting and Finance senior from Fort
Scott, Kansas, worked as a Commercial
Analyst Intern for BOK Financial in Kansas
City. She heard about the opportunity
through the Business Career Services
Center. As an intern, Gray worked in
commercial banking, completing loan
analyses and company valuations.
NiCK HOlmES (not pictured), secondyear
MBA student from Olathe, Kansas,
had an internship with Tortoise Capital
Advisors working on the portfolio team.
Tortoise is an energy finance firm in
Overland Park, Kansas. Holmes discovered
the opportunity through the Finance
Program in the School of Business.
SHAwN JuNG (2nd row right) and
SpENCER SAmmS (3rd row left), seniors
in Finance, worked as Macro-Economics
Research Interns for Bank of America
Merrill Lynch in New York. Samms, from
Dallas, and Jung, from Lansing, Kansas,
discovered the opportunity through the
Business Career Services Center.
RACHEl SANNER (3rd row right),
Lawrence Finance and Accounting major
with concentration in Latin American
Studies, interned for Koch Industries in
Wichita, Kansas. Sanner interned in Koch’s
Equity Development
Business Group as
a Finance Intern.
She heard about
the opportunity
through the KU
Finance Club.
ROBERT SpANGlER (bottom), senior
from Leawood, Kansas, worked as an
intern for Haakon Capital in Kansas City.
He learned of the opportunity through
another School of Business Finance
student. Spangler’s internship consisted
of conducting market research, creating
financial models, editing and writing
business proposal books and working on
the marketing of currently held companies.
“Our students are still getting solid
internships even in the tough economy,”
said Doug Houston, Director of Finance,
Economics, and Decision Sciences at the
School of Business. “How do we set our
students apart? We select a motivated
and capable group of students who are
taught by a very motivated, capable set of
finance professors.”
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