'08 BABA finance and business economics
If you only knew Jerod Pierce (‘08 BABA finance and business economics) as an adult, you would be surprised to learn that he had a very rough childhood. With a drug-addicted mother and an absent father, Pierce was in and out of foster care until age 10, at which time he found a permanent foster home, where he stayed until he was 18. He says he is a product of the state and many, many different people. “Where I am today is not because of just Jerod,” he said. He values these people and keeps in touch with them, even visiting his high school teachers when he visits his hometown. Given his upbringing, Pierce could have turned out very differently, but he credits those first difficult years with helping him develop gratitude, resilience, compassion, tenacity, and loyalty. These traits have contributed greatly to his success. Read more about Jerod.
'98 MBA
Michelle Galvin praises the Albers MBA program for being very well-rounded and teaching her how to use both sides of her brain simultaneously in her current positions in accounting and marketing. Particularly helpful to her was a marketing class she had with Chauncey Burke, who stressed that you “don’t have to know how to do every little thing to be excellent leaders and managers,” she said. “He said that the biggest part of being a great leader was knowing how to interact and manage people, not knowing how to do all the calculations. He was so right!” Read more about Michelle.
'16 BABA economics and finance
Albers alum Michael Schwartze (’16 economics and finance double major) landed his dream job in a very competitive industry 18 months after graduating from Seattle University. The journey he took to being an analyst in the Baseball Operations department for the San Francisco Giants was focused and disciplined.
Schwartze had always had a passion for sports and decided in high school that he wanted to pursue a career in baseball. He knew he wasn’t going to play baseball in college, so he concentrated on learning about the sport from other perspectives. Knowing of a large community of bloggers who write about baseball analytics, Schwartze read extensively about it and then increased his writing on the subject to get experience thinking about the game more critically. Read more about Michael.
