Going back to school with an offer

10 weeks of internship passed by really fast! There's no better way to end this summer than having a return offer in my pocket :) even thought it would be great if I haven't dropped and broke my laptop in the last week.

I have certainly learned a lot through my internship at Citi. Just 10 weeks ago, I was completely new to financial service industry, new to the company structure, and had no idea how corporate tax works. I picked up everything from scratch, made significant progress on my project, and was able to deliver my finds during the final presentation to Citi finance controller and other finance executives.

 Corporate tax is definitely not one of my expertise or the area that I would grow into, but this summer experience taught me how to adjust to new environment, absorb new information quickly, and effectively communicate with my peers and managers. No one would be able to accomplish anything in a big corporation by himself/herself. Knowing when and who to ask for help/information is essential.

The best thing about this summer is that my coworkers and I become very good friends. We established strong connections not just at work, but also on a personal level. I was recommending dress brands and shops to my manager, and exploring NYC restaurants and food trucks with coworkers.

Now is almost time to go back to school. I'm very excited to see everyone and find out how their summer went.

7 weeks into internship

At the beginning of this summer, financial service industry was a completely new area for me. In the past 7 weeks, through working and attending summer speaker series, I have learned so much about the industry. Digitization and urbanization are two of the biggest trends impacting people’s life. Financial service industry has certainly evolved around these topics as well. The whole industry has invested billions of dollars to develop technologies that provide better, faster and cheaper financial services. Financial institutions will continue making investments in technology in the future, and technology will continue shaping the industry.

Few years ago, Citi redirect its strategy to promote responsible finance and to focus on its core business. Through my work at Citi tax, I can certainly feel these changes going through the whole organization. There were many successful spin-off transactions during the last 2 years. They are part of the execution of Citi’s strategy to get out of the areas that are not in line with the company's strategy so that we can focus on customer and services related business. These spin-off transactions are also a result of higher liquidation and capital requirement in financial service industry after the 2007 financial crisis. Banks started to act more conservatively, and authorities are trying to figure out better ways to guide the industry.

In terms of company culture, Citi promotes diversity and encourage employees to gain exposures by taking positions in different functions, products and regions. I was amazed by the level of mobility and the amount of transitions people could make within Citi. Lots of people that I have talked to have taken advantage of Citi’s global representation by taking international rotations. Their exposure to different circumstances and challenges not only provide them the full-picture view of the organization, but also enable them to bring the best practice together, and come up with innovative ideas.

Closing Thoughts

Although this final post is supposed to be about the end of my internship, I still have a couple of weeks remaining. This past week, I completed one of my final projects to support our team's private wealth management group's client pitch, including models, strategy outlooks, and market outlooks. It was a great experience to learn about various investment products. However, I do not envision myself entering a career within private wealth management. Four Wood’s operations go far beyond PWM though, and there are various opportunities to work across different areas of the investment universe.

As for my remaining projects, I have yet to complete an investment pitch for a private equity group looking at high yield real estate investments in Brazil. Working on due diligence for this project, I gained a lot of insight on global economic trends and market-shifting indicators. This will definitely be useful for me, as I definitely have plans to remain involved in finance for a time to come.

This leaves one major question – what will I choose to do next year? As of last week, it seems like there have been strong indications of interest that the Four Wood team will extend a return offer.

There was no formal performance review but feedback came in little bursts throughout the summer. In terms of the feedback I received, the team commented that I was a quick study and fit in really well at Four Wood Capital Partners. I was also able to juggle a lot of tasks at once, which I think was a big plus in a firm with about 25 people. I think my attitude towards working with a new company went over well. For areas to improve on, I’ll reference back to myself being a quick study—with friends, it can be easy to talk about topics which I am no master of, but with financial professionals, they are all much more experienced than me, and it is important to know everything about a topic if you don’t want it to become clear you have no idea what you are really talking about.

I have enjoyed my summer internship and hope all followers have enjoyed reading about it.

Not enough hours

Heading into the summer, I hadn’t really given a ton of forethought to what my social situation would entail. After all, I had never lived in a major city with other kids my age. How much effort could it take? To keep the theme of this post simple, it takes a lot.

At Four Wood Capital Partners, most people are in the office around 8:30 and we typically work through lunch until the end of the day, somewhere around 5 o’clock. Being that there are only 3 interns in our office, we get a lot of tasks delegated to us across a range of investment and analysis functions. I realize there is a lot more to my summer than solely going into the office every day.

In addition to work, one of my main objectives for the summer is to network with as many people as possible in the banking/finance industry. Having done a lot of homework on the industry and talking with professionals during the school year, it has become clear that relationships are highly valuable in achieving recruiting and career goals. I try to talk with people in the office as much as possible to see who they know, and who they can introduce me to, as well as drawing information from their own career experiences. Outside of the office, I aim to connect with Ross School alumni and family friends, who can help me learn more about the firms where I will be looking to recruit for next year. All relationships are valuable.

Another set of valuable relationships is the ones built with peers. The kids in New York go out on most nights of the week (the hours vary widely). I follow in suit, and am looking to make friends and connections that will stick around beyond the summer.

Long story short, there truly are not enough hours in the day. I’ll continue to explore both the professional side and social side of New York life, and I will happily sacrifice my sleep to get it done. Thankfully, New York has Starbucks and RedBull found on every corner.

Working Smarter

    The past few weeks at Four Wood Capital Partners have been pretty eventful. In terms of my own assignments, I've been at work on a myriad of projects. Some of these were doing research reports on our firm's competitors, creating a model for our high net worth client strategy, analyzing trends in real estate investment trusts (REITs), and putting together daily market summaries. Anyway, it doesn't seem like I've been given my big summer project yet (although working on our High Net Worth Client Strategy has been going on now for a few weeks, and it has drawn a lot of attention from various directors and managers in the firm). Nonetheless, I still have yet to get placed on a live deal.

    When it comes to getting work done, I've found that most of the people in the office with more experience are willing to give feedback and lend a hand to our group of interns. After all, none of us have significant real world experience. Their advice has helped a lot in knowing what to focus on and look for. One of the big takeaways so far has been the importance of developing work in a manner, such that anybody could understand the message by looking at a slide. It makes sense considering that investing activities are not exclusive to highly educated or sophisticated individuals. While we still need to make sure our research checks out and that all the work is accurate, keeping it understandable seems to be a very important point to remember for presentations and explanations.

    Working with supervisors has been relatively enjoyable so far. Most, as mentioned before, are generally helpful and willing to give guidance and explain what they want to see in our work. One thing all supervisors enjoy is hearing about interns and their social lives. Seriously, they love to hear about it. Moving on. At times, it can be tricky to work with multiple supervisors who have different objectives. However, I have found it easiest to collaborate with both supervisors and let them both take the credit for the great idea. I'm just hoping to keep my head down, learn a lot, and get new insights from more experienced professionals. It will be interesting to see if this strategy can work all summer long.

Getting Started

I'm now through with the first week of my internship, and it seems like there is going to be a lot on my plate all summer long. For those who haven't read my first post, I am working at Four Wood Capital Partners, an independent private equity and advisory group.

Four Wood just started up in November, so the office environment is extremely dynamic. To start, I found out the day before I began working that our office had already moved from Avenue of the Americas to Wall Street. As for the new office, it's still being put together. There were construction and maintenance crews in and out of the office hanging up art and TVs the first few days. Nonetheless, we still had clients and partners coming in and out of the office every day.

There is a really interesting culture in the office. There are about 25 employees who have all come from really impressive backgrounds in finance, many working on high (and some executive) levels at firms like BlackRock, Guggenheim Partners, and BNP Paribas. Everybody had left very successful and lucrative jobs to join FWCP at the ground level, so everybody there is very driven and collaborative.

This week, I worked on a few projects. First, I set up a spreadsheet for the firms partners and prospective partners with the other interns. I also worked on an investment prospectus for a gold bullion holding company, and set up a PowerPoint for high net worth client strategy. I learned a lot through the process. The rest of the summer will be more concentrated in the private equity area.

Finally, getting settled in New York. I moved in to Union Square at the start of the week. It's a very young area and it looks like there are a lot of people to meet and a lot of things to do. I'm looking forward to what's next.

Citigroup ! New York !

I am going to be in New York this summer! Joining Citigroup as a summer Financial Management Associate (SFMA). I’m very excited about this opportunity and things I can learn from it.

It was not part of my plan to join the financial service industry before coming to Ross for my MBA. However, during the recruiting process, through my interactions with Citigroup’s employees, I fell in love with the company and its culture. People who work at Citigroup are very talented and humble. The company has a true global perspective and promotes diversity. So the take away here is we should be open minded towards different opportunities. Even though most of us came to business school with a specific industry and functional area in mind, there are things that surprise us, and we should be ready to take adventures.

Given my previous retail industry background, I knew very little about financial service industry besides merchant banking system. I’m expecting a steep learning curving this summer. In fact, the learning process started months ago during my interviews - I learned about tier one common ratio from an SVP of Citigroup.

 Even though I haven’t received my project for the summer, I know my internship will start with a series of training sessions (including current topics in the banking industry, and technical finance & Accounting skills), and business overviews from senior professional within the finance faction. This process will prepare me for my summer project. Through the SFMA program, I will have the opportunity to work closely with senior-level finance managers in key functional specialties including Controllers, Treasury, Financial Planning and Analysis, Investor Relations, Strategy, and M&A. 

A Crash Course in Banking

At the start of this year, I had no idea what investment banking meant. ECM, DCM, M&A, TMT? It sounded more like TV stations to me. I guess that's pretty standard for a student beginning his first year in the Ross BBA program. Well, I made sure to learn all about these areas (and more) throughout the year. Now I have a summer internship as an analyst in Private Equity and Mergers & Acquisitions, and as the summer is approaching, I realize I don't know how any of this works in the real world. I guess the steepness learning curve is what gets me most nervous about working for Four Wood Capital Partners.

 

Four Wood Capital Partners is an independent financial services firm focused on delivering unique investment solutions to the market. Through both organic growth, as well as partnerships with boutique managers, the firm seeks to deliver a diverse range of investment products across traditional asset management, real estate and private equity platforms. The goal is to provide investors with wealth preservation and current income strategies to meet their liability-driven needs. FWCP and its subsidiaries serve institutions, high net worth and individual investors.

 

Like I said, there is going to be a very steep learning curve. As an independent firm (with far fewer employees than the bulge banks), I am going to be working closely with clients and senior members of the firm. While this raises some concerns, I think I am more excited about the opportunities that I will get to learn the business inside out. It will be really valuable to learn the technical side of the business, and even more valuable to take part in interpersonal business at high levels. Ultimately, this should be a tremendous experience.

 

I am very excited to start my career in finance, and I hope to hit the ground running.

Winding Down

Though my internship is not yet over my posts on this blog are, so it's time to reflect on the journey up to this point. I've got about two weeks left so I think it's a good time to look back on everything and see how it's developed.

On my first day at UBS I was nervous, shy, and not very confident in my ability to do a good job with my assigned work. I'm still not the loudest person in the office, but I grew comfortable with the people pretty quickly and have developed some solid relationships that I expect will endure much longer than the few weeks I have left of the internship. The people have all been very helpful, and if there's one thing I can takeaway from all the positive interactions I've had it is that it pays to lend a hand.

As time passed I became gradually more confident in my ability to accomplish whatever crossed my desk. An important part of success to me this summer has been acknowledging that I don't know everything and it's okay to ask questions. Though I took care not to pester anyone with my inquiries, it became very clear to me early on that I'll produce much higher quality work if I admit to myself when I'm stumped and seek help when necessary. Generally I'd prefer to figure something out on my own, but that's not always possible and I've embraced that.

My time at UBS has helped me improve as both an employee and as a person. I've developed some skills I didn't know I'd need, and improved on others already in my repertoire. I've mentioned a few times before how important the relationship is to the wealth management business and that's really my main takeaway from this summer. In any line of business it's people who make decisions, and it certainly helps to have as many in your corner as possible. Going forward I intend to take great care to take my eyes off the computer screen often enough to get to know the people around me. Luckily I did enough of that these past few months. I think it's paid off in what's been a great summer experience and lessons I'll take with me as I continue to grow into my career.

Summer Slowdown

So I'm a bit more than halfway through my internship now and things are coming together pretty nicely. I'm comfortable with everyone in the office and I'm getting to know the other interns better, which is cool. As unlicensed wealth management interns we can't really do a lot of work that has a real impact but we help out as much as we're able to.

Things have slown down a fair amount since my last post. Between bosses being out of the office and two other guys starting on the same team as me, the work is spread pretty thin lately. My daily responsibilities haven't changed much, but my longer term projects are wrapping up so I've begun to think about the next step. Rather than just do what I'm asked for the rest of my time at UBS I've been brainstorming projects to work on that would have an impact even after I've taken my last steps out of the office at the end of the internship. When I;m able to start working on it I plan to put together a report for my FA about the local economy and outlook over the next decade or two. If I'm able to identify where the growth will be in this time frame I'll be able to recommend strategies for him to build his group's book of business and tap the market by targeting small business, the lawyers and CPAs who workwith them, and support networks. It's a longer term project but could actually be useful, as my team is constantly in acquisition mode and this would expand the landscape some.

In all, I'm a little surprised by how laid back this segment of the finance industry can be, but that's turned out to be a good thing so far. Rather than spending all my time sitting behind a computer staring at excel all day, I'm able to do things like chat at the coffee machine for a few minutes without feeling guilty or go out to lunch and strengthen some of the new connections I've made. I've found a good balance between work and socializing, and I hope I'm able to continue to approach my internship in the way I've done up to this point.

The Week of the Breakfast Meetings

Hi all,

I've been with UBS for 6 weeks now and so far so good. For a while it felt as though I'd fallen into a routine, with most days being pretty similar and myself never really getting out of the office during the day. These last two weeks have brought some welcome change though - breakfast meetings and new interns top the list.

A handful of other guys have finally begun their internships at UBS (seems like I got to it pretty soon after school let out). It's refreshing to finally see some other young faces around the office, and I'm looking forward to getting to know them better.

This last week I was able to go to two breakfasts before the day started.

On Monday my boss found me before I even made it to my desk and asked me to come along with him to a breakfast meeting with a prospective client. It doesn't seem like much, but I really enjoy opportunities like these because it's a chance for me to 1) see how they bring in business and 2) get a chance to interact with some new people in a different setting. It's a nice change of pace from the regular 8 hours at my desk. As I've mentioned before, meetings like this help to underscore the importance of the relationship in the wealth management business. It's important to like/trust the person you hand the bulk of your wealth to, and I've found it pretty interesting how the approach is tweaked a bit with each person to customize it to their personality.

Wednesday was really cool. UBS' chief equity strategist was in town, so they organized a small breakfast and invited a few clients to join for a talk and some food. He gave a pretty broad presentation about the lay of the land and where the money's flowing these days. Most of what he said was stuff I'd heard or read already, but it was definitely still interesting to hear it delivered in the flesh, and some good questions from the audience helped round out the talk.

In all, my experience with UBS has been great so far and it seems like the next few weeks still have quite a bit in store for me.

Four Weeks In

In the two weeks that have passed since my last post I've grown more comfortable in the office and been able to do some interesting stuff. I've also begun to drink more coffee. I began the internship doing some fairly un-engaging things - cleaning up client lists, keeping track of wholesalers, scheduling, etc. Since then I've seen a shift toward things that actually interest me. There's still a fair amount of the type of thing that I just mentioned. That comes with the territory, but it all has to get done if things are going to continue to function properly.

My main accomplishments thus far are cleaning up/centralizing the system they use to track clients or prospects, and putting together a detailed investment matrix with information on any of the money managers, mutual funds, bond funds, annuities, or other investment vehicles that UBS deals with. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the relationship is a key element of the Wealth Management business - both to bringing in new clients and keeping existing ones satisfied. Since everything really revolves around the interface between the client and the advisor, it's important that all members of the team are able to track each other's progress to both stay up to date or to pick up where the other left off. I developed a form that allows for easier tracking of interactions with clients and prospects, put it in a place where everyone can access it, and have helped to make sure everything is up to date. I've seen everyone on the team using it, so hopefully that means it's helped to improve the process a bit.

Next one is the investment matrix. This is still a work in progress since there is a LOT of information to consolidate. But it looks to be shaping up nicely. It's going to be used to narrow down options and identify preferred investment vehicles, so it's important that there be a lot of detail in the final product. It's been a good exercise to get me better acquainted with their business and the types of places they feel comfortable allocating clients' capital. Once I'm done with that I have a few more similar projects lined up, so I'm looking forward to what's to come.

Though I've grown a lot more comfortable in the office than I was in my first week or two, I'm only a month in so I'm definitely still getting acquainted with the business. Overall, it's a good place to be and I'll continue to do what I can to make the most of the opportunity

Frist Two Weeks

Hi All,

My first day in the office was May 9th, which will be two weeks ago tomorrow. I spent a lot of time trying to mentally prepare, and day one actually went a lot more smoothly than I expected. Things got off to a bit of a slow start, with the majority of the morning spent making introductions, setting me up with an email/phone/desk, and getting to know the ins and outs of the office. I had expected to still be a little nervous but I got accustomed to my surroundings pretty quickly and was ready to get to work on my first project that afternoon.

Wealth Management is a business where the relationship is key, so it's important to have up to date information on all clients and prospects. My first task was to go through the prospects in Outlook and verify that we have their correct contact information on file. It took a few phone calls but I was able to track down just about everyone whose information was incomplete and make sure we are up to date. A few days later I was given a similar task (in that it required a few hundred phone calls) to get in touch with wholesalers (of mutual funds, annuities, fixed income funds, etc) to request that they send over some "golf swag" for a charity outing my boss is helping to organize.

As I expected, there's going to be a good amount of grunt work required of me throughout this internship, but I'm happy to do that because I'll also have the opportunity to take on some more interesting projects and get some perspective on the industry. For instance, I was given one task to research another financial advisor in the area to come up with a client list and estimate his assets under management. In addition to that I've been trusted to assist one of the investment strategy associates with some portfolio analysis that will (hopefully) help persuade some clients to trust more of their assets to UBS. I haven't gotten started on that, but I'm looking forward to it when I get around to it. On top of that, I'm sitting in on a lot of the internal meetings as well as meetings between FAs and wholesalers or representatives who come in from hedge funds, essentially offering the same service. These meetings have really been a highlight of the experience so far. I'm still new to the game so some of it goes over my head, but it's exciting for me to be in a place where everyone shares the same passion for this stuff as I do.

In all, I'd say these first two weeks have been sort of like an orientation for me. I haven't had a chance to work on anything major just yet, but I've been able to deepen my understanding of their business and the economy/markets it relies on. As this isn't a formal or structured internship, they didn't have too much for me to do when I stepped in the door on day one. But the team sat down toward the end of last week (while I was out) to brainstorm ideas and come up with projects for me to work on. So we'll see what tomorrow has in store for me.

First Post

Hi all, my name is Michael and I just finished my sophomore year as a BBA at Ross. I'll be interning at UBS Peninsula Wealth Management Group in Birmingham, Michigan. It's a short 5 minute drive from my home in nearby Beverly Hills, so not a bad commute at all.

As an intern I'll have a fair amount of responsibility from grunt work (to be expected) to client specific projects, marketing work, and anything in between. It's not a formally structured program so I can't say with certainty what I'll be doing all summer, but I think the flexibility of having no "real" structure may end up being a good thing. I expect the internship to be demanding in terms of the quality of work expected from me, and that's something that will help motivate me to do a good job no matter how large or small the task.

I'm a little nervous about making a good first impression, but I'm hoping to start off strong. I've spoken with my boss a few times over the course of the semester and he seems to be genuinely interested in intern development, so I look forward to working for him. Additionally, I've reached out to past interns to get a sense of how to best prepare and they've had great things to say about the experience.

Thomson Reuters Final Post

Although my internship at Thomson Reuters lasts two more weeks, this will be my final post. That said, I'd like to make some final reflections on my experience thus far. It's been both a challenging and rewarding experience overall, and I learned a lot both about business and my own self.

I can see myself in strategy. Working on the strategy team this summer definitely opened up my eyes to the value and opportunities that strategy brings to the table. Strategy is essentially the backbone of any organization. Without a clear understanding of the past, view of the present, and vision for the future, businesses cannot truly evaluate opportunities and take calculated risks. I loved the idea that my work sat on the C-level executive's desks multiple times throughout the summer, even if in a small way. Working with real issues on a day to day basis, and constantly pushing the company to be more competitive in both existing and new areas is an exciting line of work that I would love to pursue when full time hiring comes around. I am open to a management consulting firm where I can gain exposure to different industries, travel, and learn from the best, or on the corporate side like this summer. Regardless, I think strategy is an amazing role to start a career and understand the big challenges that go into running a succesful business.

I would love to stick with media and entertainment. Having worked in media strategy this summer and entertainment strategy last summer (Six Flags Inc.), I can safely say I've found an industry that I find both interesting, exciting, and intellectually challenging. Not only is the industry rapidly evolving (which provides an excellent opportunity to be at the forefront of these changes) but also it deals in customer segments I can relate to and products/services that I'm passionate about. That may be sports, television, film, news, or publishing, among others. I feel like this is an exciting business that I would love to be a part of.

One thing that I didn't receive from this experience was the contrast between company sizes. There are obviously benefits to working in a large corporation (networking, training, reputation, etc.) which I've experienced a ton in the past two summers. However, I have yet to truly explore the benefits of a smaller company--task ownership, close-knit relationships, and tremendous growth opportunities. Looking ahead, I'm still not sure whether I want to continue to develop my skills at a large company with the resources of a Thomson Reuters or Six Flags, or if I'd rather gain some valuable exposure at a start-up.

I've definitely gained some invaluable experience this summer at Thomson Reuters, and it will be interesting to see how I leverage those into a career after graduation.

Alex Weiss (BBA '11)

Company Culture at Thomson Reuters

I'd have to say one of the biggest contributors to my rewarding experience this summer has been the culture at Thomson Reuters. In a way the culture is very paradoxical: competitive but friendly, independent but unified, fun but serious, laid back but intense. This may be difficult to grasp--I'll drill down further.

The people at Thomson Reuters have been nothing but welcoming, helpful, and warm from the outset. Whether approaching managers with questions, scheduling meetings with executives, or working in teams, everyone has been nothing but kind and approachable without exception. It seems like everyone is genuinely happy to be there, and treats eachother as such. I scheduled informational interviews with 2 senior level executives this month, both of whom made time in their schedule for me, gave well over a half hour to converse, and offered to help find an opportunity for me when I graduate. That's hospitality.

Thomson Reuters competes in a very crowded and cut-throat business where many players share an enormous market. Needless to say there is a very competitive mindset at the company, especially towards the big competitors (Bloomberg, etc.). However, Thomson Reuters also does business and partners with many of these very same competitors, creating an ironic, mutual love-hate relationship for employees.

Everyone on the strategy team is a lot of fun. Whether at after-work events, meetings, birthdays, or conference calls, everyone seems to joke around and have fun a good amount. But just as fast as the funny switch is turned on, it can be turned off. When an important project or assignment arises, the intensity immediately picks up and everyone works hard to make sure everything is perfect to the last detail. It's the perfect blend of intensity and laid-back attitude.

Overall, everyone really seems to buy into the company's goals, missions, and claims. No matter who you speak to within Thomson Reuters, they will tell you it is an incredibly exciting time to be an employee, filled with new product launches, industry chaning dynamics, and unprecedented growth. That kind of rhetoric is absolutely contagious, and everyone feeds off of senior management's optimism on a daily basis. That's a culture that I feel comfortable in. One where I can be myself and contribute in a unique way, but also share a common goal to be the best in the business.

Alex Weiss (BBA 2011)

The Media Industry

It's really an unbelievable time to be working in the media industry. News media has really struggled over the last decade with declining ad revenues and entirely new methods of media consumption. It's been survival of the fittest throughout the industry, as the companies that adapt the fastest win out with emerging trends. In my internship at Thomson Reuters, I feel fortunate to be thrown into the middle of media revolution.

Reuters media, although the most recognized and branded portion of Thomson Reuters' business, actually accounts for a very small portion of the company's overall revenues. However, Reuters media is still a huge brand builder and money-maker for Thomson Reuters. Reuters Media, like the rest of the company, relies mostly on business to business transactions. While there is a Reuters news website that generates significant traffic (although mostly outside the U.S.), Reuters does not compete with media distributors such as the New York Times, Yahoo, CNN, etc., but rather the Associated Press and other content providers. In essence, Reuters creates content through its global, unbiased, journalists stationed worldwide. They then distribute that content, whether it be video, text, pictures, graphics, etc. to the aforementioned consumer focused media companies (NY Times, Wall Street Journal, etc.). While this does allow Reuters to avoid many of the problems plaguing the industry such as declining ad revenue and new platforms, it provides its own set of challenges that I have been working on solving as a Strategy Intern.

Without getting into too much detail, it's an incredibly exciting time to meet these challenges at Reuters. Whether it be adjusting to new ways of consumption (think iPad and beyond), adapting to changing consumer tastes (think twitter, mobile, etc.) or simply just generating more revenue out of existing channels, there is a plethora of change going on in the industry and at Reuters itself.

I look forward to continuing to get my hands dirty and give my best effort to solve some of these issues, anticipate changes, and shape the future of Reuters media.

Alex Weiss (BBA Rising Senior)

Thomson Reuters Phase 2

In my 2nd two-week stint as a Strategy intern at Thomson Reuters, I continued to work on competitive intelligence, evaluate growth areas, and explore big picture opportunities for the company. I’ve learned more in the past two weeks about financial services, software, data management, and information systems than I ever wanted to or thought I would learn. But in our weekly intern lecture series, where every Friday an intern presents on a topic of their choice (relevant to Thomson Reuters strategy of course) I decided to follow my interest and talk about media strategy. I’ll be presenting on the topic tomorrow morning, but some of my focal points will be:

- Decline of traditional media and what it means for Thomson Reuters
- Monetization of digital content
- New media devices such as Smartphones and iPads
- New user friendly experience that’s interactive, transparent, customizable
- Thomson Reuters new media initiatives and growth opportunities

This will be my first presentation of the internship, so it will be a golden opportunity to show off those Ross-groomed presenting skills, share my research findings, and make a solid impression on the rest of the strategy team. Like any summer internship, this is a 10-week job interview so it will be important to go above and beyond to showcase my skills.

I’m also continuing my networking by making appointments to meat with executives every week. Not surprisingly, it’s more difficult than it seems. Everyone who I’ve tried to meet with has been booked solid for the last two weeks, but promised to set aside some time next week to meet for a half hour. Knowing how difficult it is to get a hold of these people makes it all the more important that I make the most of my time with them, learn and listen as much as possible while still making an impression. I’ll be meeting with both the Chief Marketing Officer and President of Reuters Media next week, so I’ll be sure to prepare some good questions. I always believe that you never know what connection will help you when you need it most, so I strongly value these meetings as a networking tool and sort of “audition”.

Go USA!

Alex Weiss

Thomson Reuters First Impressions

Amidst the flashing lights, enormous billboards, and crowds of tourists in the heart of New York City's Times Square rests the Reuters building, the setting of my summer internship at Thomson Reuters. I knew relatively little about the company before starting there, and from my conversations with peers, it seems as if I was not alone. Thomson Reuters was formed in 2008 with the merger of Thomson (known for its footprint in financial services, market data, educational tools, among other things) and Reuters (known for its global, unbiased news coverage). While the companies shared a common bond in their passion for disseminating vital information to the world's professionals, there were a lot of synergies to be made before Thomson Reuters would truly come together as one entity. Even today, the growing pains are still visible, with many aspects of the company still not fully integrated. That said, Thomson Reuters is now arguably the largest information provider in the world, rivaling Bloomberg in the financial markets and the Associated Press in the media space.

My internship is in the Strategy group, which I also knew nothing about as I entered the building on June 1st. I now know that the Strategy division is a small thinktank that reports directly to the CFO, evaluating growth opportunities, acquisition targets, and overall company strategy for each year. And it's definitely exciting work. I was very pleasantly surprised to be working on such "big picture" assignments as a mere undergraduate intern. In fact, I can't even get into detail about my work because most of it involves initiatives that 99% of Thomson Reuters employees know nothing about, pretty cool in my opinion.

But what surprised me most about my first few days as an intern were the people. When I found out that 3 of my bosses went to Yale, Stanford, and Harvard respectively, and my fellow strategy interns were undergrads at Duke, Brown, and Yale, I was pretty intimidated. But I was immediately amazed to find how cool, friendly, helpful, and down to earth everyone was without exception. All working in a big open conference room together, the interns have formed a pretty close-knit group, and each day we have grown closer as we work together on assignments, ideas, and even pranks. After work on Tuesday, the entire strategy team was treated to the ultimate team building exercise, a night out at New York's ultimate ping pong lounge, SPIN. That is a must see for any ping ping fan/player.

Thus far the company has certainly lived up to my expectations. Overall, my assignments have been pretty interesting as well. Without getting into detail, I've been doing a lot of PowerPoint work, which seems to be a theme in strategy, to create slide decks as part of presentations that will eventualy reach the CEO's desk. However interesting or boring the subject matter, it's exciting to create such meaningful work at this stage in the game. In the coming weeks, I have a few more goals:

1) To meet as many influential people as possible and develop a large company-wide network
2) To get involved in the Reuters Media side of the company, especially in such a dynamic media landscape as we see now

I look forward to keeping you posted.

Alex Weiss, BBA

Thomson Reuters Prologue

I am a BBA rising senior and will be working with the strategy group at Thomson Reuters in New York this summer. I have interned with the PGA Tour and Six Flags Inc. in the last two summers and am looking for a more strategic, well-rounded, and career building experience in my last summer before entering the workforce permenently. Having been in sports and entertainment thus far, Thomson Reuters seems like the perfect opportunity to round out my resume with a global media company with unlimited talent and resources at my disposal.

While I know that I will be working in strategy on the financial side of the company, I am not exactly certain of what the job entails. I am under the impression that I will do a lot of industry analyses, evaluate growth opportunities or areas for improvement, and work on a project of my own interests. There are supposed to be about 10 interns in the division, so I look forward to working with other college students on some of these assignments. I've also done a bit of investigating and notices that the majority of my superiors are ivy league alumni, which should be an interesting dynamic and excellent learning experience, as I find that I (like many others) strive when surrounded by smart people.

Overall I am expecting an exciting corporate environment, a unique learning experience, and an unbelievable networking opportunity that will help me wherever I choose to work in the future. It is too early to tell whether I have a future with Thomson Reuters after this summer, but I will certainly be working as hard as possible to land a full time offer out of the internship. I'm pretty excited to meet so many new and intelligent people, work on exciting new initiatives at such a globally relevant company, and for the second summer in a row, work in the heart of New York City's Times Square.