This summer three Economics students are working for Hefren-Tillotson in their summer internship program. Trevor Day ’20, Brendon Urso ’20 and Taylor Renk ’20 are among the student group attending a presentation by the Investment Advisory Team where they learned about the different ways the company looks at investment opportunities.
According to CBE Fellow Trevor Day, “Hefren-Tillotson is a great place to intern for a summer because they encourage you to find projects that interest you. Hefren-Tillotson always encourages you to find a learning opportunity.”
Hefren-Tillotson is home to many Allegheny College alumni, and actively supports Allegheny students and programs. Today, with over $12 billion in client assets, Hefren-Tillotson is one of the oldest and largest full-service wealth management firms headquartered in Western Pennsylvania. They were recently named among the “Best Places to Work in Pennsylvania” by the Pittsburgh Business Times.
Our special thanks to Kim Tillotson Fleming, Chairman and CEO of Hefren-Tillotson, 2017 Executive in Residence, and Don Belt ’93 Hefren-Tillotson President, for their continued service and support of Allegheny students.
Emma Black ’20 is on the job in Pittsburgh with UPMC in their Finance Summer Associates program. Emma is an Economics major and German minor, a CBE Fellow, chief executive officer of the Mu chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta and an Alden Scholar.
The Summer Associate position is a fantastic opportunity for Allegheny students to live and work in Pittsburgh – We think the view from Emma’s office is amazing!
The UPMC Summer Associates program is designed for junior and senior undergraduate students offering a variety of programs in divisions such as Corporate, Insurance, Health Services, and UPMC Enterprises.
Emma’s view of Pittsburgh from her office window
The UPMC Summer Associates Program is a unique opportunity for students to gain practical experience in their respective fields of interest and provides exposure to real-world business opportunities. The program emphasizes professional development, networking, and community service.
Allegheny College welcomes UPMC to campus annually where students learn first-hand about internship and job opportunities. Support for safe housing for students living away from home is offered through the Allegheny Gateway Career Services and the Economics Department.
This year the Allegheny College Center for Business & Economics welcomes Dr. Gaia Rancati to Quigley Hall where she will teach Principles of Marketing and Business & Managerial Economics during the fall semester.
Dr. Rancati is an experienced trainer and coach in both sales and customer experience specializing in retail, sales, team building, and management. She earned her Ph.D. in Marketing and Neuroeconomics as well as a Bachelor in Marketing from IULM University, and a Master of Leadership and Management from Il Sole 24ORE Business School in Milan, Italy.
Dr. Rancati is a sought-after researcher and speaker in the field of neuromarketing where she applies the science of neuroeconomics for improving customer experience in the retail field with a focus on service encounters, sales transformation and artificial intelligence.
As an integral part of Allegheny’s Business and Business Economics programs, advanced marketing courses will be offered during the second semester.
Under the guidance of Professor Michael Michaelides, students Rafael Balanquet ’20, Club President, and Trevor Day ’20, Vice President, have organized the department’s first wealth Management Club designed to give students a collaborative environment in which they can openly discuss and learn about topics relating to personal finance. The club will invite guest speakers, use simulations, and perform individual research in order to educate members about personal finance topics and how get a head start on managing their own money.
According to Balanquet, “While the club still is in an infant stage, we would like to insure that it continues to bring in students who are interested in learning about these topics in a rather relaxed environment. For this reason, we would like to have past executives and members alike to invest time into helping later generations of students through both alumni relationships with future employers, along with assistance in the actual club atmosphere itself. This will help develop topics and standards the club should abide by in order to get our aspiring financially conscious students a path in the right direction.”
There are no requirements for students to join the club other than a genuine interest in personal finance. The students have created an ambitious agenda to attack during the school year. Here is a small sample:
Each student will “adopt a company” in other words, pick a company, in whichever industry they like, and consistently provide up-to-date analysis of their company, such as news, public offerings, stock price changes, different business deals, etc. This will also include the key information on their most recent earnings call for the respective fiscal quarter.
“Index Watch” – Students in teams of two look at a certain index and report on the change in trading price and basis points each week.
Students can participate in a Mock Stock Market Game on the club website.
Students will learn how to perform a technical analysis to determine buy/sell states in securities
The group will conduct discussions of recent news stories relating to the economy.
The club members will reach out to alumni and external speakers to understand some of the more specific occupations in finance, such as CFP and CFA, and the process of them getting their designation (or pursuing) and their day to day activities and advice for the job market.
More information will be available at the beginning of fall semester, however students and alumni that would like to participate can email bryan@allegheny.edu for more information.
This interview is one of a series conducted by the Center for Business and Economics Fellows with recent Business & Economics graduates about life after graduation.
This interview was conducted during the Spring 2019 semester by CBE Fellow, Jack Goodman ’19 with recent graduate, Celena Turiano ’18.
Jack: Where are you currently employed? — How did you hear about this position?
Celena: PNC Bank in the Greater Washington D.C. Area — I heard about the position through Allegheny Career Education as PNC came to campus to recruit prospective associates.
Jack: What do you do on a day to day basis?
Celena: At PNC I am a Retail Banking Development Program Associate where over an 18 month period I have the opportunity to grow my skills and knowledge of the retail banking industry which will prepare me for a career in branch management or business banking. My day to day role includes experiential learning opportunities such as servicing clients to provide financial solutions as well as shadow partners in mortgage, investment, business banking and wealth management.
Jack: How did Allegheny help prepare for your current job?
Celena: Overall Allegheny has provided me with knowledge and quantitative skills, but the opportunity I had to develop soft skills to build and maintain relationships with professors, alumni, community members, and peers have added value to my everyday interactions with colleagues, clients and the community where I now reside. The leadership and communication skills I acquired through extracurricular activities at Allegheny provided me the skills to lead and connect with a team. Lastly, the Economics senior comp improved my time management skills. The ability to manage multiple priorities and perform well under pressure has been vital.
Jack: What advice would you give to current Allegheny students?
Celena: My advice to currently Allegheny students is to be yourself and believe in yourself. You may be presented with challenging opportunities, but embrace and learn from every experience because that is how you will grow and evolve.
The Center for Business & Economics is pleased to welcome Dr. Greg Filbeck, representing the CFA Society in Pittsburgh on February 26, 12:15 pm in Quigley Hall’s Henderson Auditorium. This presentation is an introduction to the CFA program and the impact it can have on future career paths, along with ways to get plugged into a network of over 500 professionals through the CFA Society in Pittsburgh.
Dr. Filbeck will invite Allegheny students to participate in the 2018-19 Collegiate Personal Financial Plan Competition. Students will prepare a financial plan to help them plan for and achieve their financial goals. Through this program, the CFA Society of Pittsburgh hopes to help our region’s students take ownership of their financial future. The deadline for entries is Monday March 18, 2019.
Winners of the competition will be selected by the Society’s financial literacy committee and will be based upon creativity, reasonableness, completeness, formatting, and supporting exhibits. All participants whose financial plans meet a minimum level of standard will qualify to receive a “Certificate of Achievement”, awarded by the Society. Monetary prizes will again be awarded for the Top Ten plans.
Students who are interested in participating should email Beth Ryan at bryan@allegheny.edu for more information and to register as part of the Allegheny College team. If you are concerned about travel expenses, Beth can help you to apply for assistance through the Economics department.
The scoring methodology and heat map of previous years’ point distributions can be found within the Financial Literacy Committee page of the CFA Society Pittsburgh webpage.
Dr. Greg Filbeck, CFA, FRM, CAIA, CIPM, PRM
Greg Filbeck holds the Samuel P. Black III Professor of Finance and Risk Management at Penn State Behrend and serves as Director of the Black School of Business. Before joining the Faculty at Penn State Behrend in 2006, he served as Senior Vice President of Kaplan Schweser from 1999 to 2006 where he was in charge of all content and curriculum. He also held academic appointments at Miami University (Ohio) and the University of Toledo, where he also served as the Associate Director of the Center for Family Business.
Professor Filbeck has authored or edited eleven books and published more than 100 refereed academic journal articles appearing in the Financial Analysts Journal, Financial Review, and Journal of Business, Finance, and Accounting among others. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Business and Economic Perspective.
Professor Filbeck conducts consulting and training world-wide for candidates for the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Financial Risk Manager (FRM™), and Chartered Alternative Investment Adviser (CAIA®) designations. He holds all three designations along with the Certificate in Investment Performance Measurement (CIPM) and the Professional Risk Manager (PRM™) designation. He has conducted training for Goldman Sachs and the New York Society of Security Analysts as well as numerous public, online, and video-based programs. He served as President of the CFA Society Pittsburgh from 2014 to 2018 and was the President of the CFA Society Toledo from 1998 to 1999. He was President of the Southern Finance Association from 2015-2016.
Professor Filbeck teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in corporate finance and derivatives. He received The Impact on Practice Award from the Black School of Business in 2015, the outstanding teaching award among iMBA faculty in 2010 and 2012, the Penn State Behrend Regents award for Outstanding Researcher in 2011, and was the 2013 recipient of the Penn State Behrend Outstanding Outreach Award. He has a BS (engineering physics) from Murray State University; a MS in Applied Statistics from Penn State University; and holds a DBA (finance) from the University of Kentucky. Besides his work in finance, Professor Filbeck is a Professionally Registered Parliamentarian, a qualified administrator of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, and has 12 years of experience in radio broadcasting. He holds leadership roles in numerous community organizations.
This summer three Economics students are working for Hefren-Tillotson in their summer internship program. Trevor Day ’20, Brendon Urso ’20 and Taylor Renk ’20 are among the student group attending a presentation by the Investment Advisory Team where they learned about the different ways the company looks at investment opportunities.
The scoring methodology and heat map of previous years’ point distributions can be found within the Financial Literacy Committee page of the