Business and Economics

Jack: What do you do on a day to day basis?

Daniel: What I enjoy most about working for a small, start-up level company is that I do not do the same one thing every day. I am mostly involved in biological manufacturing, so when we are in the process of manufacturing our pharmaceutical product, my primary daily responsibilities include monitoring our cell cultures, maintaining equipment/facilities, and collecting/filtering our final product. In addition, I am involved in research and process development experiments geared towards improving our processes and finding new uses for our product. On any given day, I split my time between working in our wet lab, clean room facility, and general office space.

Jack: How did Allegheny help you prepare for your current job?

Daniel: I was lucky enough to find a profession that fits my educational experience very well. I have been able to use and improve upon many of the laboratory-based techniques I learned during my time at Allegheny. That being said, I think the most important skill I gained from Allegheny’s demanding curriculum and lofty expectations was the ability to learn new material quickly. Any job in any field will require you to gain new skills and knowledge as you advance your career. Being able/willing to learn new techniques, skills, concepts, etc. at a quick pace is a huge advantage in the workplace.

Jack: What advice would you give to current Allegheny students?

Daniel: I think the best advice I could give to students would be to find a good balance between school work and your social life. I have had the opportunity to interview candidates for some of our job offerings and can say that while grades are important, we care just as much about how involved you are outside of the classroom. Most jobs involve working as a team and it is incredibly important to be able to mesh well with your colleagues. So focus on school, but do not forget to go out, meet new people, and have fun also

Nick:  Bank of New York Mellon- My friend who works here told me about the position/program.

Troy:  What do you do on a day to day basis?

Nick:  I specifically work in Global Proxy Voting as an analyst in the CSD Campus Analyst Program (In simple terms: Placing shareholder votes for people who cannot attend the shareholder meetings). I am in charge of the way we are billed by different markets from a proxy service we use called Broadridge which involves moving different currencies from suspense accounts into general ledgers.

I work on Spanish Premiums (Calculating and distributing funds to shareholders who vote in shareholder meetings in Spain). I get to work with 3rd party proxy voting vendors like ISS and Glass Lewis to find missing ballots and find reasons why client shares were not voted upon, which involves calculating the number of shares on record and using market specific voting laws to find out why the client did not get to vote in the meeting.

Then I work on the Campus Analyst program’s goals which is process improvement and using technology to make the bank more cost efficient. This involves getting the Lean Six Sigma Greenbelt certification by working on a 3 month long automation project that will make the bank more efficient in the ways of cost, risk, and productivity. Also, I have to run data analytics like regressions to find root problems and poor tendencies with my departments financial and productivity reports to reduce risk in my department.

Troy:  How did Allegheny help prepare you for your current job?

Nick:  It prepared me by always keeping me very busy and teaching me how to balance class, sports, and my company. I use what I have learned while trying to balance my everyday job and the automation projects that I am in charge of for the program. Also, the comp was a great way to refine my stats knowledge before having to use it every day.

Troy:  What advice would you give to current Allegheny students?

Nick:  Be curious—learn a skill, master it, and move onto the next one.