School of Business > ACFIN >

Graduates from the Nicholas program advance their careers in various industries and capacities, including investment banking, financial services, consulting, and corporate finance positions at companies worldwide. The alumni of the Nicholas Center for Corporate Finance and Investment Banking remain an integral part of the program as advisors, mentors, speakers, project sponsors and recruiters. Each year Nicholas alumni return to the Madison campus for the annual alumni reunion that coincides with the bi-annual External Board of Advisors meeting and reception.

	Nicholas Alumnus & Board Member Emeritus Sachin Tulyani
	Northwestern Mutual Capital

Briefly describe your current position with Northwestern Investment Management and what was your most interesting assignment at the company?

I work in the Investments division at Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. (“NML”), specifically in the Private Debt & Equity Group.  It’s a small group of 25 professionals that manage a portfolio of more than $20 billion, typically investing $600 - $800 million in Mezzanine/Direct Private Equity and $3 - $4 billion in private placement bonds on an annual basis.  As a director in this group, I am responsible for all aspects of deal analyses including financial & industry analysis, business due diligence, negotiation/structuring of terms and recommendations to internal investment committees.  In addition, I am also involved in Business Development where we market our group to private equity sponsors in the U.S. and Europe.

My six years with this group have been extremely rewarding since I have been exposed to a wide variety of transactions on multiple dimensions including company size, geography and complexity of structure.  One of the most interesting and challenging transactions that I worked on was the buyout of San Juan Cable (formerly Adelphia Puerto Rico) last year, by MidOcean Partners.  Not only was it my first real foray into Cable investing but I was also exposed to business in Puerto Rico, a unique part of the US Commonwealth.  This deal was an equity co-investing opportunity for NML, along side MidOcean.  The analyses was challenging since I had to validate the triple-play thesis for cable in the face of stiff competition from the incumbent telecom company.  My personal and business travels to Puerto Rico combined with discussions with my small network of local Puerto Rican friends (classmates from the MBA program) helped me to appreciate consumer habits and spending in this unique Commonwealth.  We made it to the finish line and ended up making a $25 million equity investment in the transaction.

 

In hindsight, what was the most valuable aspect of the Nicholas program in regard to your current position and your future ambitions?

Two things come to mind when I look back at the Nicholas program: Firstly, analyses and data mining is only 50% of the job.  The remaining 50% is presentation of your conclusions and being convincing enough to get buy in from your client/investment committee.  The Nicholas program is unique because it has a healthy balance of both aspects.

Secondly, I cannot say enough about the small team of guys that I worked with.  I have quite a bit of respect for each one of them and we learned a lot from each other.  Our group bonded into a solid network that I am proud of and hope to maintain forever.

 

What has been your most significant professional achievement to date?

During my second year of my career at NML, we had the opportunity to participate in an equity co-invest with Willis Stein Partners for the buyout of Roundy’s.  Roundy’s, a co-op at the time with wholesale grocery operations, was getting into supermarket/grocery retail.  It was a difficult transaction since Wal-Mart’s aggressive entry into the grocery space with its Supercenter format was currently being played out.  It was an easy transaction to turndown: Retail + Wal-Mart competition = Disaster.  However, we had to really get behind the data and do some on-the-ground self due diligence to understand what the Pick-N-Save supermarket (Roundy’s grocery retail format) offered and how much it dominated the market share in Milwaukee and Madison (through Copp’s).  I even went to a Wal-Mart supercenter and a bunch of other smaller competitors to compare prices on a basket of products.  Despite the odds, our deal team was able to provide a convincing argument on how Roundy’s was able to provide competitive pricing and had been successful in tackling the competition from Wal-Mart.  Our small equity investment is doing well and the transaction is expected to be a home run.

What career advice would you give to current Nicholas students?

Looking back at how the Nicholas program has grown from a group of just five students in the founding class (MBA class of 2000) to an alumni group of more than 100, I am very proud to be part of the Nicholas alumni group.  My advice to Nicholas students would be to take advantage of the networking opportunities with the alumni and Advisory Board.  Irrespective of your career interests and preferred geography, one can find a professional connection among this amazing group.  In addition, I cannot stress enough as to how important presentation skills are in the professional world.  Don’t sit back in your team, take the initiative to present the project to your client.

 

What was your most memorable experience during your Nicholas career?

Our first project presentation was probably the toughest one.  We were challenged on a number of fronts including our assumptions, the methodology we adopted, our analyses, our findings – everything.  It was a painful experience at first and some of us thought that this first Nicholas group would be dead after the first project presentation.  But we did receive valuable feedback and pointers from the client.  It was an important learning experience for us as a team and we grew stronger from the experience.  From that point on, our project analyses and presentations improved every step of the way.  We incorporated feedback and what we learned from each project, and challenged ourselves further and further.  We were all very proud of what we had achieved after the final project.

 

Not all Alumni stay affiliated with their university after graduation. Not only do you stay active as an alumnus, but you have also recently joined the Board of Directors. What is so special about the UW-Madison that keeps you involved at such a personal level?

I am personally indebted to the University of Wisconsin, the School of Business and the Nicholas Center for the amazing experience I had during my MBA and more importantly for providing a solid foundation for my professional career.  UW-Madison is a unique learning institution with high-caliber teaching professionals that attracts high achievers.  The Nicholas Center provided me the opportunity to prove myself and demonstrate my skills to multiple real-world clients; an opportunity that cannot be replicated in the classroom or any case study.  Any personal time involvement or monetary donation that I give back is very small relative to what I have received, I feel like I won’t be able to give back enough in my entire lifetime.

 

List of Nicholas Alumni

More Featured Nicholas Alumni

Want to Donate to the Nicholas Center?

Wisconsin Business Alumni

Academic Director James Seward, Gulru Keten (Nicholas 2004), Jared Rodriguez (Nicholas 2004)