Alumnus Testimonial
| "I had valuable opportunities participating in four real-world corporate finance projects under the guidance of our academic advisor, Professor Jim Seward, who is an expert in both theory and practice. The projects, ranging from Fortune 500 firms to startups in size, and from manufacturing to hedge fund in nature, provided me with hands-on experience of analyzing problems from different perspectives, gathering data from multiple sources, discussing with teammates from various backgrounds, and presenting confidently to the management of project sponsors." |
Sheldon Liu |
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| Kris Scheihing Nicholas 2001 |
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| Procter & Gamble |
Briefly describe your current position with P&G and your career path beginning with interviewing and accepting a position with P&G.
I interviewed with P&G on campus in the fall of 2000. I was intrigued by the idea of working for a company that had so much to offer in terms of variety of roles, product lines and locations. My first interview was followed up with a day visit to P&G’s offices in Cincinnati, which included three more interviews as well as a few round tables with recent P&G hires. About a month later, they brought me back to Cincinnati to spend a weekend getting to know more about the city and making sure it was a place I wanted to live.
I accepted a job with P&G in January and started in June 2001 as a Customer Team Finance Manager (CTFM) with P&G’s team that calls on Target in Minneapolis. The role was a great fit for me as the other offer I was strongly considering was with Target. It gave me an opportunity to work with one of our largest customers and influence their buyers’ decisions by demonstrating the financial advantages that P&G products offer for them vs. our competitors' products. In the fall of 2003 I moved back to Cincinnati to work in P&G’s deodorants/antiperspirants category. I currently have a split role spending roughly half my time as the finance manager for the Sure brand and the other half working on global category projects (i.e.- global new product launch plans, long term category strategy/growth plans, etc). My next role will likely be in product supply finance.
In hindsight, what was the most valuable aspect of the Nicholas Center in regard to your current position and your future ambitions?
Having the opportunity to interact with upper management from a variety of different companies is something that the Nicholas Center uniquely offers. To stand up before top executives in a company and present a valuation of their business or give them recommendations on how to attain additional financing takes a lot of hard work. They know their businesses inside and out so you have to anticipate about every alternate position they might take or question they may ask. When we gave each of our final presentations we were ready. We knew our information and could defend our recommendations. It required a whole new level of preparation/knowledge vs. other courses I had at UW.
At P&G I was given a lot of responsibility right from the start so having that same level of knowledge about my business was crucial. I was the sole finance manager on the Target team responsible for our cosmetics, snacks & beverages and health care businesses. I had to know everything that was going on in those categories so that I could help our account executives make decisions that would continue to drive positive business results. The same is true in my current role and will be in my future roles. My experiences in the Nicholas Center helped prepare me for that.
What has been your most significant professional achievement to date?
At the end of my second year with P&G I attended our annual sales meeting in Orlando along with our 2000+ employees that are on teams that work directly with our retailers. Tom O’Brien, P&G’s VP of sales, gave out about 100 awards to employees that had made significant contributions over the past year. I received an award for some work I had done on increasing Target’s profitability in oral care, which in turn led to increased sales for P&G. It was really amazing to be recognized for the impact that my work had had on our business in front of P&G’s entire North America sales organization.
What career advice would you give to current Nicholas students?
Find a job that you truly enjoy and you will succeed. It may be the type of work that you are doing or the caliber and character of the people that you work with everyday that makes your job enjoyable. Whatever it is, finding a job that you like to do and are passionate about makes it easy to go to work every morning and give it your all.
What was your most memorable experience during your Nicholas career?
What I remember most about the Nicholas experience is not a particular project or presentation to a client, but the personal interactions we had as a group. We spent so much time together up in the Nicholas Center that we really got to know about what was going on in each other’s lives. It was great to hear when someone got a job offer or accepted an offer or found a place to live in the city they would soon call home. I knew everyone in our group would be successful and I enjoyed having the chance to work with them all before they went out to begin their careers.
More Featured Alumni Interviews |
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| Sheldon Liu (2006) | Rachel Nielsen (2006) | ||