Before graduating this spring, Josh Baxa joined Permanens Capital Partners, a Manhattan-based asset management group, where he works as a performance analyst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFinance is a hard industry to break into,\u201d said Baxa, \u201cespecially if you don\u2019t have industry connections.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Through a new mentorship program as part of the pre-banking and finance pathway program under the direction of Paul Meeks, a professor of practice in the Baker School of Business, finance majors will begin working with industry professionals in their freshman year to customize their classes and internship experiences to their specific career plans. But even before the program was formalized, energetic students like Baxa enjoyed access to Meeks\u2019 guidance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Baxa started out as a marketing major. He spent a semester studying marketing at the American University of Rome, but a summer internship with a marketing firm made him realize that he might be better suited to another profession. A subsequent internship at Northwestern Mutual opened his eyes to the world of finance and wealth management, and he added a second major in finance. As Baxa began his senior year with a heavy courseload, he discovered how lucky he was to have Meeks in his corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meeks, who has more than 30 years of experience as an institutional equity analyst and portfolio manager, appears regularly on CNBC to discuss technology stocks. At The Citadel, though, he is best known for his role in the development of finance majors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHis extensive real-world knowledge empowers cadets like me to believe that a career in high finance is attainable,\u201d said Baxa. \u201cThat’s half the battle. I’ve seen him on TV picking stocks and making macro-environment predictions on CNBC’s Squawk Box<\/em>, and then heard from him that same morning in the classroom\u2014that type of access is special. It’s also a testament to the fact that normal guys like us can do similarly big things in the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Before graduating this spring, Josh Baxa joined Permanens Capital Partners, a Manhattan-based asset management group, where he works as a performance analyst. \u201cFinance is a hard industry to break into,\u201d said Baxa, \u201cespecially if you don\u2019t have industry connections.\u201d Through a new mentorship program as part of the pre-banking and finance pathway program under the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other"],"yoast_head":"\n