Senior Vice President at First Bank
Why did you decide to come to Leeds?
I looked at Purdue, Michigan and Colorado and after campus tours, my decision to attend Leeds was an easy one! What set Leeds apart from the other schools immediately was a sense of family and community and the fact that Leeds offers an MBA with an emphasis in real estate and finance. A current student at the time gave me a personal tour of the business school, took me to lunch and even invited me to attended a real estate class with him. After sitting in on Rick Woodruff鈥檚 Real Estate Development lecture for an hour and a half, I knew that I would be going to Leeds. Rick, like many professors at Leeds, utilized previous work experiences to deliver curriculum that was easy to understand and relatable to real-world practices. On top of that, Rick was professional and approachable (we鈥檙e still friends today)! It didn鈥檛 hurt that during my visit to Colorado I also had one of the best ski days of my life at Copper Mountain. After my visit, I knew that CU was the grad school for me.听
Could you share an experience that was particularly memorable?
One highly memorable experience was a two-week trip to China. During the trip, we met with alumni working abroad in both Beijing and Shanghai. They took us on tours through construction projects that they were working on, including the 2008 Olympic Village, CCTV tower in Beijing and a single family subdivision that backed up to a private section of the Great Wall. This trip sparked my interest in international travel and since then I have explored 14 other countries!
Were there any particular professors or mentors that influenced you while you were at Leeds?
Rick Woodruff was a major driver on my decision to attend Leeds. Additionally, Tom Thibodeau, who taught a real estate economics course and who helped with our project competition class, provided instruction and guidance that I still use today when underwriting real estate loans.
Where has life taken you since graduating Leeds?
After graduation, I moved to San Francisco, and since it was 2009, times were pretty darn tough in the job market. I eventually found a posting at Wells Fargo as an analyst in their Real Estate Banking Group (REBG). I called the Leeds career office to see if they could connect me with someone at Wells Fargo. Mary Banks and Katie Latier helped put me in touch with Derek Evans who was a REBG Market Manager in Denver at the time. Derek and I spoke and within hours, he helped set up an interview for me at REBG鈥檚 office in Northern California. I was told that they had received 435 applications. Through Derek鈥檚 influence and knowledge about the caliber of Leeds grads, I got the job. Four years ago, I moved to a privately held and family run, $6 billion asset bank called First Bank, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. I have since been promoted to a Senior Vice President and take a very active role in business development and underwriting $2 million - $30 million investor commercial real estate permanent and construction loans. I have been the chair of the Urban Land Institute鈥檚 Sacramento Young Leaders Group, and on the boards of both the Association of Commercial Real Estate and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. In 2016 I was fortunate enough to be a recipient of the Sacramento Business Journal鈥檚 鈥�40 Under 40鈥� award.
To nominate yourself or a fellow Leeds alumnus or alumna to be in an upcoming alumni newsletter, email LeedsSuccess@colorado.edu.
September 2017