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ECON Graduate Addresses Finance Association
On March 20 the Finance Association hosted Caleb Tucker, founder of Noema Capital, as part of the Spring 2024 Guest Speaker series. Caleb is a CFA charter holder and earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from the Parker College of Business at Georgia Southern University, as well as an MBA from Duke University.
Caleb provided students an overview of his professional development after graduating from Georgia Southern. He talked about his sales experience at Edward Jones, investment roles at Merrill Lynch and Charles Schwab and discussed some of the challenges and struggles he faced after graduation. He stressed to the students that what they do in college and at the beginning of their careers is a vehicle for experience, growth, and future success. Caleb continued talking about his experience during his MBA as well as the motivation and process of establishing his own firm—Noema Capital. Next, he discussed where his passion for investment strategy began, and how he went about honing that skill at Merrill Lynch prior to leading investment strategy for two Atlanta advisory firms and starting his own firm. Caleb emphasized the importance of asking questions and mentioned the skills he learned in undergrad that set him up for success, specifically firm valuation techniques such as IRR, DCF, and EBITDA multiple models. Caleb continued his presentation talking about the importance of having experienced a down market and the concept of search funds as well as the process of finding an acquisition target. Throughout his entire presentation, Caleb was mindful of how young professionals feel when they start out and kindly reminded them that imposter syndrome affects many professionals, seasoned or not, and that overcoming that feeling leads to personal and professional growth.
The event concluded with a student question and answer session. Question topics included balancing investor debt and equity, borrowing in a high interest rate environment, Caleb’s entrepreneurial spirit, leveraging both qualitative and quantitative skills in finance, and the valuation of private firms. Caleb carefully fielded each question and provided valuable insight to all attending.
Alumnus Speaks to PSE Members
by Jory Jarrells
On April 2, Sean McCormack, director of deployment and execution excellence at Syneos Health, was generous enough to share valuable sales information with members of the Gamma Lambda Chapter of Pi Sigma Epsilon (PSE), the only national co-ed professional fraternity in the fields of sales, marketing, and management. Sean not only provided fantastic tips on great ways to sell yourself, but he also shared insightful anecdotes related to his experiences at Syneos Health. Some of the professional advice he gave during his visit included asking curious questions, being authentic, and knowing your competition better than you know yourself. Sean stressed that superior knowledge leads to superior confidence. One person who attended the meeting stated, “I am so glad I came to this meeting tonight. I learned so much about the business world that I didn’t know before.” Another said, “[Sean] McCormack was such a great speaker. He knows how to be successful.”
The PSE team would like to give a big thanks to Georgia Southern Parker College alumnus Sean McCormack for traveling from Jacksonville, FL, to Statesboro and for sharing awesome information! To learn more about PSE, click here.
Corporate Culture Series Kicks off with Alumnus Tim Wilkerson
by Danielle Smith
Thanks to the generous partnership of Synovus, the Parker College was able to host its Corporate Culture Speaker Series on April 2. Through a conversation led by Executive-in-Residence Tim Mescon, Ph.D., students had the opportunity to hear about the career journey of Parker alumnus Tim Wilkerson (MGNT, 1991), from his time playing football for Erk Russell to his current role as senior VP–home services for The Home Depot.
Tim shared insights about his professional experiences in leadership and career growth through the lens of his time with The Home Depot, emphasizing how decisions made within the company impact the organization’s operations and strength as a brand. We appreciate his time and support in enhancing the professional development of our students!
Supply Chain Students Work in Teams to Recommend Fleet Planning Solutions
by Jerry Burke, Ph.D.
Each semester, the Department of Logistics and Supply Chain Management develops and launches an applied research challenge (ARC) with support from the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) and a particular industry partner. This semester, 27 students were divided into five teams to work on the ARC project. Ben Banks and Rob Stephenson (VPs with TCW) kicked-off the challenge by providing an overview of TCW’s regional network of terminals and the significance of container seaports in Savannah and Charleston, SC, as well as intermodal rail terminals in the vicinity of Memphis, TN, to TCW’s livelihood.
Students engaged with Ben and Rob in a lengthy Q&A about TCW’s fleet planning case study written by Jerry Burke, Ph.D., professor of logistics and supply chain management. An overview of the case was presented on March 7, and students subsequently worked in teams over the next three weeks to develop several rough drafts of their presentation slides supported by original analysis. The three teams with the most compelling practice presentations were selected to present their findings to Rob and Ben during the finals of the ARC on March 28. The top two teams are pictured.
Economics Club Welcomes Marie Gooding
On March 27, Marie Gooding, retired vice president of the Atlanta Office of the Federal Reserve (Fed), addressed members of the Armstrong Campus Chapter of the Economics Club. Mrs. Gooding discussed recent Fed activities and the expected reactions of the stock market, banks, and other related industries to those activities. A question and answer session followed during which the students learned more about how the Fed impacts the economies of the U.S. and other countries.
