Undaunted Alumnus from Vietnam Advances in World of Finance

Marianne Klinker — Fri, 03 Dec 2021 17:03:01 +0000

Undaunted Alumnus from Vietnam Advances in World of Finance Marianne Klinker Fri, 12/03/2021 - 12:03

Tien (Tim) Huynh, BS Finance ’16, has never been one to back down from a challenge. At the age of 17, he made the journey alone to a nation he barely knew. Educated at a high school for gifted students in Saigon, Vietnam, he was fortunate to be accepted into a competitive student exchange program in the United States. “It was basically like a lottery system,” he says, “I had no idea where I would be heading.” The school that selected Huynh was in Akron, Ohio. With the wind at his back, he packed his necessities and headed to the other side of the world to live with a host family and attend his new high school. More than a decade later, Huynh is prospering as an assistant vice president portfolio manager at Capital Bank.

Tien (Tim) Huynh

Huynh learned English in Vietnam, but it was significantly different hearing it constantly spoken by natives. Fortunately, his host family and high school staff were immensely supportive of his transition to American life. “I was able to pick up the language quickly thanks to my host family correcting me whenever I misspoke,” he says. Not only that, but it only took about five or six months before he was feeling comfortable in his new environment. After graduating from high school, Northern Virginia became the natural destination to advance Huynh’s education since that is also where his uncle lived—his lone stateside relative. Living with his uncle, he was able to save money on room and board. To further save money and hone his skills, Huynh first studied for a few years at Northern Virginia Community College before enrolling at ��ӽ紫ý.

Mason’s School of Business became a place where Huynh made tight-knit friendships, especially within his finance major. Additionally, he was able to network quite a bit professionally. “There were a lot of career fairs, and I would attend as many as I could,” Huynh says. He credits a finance professor with helping him land a job at EagleBank during their new emerging partnership with the university. But meeting one of their employees at a Mason networking event enabled him to ultimately obtain that position. If he was bold in coming to America alone as a teenager, he certainly was not going to back down from approaching potential employers. Huynh was determined to better himself and to accomplish results.

Now at Capital Bank, Huynh has continued to elevate his game for the benefit of his clients. In his position as assistant vice president portfolio manager, he establishes and maintains lending relationships with businesses dealing in manufacturing, construction, and other industries. The experiences in adapting to a new culture forged his unshakable confidence—a significant asset when presenting his recommendations to clients. Repeatedly putting himself in arduous and sometimes daunting situations has put him in a position to thrive when the stakes are mounting.

Tien Huynh’s mindset has driven him toward his desired destination throughout his young career, yet his determination yields unseen future potential. It has taken him from Vietnam to Ohio to Mason and beyond. “My advice to current students is to work extra hard, go network, apply for internships, keep an open mind, and keep calling people until you make that connection,” he says. “Finance has a lot of career paths, and you can quickly become established in a great career after just a few years.” From his own experiences, Huynh understands that intelligence and talent are just part of the equation. Now nearing completion of his MBA, his growth is ongoing and due mainly to his can-do attitude to keep pushing and striving for success. That attitude and outlook make him a model to students, regardless of origination or cultural heritage.

Topics

Costello College of Business News

Costello College of Business Alumni

Finance Concentration

The Newly Renamed Montano Student Investment Fund Attracts Employer Attention

Marianne Klinker — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 20:27:03 +0000

The Newly Renamed Montano Student Investment Fund Attracts Employer Attention Marianne Klinker Tue, 07/06/2021 - 16:27

In This Story

Derek Horstmeyer

Tiago Requeijo

After living in New York City for 13 years, Trevor Montano, BS Accounting ’00, returned to the region and reconnected with ��ӽ紫ý. He joined the ��ӽ紫ý Foundation (GMUF) Board of Trustees and began to examine the greatest needs of the School of Business, analyzing how he could help improve experiential learning and finance student job placement. Noticing the University did not have a student managed investment fund, Montano enlisted a student (now alumnus), Brandon Nestor, BS Finance ’17, to assist in researching and setting up the fund, which launched in 2018 with an initial capital investment from the GMUF endowment. Thanks to an enabling gift from Trevor and his wife Regina Montano, the Montano Student Investment Fund, as it is known today, is thriving in giving business students hands-on experience in portfolio management and is attracting the attention of top employers.

“The creation of the Montano Student Investment Fund required detailed diligence; we consulted with schools across the mid-Atlantic regarding process and operations, drafted a proposed structure, presented our thoughts and findings to the GMUF Board of Trustees along with relevant decision makers, in addition to anything else needed to get the fund off the ground,” says Nestor. “Turning Trevor's foundational idea into a reality required commitment and teamwork, so it’s very satisfying to see it start paying early dividends.”

Derek Horstmeyer, professor of finance, and Tiago Requeijo, assistant professor of finance, teach the class that was created for this purpose, and their students present a semi-annual performance report to the GMUF Board of Trustees. “I joined the [Montano] Student Investment Fund because it is an amazing opportunity to get hands-on experience working as a team to manage a real portfolio,” says Stephanie Fincher, a senior studying finance and business analytics. “It has taught me a lot about researching and selecting stocks as well as monitoring the overall portfolio performance and risk.”

One of Fincher’s teammates, Chaitanaya Manya Vij, a senior studying finance, adds, “The fund not only forces student analysts to have a broader understanding of market conditions, but also pushes them to look for market growth opportunities in narrow sectors of the S&P 500, meaning that we must approach investing by thinking both inside and outside the box.“ He also notes how it offers participation in many invaluable opportunities and events like the CFA Challenge and case competitions. The CFA Institute Research Challenge places students in the position of research analysts, putting their skills to the test. The challenge also provides mentorship and training to further sharpen their skills. Participating in this and other related events elevates the students and gets them alongside the most select business students in the nation. And by elevating Mason students, the Montano Student Investment Fund is also adding prestige to the School of Business, recruiting top students and top employers to hire them.

The benefits of the fund are immediately recognized by those students who go on to work in the field. “The [Montano] Student Investment Fund gave me the opportunity to pitch investment ideas and face pushback and questions from fellow students, professors, and the foundation’s Board of Trustees,” says Rudy Kessinger, BS Finance ’18. “As a sell-side equity analyst, I spend a lot of my time doing the same thing, both internally with our sales force and with institutional investors. My experience with the fund prepared me well for this and gave me a lot more confidence starting out than I would have otherwise had.”

In establishing the fund, Montano wanted to provide a more effective launching pad for students who seek to begin their careers in finance and investment management. He appreciates the differentiated experience gained from managing real money through his firsthand experiences interviewing young college graduates over the years. As for the future of the Montano Student Investment Fund, he hopes it continues to improve outcomes. “I would love to see more students move into challenging and high-level investment management jobs,” says Montano. “And I hope that those who graduate from the program decide to give back and help the students who follow them.” While the fund is still young, it already has several former participants who are highly successful financial industry professionals. As the number of alumni continues to grow, they will help drive additional career opportunities for upcoming graduates.

Topics

Costello College of Business News

Finance Concentration

Costello College of Business Alumni

Student Investment Fund