| MBA Spotlight: Dan Orleans MBA Class of 2021 From Private Wealth Management... to M&A Consulting |
- Hometown: Boca Raton, Florida
- Undergraduate: University of Michigan - Economics
- Pre-MBA: Morgan Stanley – Private Wealth Management, Business Development Associate
- Internship: EY-Parthenon – Summer Consultant
- Leadership @ Anderson:
- Management Consulting Association - Vice President of External Affairs
- Admissions Ambassador Corps - Vice President of Admit Weekends
- Basketball Club at Anderson - Executive Vice President
- Activities @ Anderson:
- Teaching Assistant - Principles of Accounting
- Social Impact Consulting Corps
- Strategy & Operations Management Association - Member
- Investment Finance Association - Member
- Jewish Business Student Association - Member
- John Anderson Golf Club - Member
- Anderson Craft Beer Club - Member
7 QUESTIONS WITH DAN ORLEANS (MBA '21)
Q1: What career pivot did you make via your MBA?
A: Prior to business school I was working at Morgan Stanley in their wealth management division in a variety of different roles. I pivoted into consulting and will be joining EY-Parthenon in their M&A consulting division after graduating business school.
Q2: What do you wish you know now that you wish you knew as a prospective Anderson MBA student?
A: I would recommend to prospective students that when they go to visit schools and meet current students is to think about those students as potential classmates. The program that you choose is just as important as the students that you will share your time with, so you want to understand what your potential classmates might be like. This is one of the reasons why I chose Anderson, but I can't emphasize enough how important this is and should be apart of your decision making process.
Once you get to school, I would take classes that you are interested in as opposed to only classes that will help you in your future roles. When you get to your full-time role you will do most of your learning on the job, but the classes that will stick with you are the ones that you were interested in that broadened your horizons and changed the way you think.
Q3: How has your Anderson experience changed you?
A: Anderson has taught me a lot about how to solve problems and has given me confidence to be able to do so. Before business school, I always felt it was difficult to step outside my comfort zone with topics I was unfamiliar with. What I learned throughout my time in business school is, if you are confused about something, most likely so is someone else in the room. As long as you continue to be curious and show an interest in learning, you will be able to understand much more than you think. It also takes a village, you are never going to be on your own, so leverage your resources, continue to be curious, and any challenges that come your way will be a lot easier to solve.
Q4: Why would you recommend Anderson?
A: I would recommend Anderson for a number of reasons, but the most important reason is the culture. One of the three pillars of Anderson is "Shared Success" and I can truly say this pillar is not just a punchline, but it is truly embodied by every student at the school. I remember during the interview process for internships, I was about to enter the Parker Career Management Center office for an interview, while my classmate was leaving his interview. He gave me a summary of the interview that he just went through, knowing that we were both interviewing for the same job. The important thing is here, no one is actually competing against one another and it was just one of many examples of how every student is all in this together.
Q5: What is your most favorite Anderson memory and why?
A: My favorite Anderson memory from an academic perspective was BCO --Business Creation Option of our Capstone Project. Going through the process of creating a business was incredible. The ability to work with a BCO advisor (in our case a serial entrepreneur who was instrumental throughout the process), led us to many pivots along the way. The most important part -- the ability to work with a great team -- taught me how important the people that you work with is.
From a social perspective, my favorite Anderson memory was the annual Ski Trip. Going to Steamboat, Colorado with 200+ Anderson classmates was an absolute blast!
Q6: What activity or hobby did you enjoy most during your MBA years?
A: I enjoyed playing basketball the most throughout my time at Anderson. Once you start working, you don't really appreciate the flexibility of a school schedule. You will be very busy throughout business school, but you aren't sitting in an office for 10 hours a day. Basketball was my activity to escape, especially during the busy, stressful, and chaotic times of business school. There are always so many things going on, but students will have to prioritize the activities that are important. For me, those activities included the basketball runs on Monday mornings and Friday afternoons.
Q7: Which class was your favorite at Anderson and why?
A: My favorite class at Anderson was "Entrepreneurship and Venture Initiation" with Professor Alderton. This class is one of the prerequisites that teams must take to be apart of the BCO program. It changed my thinking entirely on how to think about early stage start ups both from the perspective of a founder and a venture capital firm. Professor Alderton demands a lot of his students, but if you put in the work you will get a lot out of it.
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