Monday, December 20, 2010

Mike O'Carroll Graduated on Sunday. He Will Be Working for RBS in Stamford, CT.

Mike O'Carroll
Michael O’Carroll, AIM Class of 2010, graduated on Sunday, December 19 from Marquette University. He is going to work for the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in the Transaction and Portfolio Management Group in Stamford, Connecticut. Mike will be starting his new position in July, 2011.  

Mike will be joining a class of newly hired RBS analysts and will have an opportunity to go to London for training - in addition to the usual NYC/Standford analyst training. While he doesn't know his exact group, he's hoping to be assigned to the Industrials Group where he might have an opportunity to monitor a 20 company credit portoflio and other corporate offerings. 

Mike graduated from Marquette with majors in finance and accounting. Mike has been active in numerous organizations including: Financial Management Association, Delta Sigma Pi - Professional Business Fraternity, Beta Gamma Sigma, and the Investment Club.  He was the utilities analyst for the AIM Equity Fund – and he also added a financial services holding to the AIM International Equity Fund. Mike has added some strong performers, including Allete (ALE) +13%; Black Box Corporation (BBOX) +48%; Black Hills Corporation (BKH) +21%; El Paso Electric Company (EE) +41%; and Banco Macro S.A. ADR (BMA) +75%. His five stocks still remain in the AIM Funds and continue to perform well.

Dr. David Krause, AIM program director said, "It has been a pleasure working with Mike the past three years. He was very strong in the classroom and a true student of the capital markets. Mike added five stocks to the AIM Funds and all have been strong performers. He has outstanding work ethic and a positive attitude – he will go far in the world of finance. I believe that the RBS opportunity in Stamford will be the beginning of a successful and prosperous career for Mike. We all wish him well and he will be missed in the AIM Room. He's always had a positive, infectious attitude that can make an group of students better in the classroom.”  

Mike with Jim Bianco at the 2010 AIM Forum
During the past two summers Mike had internships in corporate finance with Hospria (Lake Forest, IL) and in asset management with Heartland Advisors (Milwaukee, WI). Dr. Krause said, “Mike worked this past summer as a Corporate Finance Intern in the Financial Projections and Analysis group with Hospria which I believe helped round out his finance background.”  

Mike was successful in utilizing the Marquette alumni network in his search for a position after graduation. Besides receiving mentoring from Brian Giles, who previously worked for RBS before going to Harvard Business School to pursue his MBA, Mike was able to network with a Chicago-based Marquette alumnus, Maureen Lukasz.  

Dr. Krause continued, “Mike worked as an intern for the Select Value Team at Heartland Funds in 2009-10. This is where he learned how to forecast earnings and build stronger DCF models. During his time at Heartland he also had an opportunity to work in the accounting department. Mike was one of the strongest AIM students in his working knowledge with Bloomberg and Factset software applications.” Mike graduated from Marquette with majors in finance and accounting. His hometown is Gilberts, IL and he is an avid lacrosse and hockey fan.  Dr. Krause concluded, "This has already been quite a week for Mike - graduation and his first career opportunity with a major bulge bracket firm - and it isn't even Christmas yet! Congratulations and best wishes."