Finding Their Futures in Finance: Two Alumni Share How Assumption Led Them to Success
Learning to Learn: Mark Carpentier ’18
Mark Carpentier ’18 was planning on a quiet night in his junior year dorm when a friend encouraged him to attend a career networking night on campus.
“I had it on my calendar, but I looked at the list and nothing particularly struck me,” Carpentier said. “But my buddy said to me, ‘you should go’. So, I did, and someone from the industry I wanted to work in hadn’t been scheduled to be there that night but was there. I ended up talking to him and the rest is history.”
That connection with Assumption alumnus Nicholas Cafaro ’01 led Carpentier to an internship – and eventually his current career, as a Wealth Management Advisor at Merrill Lynch.
“It was my friend encouraging me, and me saying, ‘yeah, you know what? I should really take an opportunity when it’s in front of me and run with it,’” Carpentier said. “That’s the advice I give most – you’ve got to be willing to put yourself out there.”
Carpentier credits the education he received at Assumption for preparing him to succeed in his career. “I think the liberal arts teach you how to actually learn,” he said. “In my career, I’ve had to sit for all my licensing exams, including the CFP [Certified Financial Planner exam], and since I already learned how to apply myself in college – they were a breeze.”
Carpentier found meaning in not only his finance courses, but in the liberal arts as well – especially in one English course with Professor Lucia Knoles.
“I learned in that course just how little people naturally listen to each other when one person is talking,” he said. “If you’re having a ten-person meeting, everyone is usually trying to put their own influence on each other without listening. Professor Knoles would stop us throughout the class and have us reflect on whether we were truly listening and whether we meant what we were saying. It was one of the greatest exercises I’ve ever gone through.”
Alongside English, Carpentier found meaning in many liberal arts courses that inform the way he approaches his career today.
“I spend a lot of time with people when they are going through major changes in their lives, and there’s a lot of emotion,” he said. “The philosophy courses I took help me to be more empathetic to my clients, especially as a listener and critical thinker. Assumption not only made me a better citizen and better person, but it also made me more spiritually minded. If I had only gone to business school, I don’t think I would be the same person at all.”
Explore and Excel: Shelby Moccio ’23
Shelby Moccio ’23 began her Assumption journey as a math education major but quickly discovered after a few courses that her passions lay elsewhere.
“Around sophomore year, I started talking to people who had graduated from the finance program about their day to day lives,” she said. “It really interested me, so I took a financial management class, and it just clicked.”
Moccio decided to double major in both mathematics and finance, something that she says helps greatly with her current role as a Senior Financial Analyst at RTX, an aerospace and defense conglomerate comprised of Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, and Raytheon.
“My math courses and finance courses really went hand in hand,” said Moccio. “I love working with numbers, and courses I took for my math major still help me analyze data even now.”
Moccio is also working towards her master’s degree in data analytics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, building upon her Assumption experience to advance in her career.
“I thought data analytics would be in between math and finance, so I could grow from the knowledge I already have from my bachelor’s degree,” she said. “I wanted to try something new, take new classes, and get more knowledge from there. I think that’s what getting your master’s is about – growing new knowledge and understanding how you can apply it to your workplace.”
Moccio credits courses that introduced and helped her to gain mastery in Microsoft Excel as some of the most fundamental in her Assumption education.
“In the finance world, you just use it constantly,” she said. “And, going into the field after graduation, having that knowledge can set you apart from other candidates. You’re able to grow faster and learn quicker.”
During her time at Assumption, Moccio had an internship with Collins Aerospace – still working in finance, but in a different specialty than her current role at RTX. She noted that the wide variety of departments and specialties to explore made the financial field more appealing to her, with constant new opportunities for growth.
“I’m in estimating and pricing right now, but there are so many other opportunities in finance,” Moccio said. “I think that’s what made me love the field – I feel like I don’t need to do one thing. I can go into my company and say I want to try something new.”
She also attributes her internship as having opened the door to her current professional role, as she made connections that helped her to land the job.
“Professor Olivia Wu was a great advisor, and she was really helpful when it came to networking,” said Moccio. “She helped me with applications and connections, helping me to get through the first door to internship and career opportunities. It’s important to make those connections – because you never know where they will lead.”