Corporate Finance Student Spotlight - Emma Zaccardo

Emma Zaccardo is a first year MBA (’21) who recruited corporate finance and will be interning at Whirlpool in their Finance Leadership Development Program.  

Do you mind walking us through your background?

My first job out of undergrad was in a risk management rotation program at a national bank. Through the rotations, I gained exposure to credit risk, technology, and anti-money laundering. After that role, I moved to Seattle and worked in annuities compliance for a life insurance company. The role involved working with a lot of data and I created a consumer report database of our portfolio and performed analysis for senior management. I enjoyed the analysis aspect and saw the client risk analysis tools I created as a natural extension of my interest in data. However, I also saw that advancement probably involved gaining more expertise on the legal side. Through a friend, an opportunity came along to take a senior analyst role at an FP&A start-up and I jumped at it. The change was great for me. In a new industry and company size, I was able to create board materials, generate quarterly reports for the c-suite, develop key performance indicators and, eventually, work through the acquisition of the startup by a larger firm. At this point I was in a manager role working on budgeting, forecasting, and other finance responsibilities but I was learning everything on the job. I decided to investigate business schools because I wanted to build my toolkit of hard skills on the finance side and develop as a leader.  

Interesting! So you decided that business school was a good avenue for you to build upon the skills you had been developing?

It was mostly my experience at the startup that exposed me to corporate finance adjacent roles. In many roles, it can be difficult to take a broad view of a firm. But from my experience at the startup, I learned that I enjoy taking a high-level approach to business challenges and I want to be on the forefront of making decisions that drive a company forward. Most corporate finance programs are rotational. The rotational programs allow you to tie together various drivers of a business into the big picture and, through the rotations, you can also build a network at the firm. There are also clear opportunities for advancement in functions that every firm on earth has a need for. The totality of these aspects appealed to me about corporate finance, as opposed to any one thing or experience.

Why Cornell?

There were a few different factors. First, my husband and I wanted to be in the northeast. Although Ithaca is a bit out of the way, Johnson has great proximity and placement to my preferred geographies. Second, Cornell Johnson has a top-notch finance program and a strong, well-thought out corporate finance curriculum. It would be a misnomer to think of Johnson or Old Ezra as primarily a banking program. And thirdly, the culture is great. During my visits and interactions with students, everyone I met seemed like someone I would like to go to school with.  

Any surprises through the recruiting process?

The biggest surprise was how different corporate finance is everywhere. It is a broad role that every firm approaches differently. At some firms, corporate finance is more akin to internal consulting. At other firms, corporate finance is significantly more like accounting. All companies think of corporate finance differently. That swathe of role descriptions surprised me.  

How did Old Ezra Help you?

Old Ezra was most helpful to me as an established network. As soon as I enrolled, I had a wide range of students and professionals I could connect with, learn from, and bounce ideas off. Old Ezra helped from the very start of “here is a list of people who recruited corporate finance – go talk to them” to the end of talking through interviews and offers. I also appreciated the curriculum itself and the interview guide. There are a wide range of interviews in corporate finance so the technical training can pay dividends. 

What type of work do you do in the corporate finance immersion?

The immersion is great because Jack Ferrer, who leads the immersion, is a practitioner. He has deep experience across finance and is focused on giving us practical skills for our internships and full-time roles. A typical week entails walking through an abstract topic and then open discussion regarding an example. It is the classic grad school experience of everyone interacting. We often end up going in-depth on finance topics that are covered at a high level in the core curriculum, such as capital structure management. In addition to our discussions and assignments, we have formal modeling classes through Pillars of Wall Street.  

Emma, thank you for your time!