Meet Katie McGahan — From Biological Sciences to Ford Treasury

Katie McGahan is a second year MBA at Johnson. After completing an internship in treasury, she’ll be heading back to Ford. This is part of a series highlighting Old Ezra members.

Hi Katie, thanks for taking the time. Could you walk us through your background prior to attending Johnson?

Prior to Johnson, I was an undergraduate at Cornell, completing my BS in Biological Sciences in 2020. During undergrad, I spent summers working at a hedge fund focused on distressed debt and at Deutsche Bank working in their private wealth department.

Interesting pivot! How did you choose the Johnson MBA?

First and foremost, I was excited by the opportunity to stay at Cornell because of the strong sense of community at Johnson. I also was very interested in the immersion programs that Johnson offered - specifically the SGE immersion.

How did you feel going into the internship? Was there a particular course or Johnson experience that you found helpful to prepare?

I was very excited. The CMC, professional clubs and my CWG did an excellent job in preparing me for the internship, and I was more than excited to be able to jump into the world of corporate treasury.

I think that the core classes did a great job in preparing me for the more technical pieces of my internship – specifically core finance and accounting. I also believe that the client-facing aspect of my immersion project was really helpful for my internship. I was lucky to be staffed on a project that was focused on green bonds which married my interests in finance and sustainability.

Great, thanks so much for sharing. Do you have any advice for upcoming applicants?

Continue to pay attention to current market trends both generally and in the auto industry specifically!

The auto manufacturing industry is going through a significant transformation with the continued focus on EV and AV offerings so the market is constantly changing, whether that be from new players in the market, consumer preferences changing, or with new regulations being put on the industry. Definitely pay attention to what is happening in the auto industry at large as that has direct effects on the corporate treasury and finance roles at OEMs.

Katie can be reached at kem265@cornell.edu. Reach out if you are interested in corporate finance internships or learning about her experience in the Old Ezra Finance Club at Cornell Johnson.