UMSL students Ted Niemann (left) and Tyler Brake (right) took first place in the Career Exploration Competition on the Financial ConNEXTion Educational Cruise, with help from UMSL Adjunct Professor Gary Flotron (middle). (Photo courtesy of Tyler Brake)
On their fifth day on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Mariner of the Seas, Tyler Brake and Ted Niemann finally got the news they had been waiting for – a panel of distinguished judges announced that the University of Missouri–St. Louis duo took first place the Career Exploration Competition on the Financial ConNEXTion Educational Cruise.
The students had made their presentation on the second day of the cruise, which departed from Galveston, Texas, on Feb. 17. The days between the presentation and award ceremony were filled with networking opportunities, financial presentations and events on the cruise ship, along with day stops in Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico.
“The waiting was brutal,” Brake said with a laugh. “Ted and I were trying to talk to the other contestants to try and gauge how they thought they did. We did have a feedback period right after the presentation with the judges, and they gave us all positive feedback, nothing negative, so that really excited us.”
Their success continued a long run of UMSL success in the competition under Gary Flotron, an adjunct professor and highly acclaimed industry professional who has recruited and prepared UMSL students for this competition for more than a decade. Flotron said this was the 11th time since 2013 UMSL has qualified for the final round – before moving to the cruise format, the competition was held in Arizona – and this was UMSL’s third championship.
“They were wonderful to work with,” Flotron said. “We’ve had other good teams, and this is one of the best teams we’ve taken. They worked extremely hard on this, and this is a lot of work, but the students get tremendous benefits from this work. The ability to talk to the number of people they did, in the professions they want to pursue, that was an unbelievable experience that they both appreciated.”
For Niemann and Brake, the award was the ideal culmination of a project – the theme was “Navigating a Career in Financial Services” – that took 10 months of planning, research, writing and preparation. They each had to choose a career path under the financial umbrella and explore the pros and cons of those roles. Niemann went with trust officer, and Brake chose portfolio manager.
“The professions we chose to study were reflections of our personalities,” Niemann said. “Tyler is very smart when it comes to things like statistics, analytics and understanding the stock market, and that is a reflection on the industry that he decided to study, portfolio management. Whereas the trust officer role that I chose, that’s more of a relationship-based version of finance, like financial planning, and there’s a lot more of a legal aspect to it. We were able to see how the jobs mirrored each other, and how they worked together as a team, so that was really beneficial.”
Both will graduate this spring. Brake is pursuing a finance degree with a minor in information systems and technology. Niemann is on track to earn his BSBA with an emphasis in finance with a track in investment and portfolio management. They did not know each other before signing up for this competition but quickly became friends.
To qualify for the cruise stage, they had to submit a 16-page paper, which included interviews with at least eight professionals, four from each profession. Brake and Niemann blew past that minimum – encouraged to do so by Flotron, who helped make the connections – and they each did 21 interviews for their paper, for a total of 42 interviews.
“We went to their offices,” Niemann said. “We talked to each person for a minimum of an hour. Some of them I spoke to for almost three hours. And not only did it help with the paper, it gave us really great networking connections. Gary is insanely well connected in the business community in St. Louis and nationally, and he helped set everything up.”
Six teams were chosen for the final round based on their papers, from Texas Tech University, Texas A&M University, University of North Florida, Winthrop University and the University of Akron. The paper represented 35 percent of a team’s total score, with the final 65 percent from the presentation on the cruise.
With advice from Flotron and other UMSL alumni who have participated in the competition in the past – engaging the judges and other audience members was important – Niemann and Brake chose a sports trivia theme for their presentation, which was required to be under 17 minutes long.
“We had 22 slides, and four of them were sports trivia questions,” Brake said. “Our first question was about player development in the NBA, and so we answered that question and then leading us into the next part, I’d say ‘This team had a great player development strategy. Now, how do X-Y-Z firms develop their players into these portfolio management roles?’ I think that really won us over with the judges, tying the creativity aspect into the actual presentation.”
Another key element, Niemann said, was their performance in the Q&A session after the prepared presentation.
“They would ask open-ended technical questions, and because we had gained so much information from talking to so many people, we were able to answer off the cuff in a way that was genuine,” Niemann said. “These are people that know this industry front and back, so they’ll know if you’re just making stuff up, or if you actually went in depth. That was kind of what, I think, sealed the deal for us.”
Both Niemann and Brake said this experience was worth all the effort.
“There were other cool events as well, like an elevator pitch competition to start, just to get to know everyone,” Brake said. “There were a lot of speakers, a lot of professionals on the cruise conference. Almost every day, at least a couple spoke about their jobs. It was a great experience.”
And the connections made were invaluable.
“The schools involved in this competition are some of the best financial planning colleges in the country, and they’re all in one spot for five days,” said Niemann, who’s planning to build on this experience by enrolling in law school next fall. “On top of that, you have CFOs, CEOs, portfolio managers and life-insurance practitioners all in one room. I now have a network of people across the country I can reference who are lawyers, wealth managers, CEOs, CFOs. So if I ever need anything in California or Pennsylvania or Texas or Ohio, I can call them and develop a relationship with them moving forward.”
Brake said he’s had two job offers – one in Missouri and one in California – that are a direct result of this competition.
They also each earned six hours of independent study credit toward the completion of their degrees. Both said they’re planning to help whatever students take on the project next year, and in the years after that, because they believe in the benefit. So much so that they plan to help recruit the right students to pick up the UMSL mantle of success.
“This has been the most beneficial project I’ve taken on throughout my undergrad, bar none,” Niemann said. “It’s a lot of work, but there’s a lot of reward. It’s about seven months of really hard, pedal-to-the-metal work, so you have to be a go-getter. But you get to actually spend a lot of time networking with CFOs, managing directors, portfolio managers and financial planners in St. Louis. You get to learn about the professions.”
Niemann paused.
“I mean, I have one of the biggest financial planners in the country that is mentoring me now,” he said. “He’s helping me with the interview process and things like negotiating for salary. You’re really setting yourself up for the future.”
