Jeremy Greer

Wake Forest University School of Business

“A northerner who came to the South to study business and is now staying.”

Fun fact about yourself: I was abroad in London Spring of 2020 when COVID started.

Hometown: Suffield, CT

High School: Suffield Academy

Major: Finance

Minor: N/A

Favorite Business Course: FIN 232

Extracurricular Activities, Community Work and Leadership Roles During College:

• Holland-Kelly Scholarship recipient
• Miller Family Scholarship recipient
• Alpha Kappa Psi Member
• Dow Jones Club
• Finance Club
• Accounting Teaching Assistant
• Student Caller
• Server at Spring House Restaurant
• IM sports

Where have you interned during your college career?

• Fidus Capital – New York, NY – Summer Investment Analyst
• S. Lombard – London, UK – Quantitative & Sales Intern
• MassMutual – Springfield, MA – Corporate Finance Intern
• Campfire Technology (startup) – Boston, MA – CFO
• Johnson Brunetti – Financial Intern

Where will you be working after graduation? Truist Financial as a Portfolio Management Analyst

What company do you admire most? Crispr Therapeutics – Crispr is a company whose goal is to treat and cure debilitating diseases that were previously incurable. They do this through Crispr Cas-9 gene editing technology. Despite a lot of adversity, Crispr has begun to see positive results in clinical trials for its Sickle Cell Anemia treatments and has begun trials to treat certain types of cancer through gene editing. I admire this company because of the impact they will have in the future, having the ability to save countless lives.

What is the biggest lesson you gained from studying business? The biggest lesson I gained from studying business is the importance of having goals. In order for a business to be or remain successful, they must have attainable goals for both the short term and future. This is also the same for all people. I quickly learned in business school that I needed to set goals for my academic and professional career and map out a plan to get there. This was very influential in my class selection, studying habits, and career efforts.

What advice would you give to a student looking to major in a business-related field? My biggest piece of advice is that it’s never too early to start networking. I quickly learned how powerful networking is when I started the recruiting process for Junior summer internships. It was pivotal in finding what area of Finance I wanted to pursue a career in and was extremely important is securing a first-round interview and preparing for the interview.

What has surprised you most about majoring in business? What surprised me the most was how holistic the different major options in business are. When I applied to the business school as a Finance major, I thought all my classes would be finance-based with maybe a little bit of accounting. I quickly found, however, that every major in the business school has a little of everything in it. Finance majors have to take four accounting courses and quite a few management classes ranging from marketing to information systems. At first, I found this confusing since I did not think these classes would be relevant to me, but quickly found myself utilizing principles from these classes in my finance internships.

Looking back over your experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently in business school and why? One thing I would do differently is that I would embrace those non-finance classes a little bit more. I feel like I put more effort into my finance classes than more of the qualitative classes, but I now know how important those classes actually were.

Which academic, extracurricular or personal achievement are you most proud of? I am most proud of the scholarships I have been able to receive. Ever since high school, I have worked very hard to get where I am, and I believe receiving these scholarships are representative of my hard work. Additionally, every dollar I receive in a scholarship is a dollar that my parents save off of tuition. So, it is very nice for me to feel as if I am able to partially repay my parents for their investment and sacrifices that allowed me to be successful.

Which classmate do you most admire? Davis Feldman – My friend Davis is a non-business major, but he is one of the most involved people I know. Davis is the chief of Wake Forest’s student EMT’s, an EMT for Guilford county in NC, as well as a representative for students that are in the Student Conduct process. Davis, additionally, spent a large portion of his 2020 spring semester in New York City helping COVID victims. Despite doing all of this, Davis is still very successful academically and a great person to be around.

Who would you most want to thank for your success? My mom – though both my parents have a large responsibility in my success. Ever since I can remember, one of my mom’s most common phrases would be, “Do your best” or “Give it your all”. At the end of the day, she did not care what the academic grade was on my report card, but rather the effort grade that I took home. This lesson is something that has stuck with me my entire life, whether it be in school, in an internship, in athletics, or anything else I did.

My mother also instilled a very deep sense of work ethic in me. Since both of my parents worked, as soon as I was too old for summer camp, my mom forced me to get a job. The first jobs I worked were as a camp counselor for my town and as a dishwasher in my high school dining hall. These positions, along with a crazy assortment of others, definitely humbled me and taught me life lessons that I continue to utilize in everything I do today. My parents sacrificed quite a bit to get my sister and I to where we are today. They sent my sister and I to private high school to ensure we got the best education possible, and this was a large reason I was able to get into Wake Forest. They also sacrificed their careers by always leaving work to watch us in our athletic events or to take us to extracurriculars. No matter what I did I knew I had the full support of my parents and always did my best.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list?

1. Start my own firm. A friend and I started a software company my freshman summer and that was a great learning experience. I really enjoyed the process of watching something you built grow. Whether I am still doing Investment Banking, move on to Private Equity, or whatever else career path I take, I definitely want to open my own firm at some point.
2. Be written about in a major publication. Every person wants to leave an impact on those around them, including me. I hope one day, the work I am doing has a big enough positive impact that it is noteworthy enough to be written about.

What are your hobbies? In my free time I love to get outside with friends. Usually that is golfing, but I also love to go fishing, hiking, and playing sports. I also am a huge Boston sports fan, so if there is a Red Sox or Patriots game, I am definitely watching.

What made Jeremy such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2021?

“Jeremy distinguishes himself with his aptitude and intellectual curiosity. He enrolled in my Principles of Finance and then in my Intermediate Financial Management classes, where neither of which are considered “cupcake” courses. It was clear from very early on in the first course that Jeremy was on a mission to fully immerse himself into the material and learn as much as he could. He is clearly a very bright young man and, refreshingly, has no fear of participating in class and asking thought-provoking questions that enhance the classroom experiences of his cohort. When the material got difficult or when the class was struggling, Jeremy was always there to ask and/or answer questions to facilitate everybody’s learning. His intellectual drive and example fostered a pleasant classroom environment which helped make me a better teacher. Jeremy leaves Wake Forest University both well educated in finance, and well-positioned to maximize his tremendous potential. He is an example of what the corporate world needs in its young professionals and future leaders.”

Dr. Kenneth Ford
Assistant Professor of Finance