Ty Keough
University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business
“Operates at finance, AI, and strategy intersection. Brought in during complexity, trusted by experienced executives.”
Fun fact about yourself: I’m a published author – co-wrote A Compendium of Private Equity One-Liners: A Handbook to the Language of the Deal with Michael Hale, turning PE dealmaking terminology into an actual reference guide.
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
High School: Oaks Christian School (Westlake Village, CA)
Major: Business Administration
Minor: N/A — Progressive Degree: Master of Science in Finance (completed concurrently with undergraduate degree)
Favorite Business Course: Behavioral Finance (FBE 505) with Dr. David Hirshleifer. We debated whether Tesla’s stock price was investor folly or genius, explored how CEOs time stock buybacks around market misvaluation, and dissected why smart people make terrible investment decisions. Hirshleifer is one of the most cited researchers in finance, but he taught like he was just as curious about the questions as we were. The class made me realize finance is so much more than just formulas.
Extracurricular Activities, Community Work and Leadership Roles During College:
Presidential Scholar (Merit-based scholarship)
Dean’s List every semester; Global Leadership Program (Invitation-only)
Trojan Consulting Group (Consultant → Project Manager → Head of Recruitment → Senior Advisor over 8 semesters—Clients included Chipotle, United Nations, LAX);
Captain of USC’s 3-time Champion Intramural Soccer Team (Unreasonably proud of this)
USC Surf Team
AI Research Assistant to Dr. Florenta Teodoridis
Prolific Teaching Assistant and Research Assistant across seven courses in strategy, M&A, economics, and quantitative finance, supporting nearly 1,000 undergraduate and MBA students through my time at USC.
Assistant to Dean of MBA Programs on AI strategy and implementation
Graduated with dual degrees (BS and MS Finance) in 4 years with a 4.0 GPA.
Where have you interned during your college career?
- Actionist Consulting (Century City, CA) — Summer Analyst, Investment Support & AI (Summer 2025); currently Consultant focused on AI development; Joining full-time
- Scentre Group (Westfield) (Sydney, Australia) — Summer Analyst, Strategy & Asset Management, reporting to Head of Asset Management (Summer 2024)
- Westlake Financial / Hankey Group (Los Angeles, CA) — Summer Analyst, Structured Finance, reporting directly to CEO & Chairman Don Hankey (Summer 2023)
- Imperial Capital (Los Angeles, CA) — Sales & Trading Summer Analyst (Summer 2023); Investment Banking Summer Analyst, Restructuring & M&A (Summer 2022)
Where will you be working after graduation? Actionist Consulting — Consultant (Full-time, starting July 2026)
Who is your favorite business professor? Dr. Kyle Mayer, Vice Dean of MBA Programs and Professor of Management & Organization. Kyle’s been my mentor since before I started at USC—literally since I was a high school senior. What started as advising conversations turned into a real partnership: I proved I could tutor his Executive MBA students as a freshman, we traveled to conferences together, and I helped shape AI strategy for the MBA programs. But Kyle didn’t just give me opportunities, he created a platform where I could push myself and grow. He taught me that competence opens doors, but integrity and judgment keep you in the room. We’ve worked side-by-side for four years, and we will for many more. He’s shown me what thoughtful, values-driven leadership actually looks like. He’s become a lifelong mentor, and I wouldn’t be where I am without the partnership we built together.
What is the biggest lesson you gained from studying business? Trust is the real currency. You can build the sharpest valuation model, craft the perfect pitch deck, or design an innovative product, but if people don’t trust you to execute, none of it matters. I learned this teaching since I was a freshman, pitching to billionaire CEOs, and building AI tools that people actually had to rely on. Competence gets you in the room. Integrity and follow-through keep you there.
What advice would you give to a student looking to major in a business-related field? Find work you’re genuinely curious about, then make yourself useful to the people doing it well. I didn’t plan to work for executives as a sophomore or build AI systems for a consulting firm as a senior—I just kept showing up, asking questions, and doing work that I loved and was curious about. The interesting opportunities came from being helpful, not from optimizing my LinkedIn. Also: go to office hours. Professors want to help you. Most students never ask.
Looking back over your experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently in business school and why? I’d share more of what I was learning in real time. I spent a lot of energy doing good work quietly—teaching executives, building AI systems, working on private projects—but I wish I’d written more publicly, taught more openly, and documented what I was figuring out along the way. Teaching forces you to clarify your thinking, and sharing work creates unexpected opportunities. I got better at this over time, but I should have started even earlier.
What is one way that your business school has integrated AI into your programming? What is one insight you gained from using AI? Marshall piloted an AI teaching assistant I engineered in the MBA core curriculum this semester. The system maps each student’s course materials into a unified knowledge graph for context-aware tutoring and personalized guidance. The insight: AI doesn’t replace good teaching, it makes it more accessible. Students still need real professors for the hard conversations, the judgment calls, the “why does this actually matter?” moments. But AI can handle the repetitive explanations, surface connections between concepts, and be there at 2am during finals week.
Which academic, extracurricular or personal achievement are you most proud of? The teaching. I spent my undergraduate years TAing and tutoring about 1000 students across MBA and undergrad courses—game theory, corporate strategy, M&A, quantitative finance. Watching an Executive MBA student finally click with DCF modeling, or seeing an undergrad’s face light up when insurance pricing suddenly made sense—that meant more to me than anything on my resume. I got to learn from incredible professors and then help other students have the same breakthrough moments I’d had. Plus, getting paid to nerd out about academia with people who actually cared? That’s a pretty good gig.
Which classmate do you most admire? My twin sister, Anna Keough. What I admire most is watching her build her own path since entering USC. Anna bridges creativity and analytics in ways I can’t. She’s led creative direction for 30+ dancers, interned in marketing at Williams-Sonoma, and now she’s pursuing her MS in Marketing at Marshall. We’re yin and yang. I think in models and systems, she thinks in stories and brands. She challenges me to see beyond spreadsheets and reminds me that the best strategies connect with real people. Having your twin as your business partner and biggest supporter is the competitive advantage no one talks about.
Who would you most want to thank for your success? My parents. They let me make unconventional bets without making me feel like I was gambling with my future. When I wanted to skip high school classes for college courses, they trusted me. When I turned down traditional internships to work for people they’d never heard of, they supported the choice. When I was pulling 80-hour weeks between school, teaching, research, and running a startup from my dorm room, they reminded me to surf, sleep, and stay human. And when things didn’t work perfectly, because they didn’t always, there was never an “I told you so.” Just support, perspective, and the occasional reminder that one semester doesn’t define anything.
What are the top two items on your professional bucket list?
1. Teach my own course one day. I’ve been a TA for years, but I want to eventually design and teach my own class. I’ve learned so much from incredible professors (e.g., Kyle Mayer, Florenta Teodoridis, David Hirshleifer) and thousands of hours working with students. I’d love to close that loop by mentoring the next generation.
2. Sit on a board before I’m 35. Not as the finance guy taking notes, but as someone executives actually listen to when making big decisions. I’ve been in enough boardrooms as the youngest person by 20+ years to know I can add value there. I want to earn a seat at that table permanently.
What made Ty such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2026?
“When I reflect on this year’s Poets & Quants Best and Brightest, Ty Keough stands out without hesitation.
I have worked closely with Ty since Fall 2022, when he entered USC as an incoming freshman already technically a sophomore by credits due to transferring the maximum 32 units. From our earliest advising conversations, it was clear that he possessed a combination of intellectual curiosity, maturity, and purpose. As a Presidential Scholar selected for Marshall’s invitation-only Global Leadership Program, Ty immediately distinguished himself through his ability to engage thoughtfully with business leaders, so much so that he was invited to return to Australia for a summer placement with Scentre Group, owner of Westfield in Australia and New Zealand, where he contributed meaningfully to high-impact projects and further helped strengthen the relationship between Marshall and Scentre’s senior leadership.
Throughout his time at Marshall, I have watched Ty commit deeply to the community: over eight semesters in Trojan Consulting Group, he progressed from Consultant to Project Manager, Head of Recruitment, and now Senior Advisor, serving clients such as Chipotle, the World Health Organization, LAX, and Omni Hotels. I have also had a front-row seat to his entrepreneurial initiative, including his role in scaling JAA Media from a sophomore-year dorm room into a student-led startup that reached 22 million followers and 1.5 billion monthly views, launched multiple consumer products, generated significant revenue, and ultimately exited through a strategic asset sale which is an accomplishment recognized on the cover of USC’s Daily Trojan.
What most distinguishes Ty, however, is that his interest in finance has never been driven by prestige or compensation; rather, he is genuinely motivated by learning and by helping others succeed. Since his freshman year, he has consistently sought out opportunities to teach and mentor peers, serving as both a Teaching Assistant and Research Assistant across strategy, economics, M&A, and quantitative finance courses, supporting more than 1,000 undergraduate and MBA students through advanced tutoring, course design, and faculty support. He has also contributed as an AI researcher and advisor to Marshall’s academic leadership, helping shape how emerging technologies are responsibly integrated into student learning.
In recognition of his academic discipline and exceptional performance, Ty was admitted to Marshall’s Master of Science in Finance through the Progressive Degree Program and will graduate with both a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s degree in finance, all while maintaining a perfect 4.0 GPA throughout his undergraduate career.
As his academic advisor, I can say with confidence that Ty Keough represents the very best of the Marshall Undergraduate Program, not only in what he has achieved, but in the integrity, generosity, and leadership with which he has done so.”
Jesús Ramírez
Academic Advisor
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