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Ohio Wesleyan's Woltemade Economics & Business Fellows Complete NYC Study Tour

Name: Aiden Veerjee '26
Hometown: Johnstown, Ohio
High School: Johnstown High School
Major: Quantitative Economics
Minor: Geography

OWU Connection Experience: Study trip to New York City for Woltemade Economics & Business Fellows

Along with Veerjee, students Anna Haines '26 of Reynoldsburg, Ohio; Areli Hernandez '26 of Menlo Park, California; Salma Khettat '26 of Columbus, Ohio; Giovanna Lacarrubba '26 of Asuncion, Paraguay; Graci Semptimphelter '26 of Franklin, Tennessee; and Ben Staggers '26 of Greencastle, Indiana, traveled to New York City from May 7-10, 2024, to learn more about business careers in the city that never sleeps.

All of the students are Woltemade Economics & Business Fellows, selected for the competitive program by The Woltemade Center for Economics, Business, & Entrepreneurship. New fellows are selected each academic year based on their high potential for success at Ohio Wesleyan and their interest in business-related studies.

The students traveled with OWU Economics and Business Department faculty Matt Vollrath, DBA, and Goran Skosples, Ph.D. Vollrath is an associate professor of Business Administration and the Richard W. Corns & Louis A. Simpson '58 Faculty Director of the Woltemade Center; Skosples is the Robert L. and Mary C. Milligan Associate Professor of Economics.

Invaluable Alumni Connections

During their trip, the Ohio Wesleyan students met with influential business leaders including fellow Bishops Mike Tiedemann '93, founding partner and CEO of AlTi Tiedemann Global (wealth management); Ibrahim Urooj Saeed '15, product manager for Cross River (financial services); Tom Goodman '76, president, CEO, and founder of Goodman Media International (public relations); and Lucas Nathanson '22, assistant account executive for Goodman Media International.

My Favorite Moment

"My favorite moment of the NYC trip was visiting AlTi Tiedemann," Veerjee said. "Visiting a company like this showed me that an alum achieved goals that I have, doing similar things that I have been doing. Tiedemann started an investment firm that has a larger focus on what their clients wanted rather than just purely making money, which is something that I strive to do in my future. Many of my current student involvements are in finance, but I also wanted to hear more about the client side rather than the numbers.

"My second favorite moment of the trip was seeing the arts program. I was under the mindset that the arts and economics/business are completely different. But going to the New York Arts Program has shown me the differences and some of the bridges that are made between businesses and art." (Administered by Ohio Wesleyan, the New York Arts Program lets college students spend a semester studying and interning in New York.)

Lessons Learned

"This greatly ties into my classroom experiences because some of the firms we visited talked about things that we learned in class, specifically about finance and some of the ins and outs of choosing firms to invest in and more fundamentally sided investments.

"It also brought some more broad economic views that some higher level ECON classes had brought up. Before going on this trip, I was split between wanting to go into wealth management and investment banking. Once I talked to Tiedemann, it showed me that there are firms that want to do more client-sided things rather than purely just making money.

"After hearing from this company, I realized I want to go more into wealth management rather than investment banking as I will still be able to talk with clients and reflect their interests in the investment world."

An Important Opportunity

"Experiences like this matter. This is because you get to go out into the field and talk to seasoned professionals who were in similar positions to you many years ago. They know in-depth how to get started and where to go from your position. All of the alums have given invaluable advice about the fields they are in and how to get hired where you are."

Woltemade Fellowship Benefits

"I am benefiting from being an Economics & Business Fellow from getting invited and involved in some way with all the alum speakers. These speakers are very inspirational people and have been successful in their own fields. The Economics and Business Fellows have lunch with the speakers, allowing for a more casual conversation and for it to be more personal. This allows for the fellows to get more personalized advice catered to their situation."

My Campus Involvements

"I am president of the Investment Club, a member of Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity, and comptroller of WCSA (OWU's student government)."

Why I Chose Ohio Wesleyan?

"I chose to attend Ohio Wesleyan because of the smaller class sizes. When I visited Ohio Wesleyan, I was immediately introduced to the welcoming community of Ohio Wesleyan and felt like this could be a new home. I was also introduced to the idea of making my own major, with this university one of the only ones in my home state of Ohio that has the Quantitative Economics major.

"I was also very impressed with the idea of the OWU Connection, the fellowships such as the Economics & Business Fellows, and the student government being more empowered than in other universities I had been hearing about. The idea of a Camp Oh-Wooo and fellowship lunches seemed like a great way for me to make some friends very early on who had similar interests to me, which would make my college journey much more enjoyable."

My Plans After Graduation

"My future plans are to find a career within wealth management. The way that OWU is helping me reach these goals is to simply introduce me to ways to achieve this big goal. My career goal is a big line item, but there are smaller steps. Whether that be achieving internships, these trips to get introduced to the industries, or simple things such as writing resumes. I am also being introduced to people of all backgrounds, and this will help me greatly by being able to connect with anyone, whether it be a co-worker, manager, or client."