Alumni Stories: Paul Colligan '86

...when I matriculated at Dartmouth I had the belief that whatever I chose to pursue in a career I would need specific training. I also believed that if 10 of my 33 credits were to be in my major that I had better choose a discipline that I enjoyed and found interesting. Growing up in Hanover I had the benefit of knowing many other faculty children and the reputations of many of the faculty. I had heard many great things about the Religion Department and the likes of Professors Green, Berthold and others. After taking Rel. 1 I fell in love with the idea of learning about all religions to complement my Catholic upbringing. It wasn’t until my junior year that I had a clue about a career path. My older brother was living in New York and worked at a well-known Wall Street firm. I had the opportunity to live with him while doing an internship at Lehman Brothers during my senior fall term. He was an institutional salesman and my internship was on the retail sales side. Since graduation...I have been working with ultra-high net worth families advising them on their investment portfolios. I love working with people and the dynamics of an ever changing market. I must continually pass or complete neweducation requirements so I am always learning. One benefit in attending a liberal arts school is it allowed me to get a foundation in many disciplines including math, English, foreign language and economics as well as subjects that I found interesting but may have no practical application to a chosen career path.  It also allowed me the freedom to major in a discipline that I had a passion for. During my job interview process in the spring of senior year I was always asked without fail  “ so a religion major, tell me about that?" I entertained myself trying to come up with a different answer for each of the investment firms. The one that got the best reaction was “ if I’m going to be in the investment business I thought it would help to have an inside track to the Man upstairs”.If I had the opportunity for a “do over” I wouldn’t change a thing.  The relationships I developed with the outstanding Department faculty, the classes I took and all that I discovered in my major studies are the cornerstone of my positive experience on the Hanover Plain.

Cheers,

Paul [Colligan] ‘86