The Online MS in Finance and Analytics

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Seoyoung Kim:
Hi, everyone. I'm Seoyoung Kim, Finance Department chair and MSFA program director at Santa Clara University, and I have here with me, Fiona.

Fiona Geisinger:
Hi, I'm Fiona Giesinger. I'm co-founder and president of Owl Search Partners. We're a retained search firm for finance, accounting and people roles. I am also a Santa Clara University MBA alumni, class of 2012.

Seoyoung Kim:
Thanks so much for joining us. I actually wanted to hit on that part first, the fact that you're an alum. What made you choose Santa Clara?

Fiona Geisinger:
It was a difficult choice. I went to San Jose State for my undergrad, and I initially decided not to go that direction and I wanted to choose one of the other MBA programs in the Bay Area. I did a lot of research, talked to a lot of alums, and what really stood out for me with Santa Clara is the small classes and the individualized help that I was getting through the process. I really felt like I was already part of the program as I was going through the process. I think that having professionals teaching and teaching real world situations in every class really was going to set me up for the future that I needed.

Seoyoung Kim:
So now, how might someone best use an MSFA degree as opposed to going the MBA route?

Fiona Geisinger:
The MSFA program will give you the opportunity to home in on those finance skills. I think what a lot of hiring managers look for from someone coming out of a master's program is the skills and the ability to jump right in. And if there's someone coming out of, say, engineering or marketing or some of these other areas that really want to get into the finance realm, they can leverage what they've learned in business from the other areas, but really hone in on the day-to-day skills on how to build out financial statements, being able to understand what the analytics around the finances, forecasting, those types of areas that they learned in the program, so that when they're interviewing, they're showing that they have a good foundation to build upon and continue to learn.

Fiona, throughout your career in finance, how have you seen the job opportunities evolve? What would you recommend to MSFA students who are entering the program or are currently in the program?

Fiona Geisinger:
I've seen a big translation in the finance world. The jobs have changed significantly. It's no longer a forecast out on an Excel spreadsheet, and that's the only skill you need. Because of the technology that has stepped into the finance world, it has made a lot of the day-to-day that we saw years ago, put into a system that kind of spits it out and does it for you. So a lot of the skills that people need to bring to the table now is the analytical side of things and the presentation side of things. So, how do you tell the story with the numbers? Finance is no longer just about the numbers. It's no longer just about being able to take the last five years and project what the next five years is gonna look like.

It's now more about the research, the analytics around it, and then the presentation and telling the stories. In a way, I would almost consider it like a marketing role. Like, how do you tell the story of what these numbers are gonna look like? And then you add the volatility to what's happening, you're also including research. So in the program, use that as you're doing your work, as you're evaluating what's being taught, and you don't always have to just listen to the professor. Be the devil's advocate. Step in and analyze it and actually tell a story back and forth with these conversations with the professor, with the people you're meeting, what these numbers actually mean and how you can use these numbers to grow a business or sustain a business.

Seoyoung Kim:
What can you say about specifically our online MSFA program? What specifically do we do at SCU, that you've noticed, to connect students who are online to our Silicon Valley career network?

Fiona Geisinger:
There's the programs that you go into just to get that degree. Santa Clara is not doing it that way. They're making sure there's networking going on. There's on-site, you have to come to the campus a couple of times to meet the students. There's still collaboration work. There's still those same case studies of showing different areas of Silicon Valley work, bringing people in-house to do lunch and learns and happy hour chats. There's still that connection to the Silicon Valley world and to CFOs and CEOs and founders and leaders that sets it apart from other master's programs, because they're essentially taking the in-person program and translating a portion of it online, but still having it as challenging as if you're sitting next to the person. And then you add these case studies and these group projects, and you still have to learn the management skills of working together. And you still have to learn how to deal with differing personalities and all the skills that you should be getting from a master's program.

Seoyoung Kim:
How does Leavey in particular prepare students for greater career success than they might find elsewhere? What is particularly important about us at Leavey?

Fiona Geisinger:
I think the number one is the professors. The people teaching the classes, they first of all care, but they bring in real world experience. Most of them have spent time in tech or are still in tech or something in the Bay Area, and if they're not, they've had enough involvement to be fully connected and bring people in. I remember a case study we had to do before Facebook was even public, and it was about what happens if Facebook went public. And there was the knowledge around it, because we were sitting in the pocket of it. And I think Leavey School of Business does a great job of making sure the people they bring in to teach these classes are successful professionals or successful leaders in the learning space, that are well connected across the board to be able to give each individual student the opportunity to learn as much about what work will really look like outside of the classroom.