Alum of the Month

Andrew McLaughlin

September 2013

London Program

August 2007 Intake

What and where did you study before your Mountbatten internship?
Prior to my year on the Mountbatten Internship Programme I majored in finance at Fairfield University in Connecticut. I also had the opportunity to study abroad at Australian Catholic University in Brisbane where I realized how much I enjoyed travelling.

What made you apply for the Mountbatten programme?
I had heard about the program from Ben Wells, a friend from high school who was in the year above me. He filled me in on the opportunity he had had with UBS in London, and when I graduated from college, it was an easy decision to apply after hearing Ben speak so highly of the program. Once I was accepted I was ready to pack my bags.

Describe your sponsor company and your role within it.
I joined up with a team at Deutsche Bank doing Debt Reconciliation on trade breaks. My day to day was monitoring front office to back office trade breaks and reconciling those issues. My team was quite global as well, made up of two other Mountbattens from Mumbai, three Brits, one Scottish, and one Greek. The team as a whole enhanced my experience overseas and I am thankful for that opportunity.

What was the highlight/most memorable moment of your working experience during this year?
I don't know that I have a particular experience that stands out too much, but more the general opportunity to interact with NYC/London/India/Germany on a daily basis really drove the international factor home. The banking business is a global language that you really learn when you step foot in London.

What was the social highlight/most memorable moment during this year?
The highlight of my Mountbatten year was by far the people that I met while on the program and how close friends I remain with a great deal of these people. Despite so many people scattered throughout the country we remain a tight knit group because of the experience we all shared, Dorest, Cambridge, the pubs, travelling Europe, living together all made each day memorable.

Please share a little wisdom/philosophy that you acquired during your internship.
I think that you have to look at Mountbatten as an excellent opportunity to experience new people and new travels and gain a great work experience. The internship allows you to live a year outside of your comfort zone which can only help in your career and future endeavours.

If you could change anything about your internship, what would it be?
I think the opportunity to do a rotational program in terms of an internship would be beneficial. Being able to see the work that other interns were involved in during their day to day would have been really useful and career enhancing.

What happened after completing the year - what did you do next?
After my year in London I headed back home to Baltimore, MD with fellow Mountbatten Alum, John Tierney. We both were in search of jobs and I ended up at Credit Suisse in Charlotte and John headed to UBS in New York City. Please see John’s story in the next newsletter...Congrats to a great couple. Can't wait to party for the wedding!

Where are you now in your working life and what do you do?
Currently I am working in Structured Product Sales at Credit Suisse Investment Bank in Chicago. After 2 years working in Interest Rate Product Sales with Credit Suisse in New York I had the opportunity to move to a new division earlier this summer.

Do you have any future plans that you would like to realise & what are they (career & social)?
While in between positions in the summer of 2009 I worked with the startup "RateMyStudyAbroad.com" which provided me a great insight into the startup industry. Going forward I'd like to continue my Sales and Trading career and at the same time continue to see how I can share in startup opportunities that seem to popping up almost daily.