Kiran Akkineni
Vanderbilt MS Finance Class of 2007
ProFlowers.com – Business Analyst, Marketing
San Diego, California
My New Career
In my new position, I will be doing Business/Marketing Analysis for ProFlowers.com (Provide Commerce, subsidiary of Liberty Media Group). I will work with a group involved in determining lifetime value of customers, pricing, planning and more.
The Right Fit
I was looking for a position that would allow me to utilize my finance background while also broadening my experience base within the business arena. I wanted to find a company that utilized a scientific approach as a foundation in decision-making, and also a company with legitimate organic growth prospects. ProFlowers fulfilled both these desires. Also, the offer provided a great combination of base salary and performance-based compensation, along with a variety of additional values.
Fulfilling My Goals
I am excited and anxious to enter an arena in which I am not very experienced. I don't have a strong set of goals for my career, aside from continuing to build a strong knowledge and experience base in order to move along a path leading me to a potentially entrepreneurial position later in life. I believe this new job, along with my prior experience in finance (job experience and MSF degree), will allow me to do this.
How the MSF Prepared Me
The degree provided me with a very broad and comprehensive understanding of finance theory, including many areas which I was not familiar with at the onset of my term. I was able to learn about multiple frameworks and methods with which to approach questions in any sphere, including but not exclusive to finance. I believe this is one of the main reasons I received an offer from my current employer.
The Owen Community
The small class size along with a top-notch faculty allowed me to obtain a stronger grasp of the material, as well as easy access to other people (both students and faculty) when I was unable to understand certain ideas/issues. The administrators provided great assistance in my job search. They also worked hard in determining areas of improvement for the program itself, empowering me and the other students by ensuring that our voices were heard. The overall encouragement by everyone in the program was essential in my successful completion of the program.
