Adam Wood

Adam received his degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology from Tulane University, but after years of working in infectious disease research, he decided to pursue other interests. “I realized in the long run that I wanted to start my own business, so I made a complete career transition,” he said. He then worked for a startup construction company that further inspired his desire to be an entrepreneur.

With his goal in mind, Adam looked at Simon Business School. “As someone with little business background, I knew I needed a school with a strong finance curriculum,” he said. “Simon has that, and its smaller class sizes better allowed me to engage with professors and other students.”

Adam credits his Simon experience with helping him prepare for his internship with PepsiCo, which he parlayed into a full-time position, first as an associate finance manager, and now as finance manager for Frito-Lay, Inc. “Simon prepared me in three ways,” he said, “analytics, strategy, and communication.” Between classroom instruction and his internship, Adam learned another important lesson. “Hard skills are important,” he said, “but the ability to frame and communicate the recommendations from my analysis gave me added credibility.”