NUS MBA WeChat Blog
A World of Opportunities
By Sean McNulty
My educational journey has been somewhat unconventional. I’m originally from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada and grew up in a family business, Five Star Paving & Interlocking Brick. I spent my summers working on the construction crews learning the value of hard work from my Grandpa, Uncle and Dad and with the family business to step into and other interests, I wasn’t an exceptional high school student in terms of grades.
Upon graduating from Reynolds High School, I went to work in the family business learning about the management and sales aspects of the company running multiple job sites and providing quotations to both residential and commercial customers. With my ability to run job sites profitably and generate sales having a direct impact to my family’s income, it was an intense, competitive environment which I was fortunate to work in to hone my business acumen. In addition, I learned about street smarts watching how my Dad won business and got the most out of his crews. It served me extremely well in my future endeavors.
While working in my family business, we got into a dispute with the local municipality over zoning and operations at an investment we made in Island View Golf Centre. This led to me running for Mayor of Central Saanich to take on the municipality in addition to my responsibilities in the family business. My family supported me in this endeavor, and although I wasn’t ultimately elected, 4 councillors with similar thoughts on local governance were elected and we ended up with a majority of votes at the council table which ended the favoritism and corrupt behavior at city hall.
In terms of hobbies growing up, I’ve had a dedicated health and fitness regime since I was 17 and stayed active playing sports with friends and in amateur leagues in Golf and American Football. In addition, I pursued a pilot's license prior to the mayor campaign at the Victoria Flying Club, obtaining my Student Pilot License with VFR (Visual Flight Reference) certification completing 50 solo hours primarily flying Cessna 172s.
Not being elected Mayor of Central Saanich left me at a crossroads. I had begun investing and really enjoyed analyzing what was happening in the world and allocating capital based upon that evaluation. I also was growing somewhat restless in Victoria, as although it is a very beautiful city and a great place to grow up, it is quiet. I yearned for more excitement and the ability to pursue an opportunity that had global scalability.
I had a friend working as an FX Trader at the time and began to inquire with him what his work was like. As I learned more about it, the more I found it appealing. Upon much consideration, including a detailed pros and cons spreadsheet that I still look back at for a laugh, I decided to pursue a career as a trader.
As I mentioned in the intro, I wasn’t an exceptional high school student. This was a bit of a problem, as I wanted to attend the University of British Columbia, the best university in my province and home to the top undergraduate business program in Canada known as the Sauder School of Business. Fortunately, since I was returning to university at 24, they had an opportunity to apply as a “mature student”, which not only considers grades but professional accomplishments. Through this route, I was accepted to Sauder, the beginning of my academic career.
At the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia I excelled academically making the Dean’s Honour Role and being involved in the Finance Club including a director of the National Investment Banking Conference and Competition. I had the advantage of knowing the career I wanted post graduation, so my class selection and efforts were all focused on becoming a trader which enabled me to land the internships and gain the knowledge required for the role. I also utilized my time at UBC to broaden my horizons, enrolling in the exchange program spending a semester at the National University of Singapore and at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. My experience at NUS and in Singapore made such an impact that I made it a life goal to return one day.
After finishing my last semester back at Sauder, I was in the fortunate position of considering multiple job offers globally including the financial centers of Singapore, Hong Kong and Toronto. Knowing I wanted to be a trader, The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC, NYSE:CM) made me an offer guaranteeing I’d be an FX Trader, which the other banks couldn’t do. Therefore, I went with their offer and made the move from Vancouver to Toronto into a career path that was infinitely scalable.
At CIBC, I worked under a veteran trader named John Probert who was well known in the business working around the world over a 30 year career. He was a tough boss but he taught me a lot about risk management and what it takes to survive on the trading floor. Under his tutelage, I learned the art of market making and profitably managing CIBC’s currency risk exceeding my budget numbers. On some days, the volume we traded made us the largest FX traders on Bay Street (Canada’s Wall Street).
Although I loved my work, I had the yearning to return to Singapore and move into a larger bank dealing in more complex products such as Non-deliverable Forwards or FX Options. Knowing the world class teaching and opportunities at NUS, I applied to The NUS MBA Program, which was the only MBA program I applied to. Fortunately, I was accepted, and so began my MBA journey...
No comments:
Post a Comment