From left to right: Adam Plantinga, Qiuyi Chen, Stephanus Coetzee, and Philippe Tann
The MFE Program continues to place its students in key internship positions in New York, a favorite location of our students. We are proud to announce that four of the students in the MFE class of 2017 will be interning next fall at BNP Paribas in New York. The investment bank has been a loyal recruiter of our students, a testament to the strong caliber of our MFE17 class. After completing a challenging second term students Philippe Tann, Qiuyi (Claire) Chen, Adam Plantinga, and Stephanus Coetzee look forward to relocating from coast to coast and beginning their work at BNP Paribas.
Our students’ backgrounds are impressive. Adam Plantinga graduated from Stellenbosch University in South Africa with an Honours degree in Actuarial Science. After gaining two years of work experience as a management consultant at Bain & Company, Adam joined the 2017 MFE graduating class. For his internship, he will be joining BNP Paribas New York in structured credit sales. There, Adam will be developing investment ideas, selling and cross-selling products, and representing the bank on important business issues. Adam came to the program to transition from consulting to a front office position at an investment bank. “If I was still working in South Africa and sent off my resume to BNP Paribas it would be very difficult to get an internship,” said Adam. “The Berkeley MFE made this transition possible for me.” Before Adam goes to New York, he is planning a backpacking trip through Yosemite.
Stephanus Coetzee came to us from South Africa too. He graduated from the University of Cape Town with a degree in Business Science specializing in Actuarial Science. He has just accepted an internship from BNP Paribas in New York in credit structuring. He will be helping in the structuring of complex products and transactions, supporting market efforts, conducting market analysis, and assisting in transaction execution, as well as creation and maintenance of cash flow and pricing models. “The Berkeley MFE is the best way to get into a finance career” said Stephanus. “Not only is there an extensive alumni network, but the program guarantees the necessary practical application knowledge to perform well in the financial field. I could not be more pleased with what this program has given me so far.”
For her part, MFE student Claire Chen received a Bachelor of Science and Business Administration in 2013 from the National University of Singapore. She then gained two and a half years of work experience in market risk management at Goldman Sachs before joining the Berkeley MFE. For her internship, Claire will travel to New York to work in FX and interest rate structuring at BNP Paribas. “The Berkeley MFE courses are intense but rewarding. We have learned a lot,” said Claire. After completing a challenging second term, Clair and a group of other MFE students are going to explore Yellowstone.
French-born Philippe Tann came to the Berkeley MFE program with four years of experience in risk management. He received his master’s degree in Applied Mathematics with a concentration in finance from Ecole Centrale Paris, but applied to the program in an effort to transition from the insurance industry to the investment banking field. He will join BNP Paribas in New York for an internship on their credit trading desk. Philippe has worked on a Citi industry project on sector optimization in risk premium as part of an elective course and is currently finalizing an industry project at BlackRock. “This second term of the program was intense. However, the material has taught us to go beyond the scope of the class and has given me strategies and intuition that will be necessary to outperform in my internship.”
Learn more about the Berkeley MFE Program here.
