Guido Marandella, MFE class of 2009, joined the Berkeley MFE program to bridge the gap between his theoretical background and the financial industry. He made this decision while pursuing his postdoc in theoretical particle physics from Scuola Normale Superiore in Italy. He received his bachelor’s degree in Physics as well from the Universitá degli Studi di Milano.
Guido applied for the Berkeley MFE to enhance his knowledge of the financial markets and focus his skills and intuitions on relevant problems of the industry. “The program gave me detailed knowledge of various asset classes, as well as what the relevant issues are for the various players, banks, hedge funds, asset managers. It definitely shaped my understanding of the industry as a whole as well as specific modeling knowledge.”
For his Fall term internship, Guido worked in the Fixed Income Department at Citigroup in New York. He was then hired for a full-time position as a Research Associate rotating through departments with the associate program. He worked in Mortgage Analysis and Credit Quantitative Analysis until joining the Cross Product Margining Team who is responsible for collecting initial margin from Prime Brokerage counterparties. In the beginning of 2016 he moved to Cross Asset Portfolio Risk Management responsible for firm wide risk for structured finance transactions and securitization and Strategic Modeling and Asset allocation developing decision tools for senior management around global asset allocation.
“The network of alumni is an extremely valuable tool. I work at Citigroup where the community of MFE alumni is very vast. We always have a special bond that helps through our careers: networking, exchanging useful information and suggestions,” said Guido. “The MFE provides a unique mix of academic quality, stimulating environment, strong connections with the financial industry to be the starting point of a successful career in the industry.”
Guido speaks highly of the MFE professors; he said learning from the people who pioneered the industry from the beginning brought insight and knowledge to the student that he couldn't have gotten anywhere else. Although, the financial industry is always changing, Guido believes that the program has allowed him to adapt to the new economic and regulatory realities, keeping in mind the big picture of the market and it’s opportunities of growth.
“The first day of classes was March 17th, 2008. That day, the front page of every newspaper reported the sale of Bear Stearns to JP Morgan, marking the beginning of the financial crisis. From start to finish, my class went through rough economic times. I was interning at Citigroup right in the fall of 2008. The most impressive accomplishment of our class was our ability to navigate such a tough environment with unscratched optimism about the future. I was able to secure a full time job offer right after my internship despite massive layoffs occurring in the industry, and I would have never made it without the MFE program, the quality of their courses, their reputation, and the relentless work of the staff.” -- Guido Marandella, Berkeley MFE class of 2009
