Long Days in M&A

KeyBanc Capital Markets is the institutional banking division of KeyCorp (KEY ), the nation's 10th-largest bank holding company. I received an offer to join the Mergers & Acquisitions group in Cleveland several months before graduating from the Tuck School of Business.

As an associate, I focus on buy-side and sell-side merger and acquisition transactions, corporate divestitures, and financial advisory assignments for public and private companies across a wide range of industries. My job responsibilities include creating PowerPoint presentations (pitch materials and management presentations), financial modeling, creating large Word documents used to describe businesses we are selling or raising financing for (offering memoranda), and directing the work of several analysts.

In my daily work, I report to vice-presidents, directors, and managing directors. Projects are never staffed exactly the same, so on any given project, I can report to any of the senior bankers in my group.

I made the decision to go to business school because I felt it would provide a great network for me to call upon in the future. B-school is also a great way to make a transition to a new career. Prior to attending Tuck, I served as a senior financial consultant at Wells Fargo (WFC ). Before that, I was an associate financial consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers in the Financial Advisory Services group.

I knew I wanted to get into private equity and felt that going to B-school would help me position myself to make the transition eventually into that field. The skill sets I am learning as an investment banker in the M&A group are directly transferable to the types of skills I will need once I make the transition into private equity.

At first, I was extremely apprehensive about moving to Cleveland and unsure KeyBanc was the right place for me. Despite my apprehension, I took a leap of faith, knowing with great risks come great reward.

There were three main reasons I accepted the offer to join the M&A group at KeyBanc: the high likelihood I would receive a richer experience than I would have at a bulge bracket firm; the potential for a better work-life balance; and the opportunity to work with a group of people I felt I would enjoy being with on a daily basis. Thus far I have been happy with my decision. I am learning a great deal about my field of work, getting great transaction experience, and working with some wonderful people.

Here's a typical day in my life:

7:30 a.m.—I'm up and out the door to take Bob the bulldog for his morning walk...

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