After graduation from Gustavus, Rebecca volunteered for two years with the Peace Corps in the Republic of Guinea in West Africa. She developed and presented mathematics lessons in French for 100 senior high school students on a wide range of mathematical topics. She also implemented an extensive tutoring program to prepare students for the national exams and for university entrance exams, an effort that resulted in a record high pass rate for high school seniors in her community. She put a special emphasis on girls’ education, and she also established and coached the first-ever girls’ soccer program in Tougue, Guinea, writing a successful grant proposal to support their traveling matches. She had many other accomplishments during those two years, some of which she described for us in a wonderful seminar she presented to our department when she returned to Minnesota.
Rebecca Konrad volunteered for two years with the Peace Corps in the Republic of Guinea
MCS Alums Receive First Decade Award
Friday, October 13th, 2006 at 6:17 pm by max
Caption: Computer Science major Milo Martin (center) and Math major Rebecca Konrad (second from right), both from the class of 1996, are congratulated by MCS professors Barbara Kaiser (left), Max Hailperin (second from left) and Karl Knight (right) on winning the Alumni Association’s award for outstanding achievements in their first decade since graduation.
[Excerpt]
Rebecca Konrad (as introduced by Karl Knight)
It is a great honor and privilege to introduce Rebecca Konrad, one of the two recipients of the First Decade award, both of whom were majors in the Mathematics and Computer Science Department at Gustavus.
One of my great pleasures as a teacher is watching students go on to fulfill their promise in ways I don’t think that even they envisioned while at Gustavus. Rebecca told me that when she first came to Gustavus, she was unsure what she wanted to pursue. However, after taking an Honor Calculus course from my colleague Jeff Rosoff, she decided that she wanted to major in mathematics, and in particular, secondary mathematics education. Rebecca was of course an excellent student. She was also involved in many other things at Gustavus, such as being the principal flutist in the Wind Orchestra and the Gustavus Orchestra, as well as being the president of the Math and Computer Science Club. In fact, she and Milo were both in a group of Math/CS students that we still remember fondly as a department.
After graduation from Gustavus, Rebecca volunteered for two years with the Peace Corps in the Republic of Guinea in West Africa. She developed and presented mathematics lessons in French for 100 senior high school students on a wide range of mathematical topics. She also implemented an extensive tutoring program to prepare students for the national exams and for university entrance exams, an effort that resulted in a record high pass rate for high school seniors in her community. She put a special emphasis on girls’ education, and she also established and coached the first-ever girls’ soccer program in Tougue, Guinea, writing a successful grant proposal to support their traveling matches. She had many other accomplishments during those two years, some of which she described for us in a wonderful seminar she presented to our department when she returned to Minnesota.
At the time of that seminar, Rebecca was working as an actuarial analyst for Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Minnesota. I was amused to hear her say, in a profile of her in the newsletter of the Carlson School of Management, that “before serving in the Peace Corps, I would never have worked in an office environment. I was too granola.” Perhaps she was granola, but I always sensed that she had a strong will and a desire to help others in the best way that she could.
In 2001, Rebecca began her MBA studies at the Carlson School of Management. She was extremely successful there, being unanimously selected by the faculty as the Outstanding Finance Student of 2003 for her exceptional academic and professional achievements in the field of finance. Early on at Carlson, she developed a strong interest in fixed income funds, doing internships with RBC Dain Rauscher and Galliard Capital Management where she honed her skills at portfolio management. She also established and was a managing director of the Carlson School Fixed Income Fund, the largest such student-run fund in the nation and the first-ever at the University of Minnesota.
Following graduate school, Rebecca spent one year at ING Investment Management in Minneapolis. While there, she was involved in the underwriting of 0 million of corporate bond investments for public and private companies operating in 140 countries worldwide. She managed a 0 million portfolio of private bonds, and generated million in new business by leveraging existing client relationships.
In August of 2004, Rebecca had the opportunity to use her investment management skills in the service of her passion for international development. She was one of only 15 MBAs from over 10,000 applicants worldwide to join the premier recruiting program for the International Finance Corporation, which is the private sector funding arm of the World Bank. There she advises on the structuring, pricing, and implementation of a billion securitization program which is aimed at the development of the private sector in developing and emerging market countries, more recently with an emphasis on energy companies in those markets. Rebecca told me that the three things she likes most about her current position is working on development that can be helpful on a world scale, working in an international environment with colleagues from around the world, and simply working in the field of finance.
This past week I met with a high school student who is considering enrolling at Gustavus. She shows great promise for and interest in mathematics, and has been strongly encouraged by her parents to pursue her interests in mathematics and science. When either she or her mother asked what possibilities are open for mathematics major after graduation, it was great to be able to cite the amazing things that Rebecca has done in these 10 short years, and to say that sky is indeed the limit when you pursue your dreams.
