Hello and welcome to the Providence College podcast. I'm your host, Liz Kay, and I'm joined by producer Chris Judge of the Class of 2005 here in the Providence College podcast, we bring you interesting stories from the fire family.

This week, we're talking with Christian Chiquita Montoya, an accountancy major from the class of 2016. He continued at the Providence College School of Business for his MBA. After graduating, Christian went to BWC, where he now works as a mergers and acquisitions advisory manager.

Christian returned to Frier Town to speak at the kickoff event for the Berkeley Excellence Program created in honor of Michael Berkely, a finance major from the class of 1985 who died on September 11th, 2001. Christine, we're so glad you could join us on the podcast.

I thank you for having me. Surely not here to be here.

Well, let's start at the very beginning. Tell us about where you grew up.

Yeah, absolutely. So I was born in Colombia and I came to the United States in 2001, actually. So about two months before September 11 that I kind of think back and until I was born and raised in Medellin, Colombia.

And but I grew up in South Carolina, so I spent my formative years in South Carolina. I did spend stint of six months in New Jersey. And this is when the September 11th happened. So it's interesting. I was living in New Jersey during that time.

And I remember not knowing English. And I remember, you know, seeing the events happening in the news and seeing the smoke in the air from from where I live. So it's kind of all kind of comes full circle.

But, yeah, it's been after that, you know, live in New Jersey, my my mom and my sister and I, we moved to South Carolina, and that's really where I spent my formative years of my teenage years. And and so that's kind of kind of a little bit where about where I'm from.

And how old were you when you moved to the U.S.?

So I was about nine years old. So I was pretty young. I didn't know any English, but I was a sponge. It's funny. I feel like I learned I learned English in about four or five months just watching the Disney Channel.

So that was it's kind of my way of learning English.

Yeah. So this is a question we often ask Allums. Why? Why pick what brought you to Providence College?

Yeah. So I think during the time when I was looking to go to college, I, I really wanted to go to Northeast. I really wanted to switch it up a little bit. So, you know, having been born in Colombia, being raised in South Carolina and had kind of like this diverse background of, you know, I had this

like Southern twang, but I was Colombian. So it's kind of kind of a funny combination. But, you know, I feel like I wanted to go to the northeast and ultimately end up in a metropolitan city northeast, either Boston, New York.

And so Providence College really fit that mold geographically. I think secondary to that. My sister was a big influence on me growing up. She's older than me. And she, you know, really instilled in me a need and a want to have a liberal arts education.

But I also wanted to be a business major. So I looked for schools to kind of meet there, met those two criteria. And and Providence College kind of fell from the lap there. And then after visiting the college, I absolutely fell in love with the campus.

Such a beautiful campus. And, you know, the sense of community was really strong. A lot of smiling faces. I saw people holding doors for each other. And that's where I knew this would be the closest you could get a sort of hospitality.

So I said, sign me up.

Can we build it back a little bit? I'm very curious. You know, your sister made you think that like liberal arts education was important. What why? Why, why was that a priority for her?

Yeah, absolutely. So she went to a private liberal arts college, Furman, in South Carolina, and she was a chemistry major. So she was you know, she was labarge through and through. And now she's now she's a doctor. But, you know, she would always tell me that, you know, liberal arts really allows you to think critically and really

strengthens those skills, really flexing its muscles. And she also thought that they would allow me to become a better communicator. And so, you know, even though I was, you know, somewhat focused on business, she thought that that would still be important for for my career.

And it has been as as we'll probably touch upon later.

When you think back to that first year at Providence College, what helped you feel at home here? You know, were there certain people with classmates or faculty helped you settle in, maybe staff?

Yeah, absolutely. I feel like going back to my first year, I really bonded with all the guys I live with and Gozman on my floor. And, you know, even within the floor itself, there's different subgroups of friends that I had.

And I was just really close with everyone. And so that kind of gave me the confidence to to excel in the classroom and to continue to build, you know, friendships in other parts of the campus. And so, you know, I really go back to my experiences in government freshman year, which I really do cherish.

And yeah, so that that kind of allowed me to create a confidence, to seek out to faculty, to seek out to alumni mentors. And that that's really kind of what gave me the drive and and what made me feel at home.

I think that it didn't really feel like home until probably the second or third month. I feel like you kind of get your your homesickness. I still remember the first or second week being on campus, but you know that soon, soon faded out and I felt at home.

And you knew you wanted to be a business major. Why accountancy? What drew you to that, major?

Yeah, so funny story. So your my father was was not a lot in the picture, but he was he did he was he was there and he did call. And I just remember having. Conversations with them in your typical immigrant father who who says, hey, Christian, like I know you want to be an attorney, but I political

science might not be the best move, you know, in case you can't go to law school and you can't afford it. And I said, you know, you're right. And so he said, why don't you do accounting or something more practical?

And I said, OK, I'll do accounting. So I kind of went into it on a whim and I fell in love with the class. My first year, you know, that language kind of made sense in my head. And and it was kind of just snowballed from there.

And then I just kind of created my niche in accounting. And that's kind of where my career went in. And then I kind of ultimately put any want to go on to go to law school to rest.

So that's not on the the career path anymore. It's not.

No, not anymore. I don't know that I can go back to school for three years, but I don't think it would be for the right reasons. So I feel like I I think I'm good where I am.

So when you look back at those early days at P.S., what are things that you think that you kind of did write like you got started with early that helped you get to where you are today?

Yeah, absolutely. You know, ultimately, I got out of my comfort zone and that's kind of where you you really grow. And so wherever I had an opportunity to get out of my comfort zone, I took that I'd seize that opportunity.

So whether it was, you know, going to a career fair first semester of freshman year with, you know, no resume and just going to shake hands and the network or whether it was, you know, junior or senior year participating in Kastari competitions and representing the school of business.

Right. You know, putting myself in situations where I knew I had to work hard and and be uncomfortable is really where what allowed me to succeed.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the case study competitions, especially for any of our listeners who weren't business majors themselves or thinking about the business school as a possible home future home for them for their career?

What does it involve? Like what kind of work goes into preparing for them? And like, how does it parallel the work you do in the classroom?

Yeah, absolutely. So I drew here. I participated in a case study at University of Color, or it might have been sorry, University of Arizona Law School of Business. And it actually might have been a senior year. But I was elected to go out and fly and represent school with a partner, and we had to prepare our case

ahead of time. And so we were given a case like the week of and then we you know, the following week we had to go to Arizona and present the case. And then there were finalists and we didn't do so hot in that one.

I think that was a learning experience. But those opportunities present themselves if you if you're still in the classroom. And so it's really taking, you know, all the, you know, finance, accounting, marketing, management concepts. And it's you put them on to one and you create a solution and your problem solve or whatever the case is.

And so in this case, I remember I think it was ruber that we were, you know, mitigating risk for them. And so it was a super extreme case is definitely allowed me to think outside the box. And it was definitely, you know, a good 40 to 50 hours outside of the classroom that I had to prepare.

So. And of course, you had to, you know, speak in front of a roomful of people. So, you know, you had to factor in public speaking. And he was absolutely a big challenge. But you end up first when we didn't do so hot in the second one we had, it was a bigger team and we were more

successful. We actually won that one. So that was the University of Pittsburgh. But similarly, we had a case, you know, two weeks at a time, and you had to prepare PowerPoint slides and you had to come in and and almost be a consultant.

So kind of like mirroring, you know, the real world. And so that was pretty cool.

And I'm sure that you had done the types of work that you were doing to prepare for an event like that in the classroom. So you knew what you were getting into when you volunteered, when you accepted?

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I feel like there are definitely a few classes where you kind of had the case study method where, you know, each lecture was kind of was evolving around a case study. And so, yeah, I like in my head, I kind of knew what it was going to be like, but it definitely was a new

level. Right. You had to you have you had a deliverable and then you had to present it and and remove all of 80, 100 people. It's definitely a next level. But the school of business did a great job, prepared me for that.

So you're on campus today? We're speaking on Wednesday because you're speaking at the kickoff for the Berkeley Excellence Program. And the goal for the program is to promote academic success and community building, to bring speakers to campus for networking and mentoring opportunities.

Is, you know, as a member of a community who's underrepresented at the business school. Yeah. How would you feel like a program like this would have benefited you?

Oh, absolutely have been additive. Right. It would have just made some some of the networking a lot easier because it would have been there a lot of times, you know, at least from what I remember, the FRIER community was always very receptive and always very responsive.

But that wasn't always the case. Right. So sometimes you reach out to someone, you know. I would say, 80-20, you get a response, which is a pretty high response rate. So which is great. But but, you know, absolutely.

Putting alumni who are doing maybe something that you might be interested. Right. Right. And your fingertips. I think it's a huge advantage, I think, from a learning about Curriers perspective. I think it's also invaluable where, you know, I've seen the different types of careers, whether it be in high finance or investment banking or corporate finance and even

sales that, you know, you can be really successful in. And it's not just, you know, silo'd to like big for consulting or big three, et cetera. Right. So I think it definitely opens a lot of doors and kind of teaches students of what else is out there, you know, so so that that's definitely huge advantage.

You and I are talking during Hispanic Heritage Month. Could you describe some situations where your background has been an advantage in the workplace? I you.

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, I've been I've been in so I work in M&A. So I've been in deals that are being cross-border with Latin America. And I've kind of been the lead for, you know, in Argentina, Neal, where everything was in Spanish.

And I had to translate everything. And I was the liaison between our client in the target. And and so that kind of gave me a unique experience to work directly with with one of the partners that, you know, that I've actually grown really close with.

So, you know, definitely giving me opportunities that otherwise would not have had. You know, I found, you know, other deals where documents are all in Spanish. And, you know, I get pulled in and I get to help my fellow my fellow coworkers out, you know, by translating for them in.

And, you know, I get to add a lot of value, so, you know, I get to kind of run random from that process and it's in my language, so many language, which is great.

So just getting back to our conversation about the liberal arts, you know, how do you feel that the liberal arts education that it has helped you? You know, you mentioned in the work place that you've had a chance.

There have been. Have there been opportunities for you to draw upon things you've learned from civil or otherwise?

Yeah, I mean, absolutely. I you know, in the in the field that I mean, you know, I often oftentimes I find myself in calls in meetings with Fortune 500 for Fortune 500 executives. And a lot of times I'll have to participator lead cause.

And, you know, being able to be an effective and efficient communicator has allowed me to succeed in my role so far. And I feel like that's something that I see every other week, you know, and I think that I think back and it's a skill that I definitely honed in on when I was in my seminars.

Right. When we would discuss lectures every Friday, 8:00 a.m. for two hours, and you had to kind of participate and you had to speak up and be confident and be able to explain your point of view. And you know, that that that's something I see every day in my career with, you know, people who are more experienced

and higher up. But, you know, I'm able to to kind of have a voice in the room, which is awesome.

So what advice do you have for current students who are in the business school or just at Providence College in general to make the best of their experience?

Absolutely. I mean, you know, college is about balance, right? At least that's kind of how I approached it. I approached it, as, you know, 40 hour work week. You know, I had my share an hour set for for for school.

I had my share an hour set for extracurriculars. I had my share and I was up for like fun. Obviously, you got to have fun. But if you approach, you know, your experience balanced with, you know, your time management skills, you're going to be successful.

And again, I can't reiterate the fact that you really just have to put yourself outside of the box and outside of your comfort zone to really grow and maybe take a tough class because you want to take that tough class.

Not don't take an easy class because you want an easy you know, oftentimes it's in those situations where you kind of challenge yourself, that you really do grow and analyze you and it helps you build for the future.

I want to flip that and ask I asked you what your advice would be for current students. And I think we both were there talking about undergrads. Could you tell us what made you think about doing before? Plus, one program at P.S., where you went right from undergrad into the MBA program, and then you have tips for

anyone who's listening on how to make that, you know, as successful as possible, both academically and financially.

Yeah, absolutely. I think that, you know, one of the bigger factors to answer the first question, one of the big factors that I did, the four plus one was for my CPA licensing hourly requirement. But once I started the program, I realized how valuable my MBA courses have been.

And now, looking back even more so, because I really developed my business acumen outside of accounting and finance, which is invaluable. And obviously, a lot played into that. But, you know, just having the right grades in the right GMAT scores to get into the program, you know, help, but also being able to kind of, you know, take

some of those courses your senior year, being able to come in earlier was a huge advantage. So it's definitely something that people would want to to look into. So that may be your course load is not as heavy your fifth year, and you're able to kind of also sit for the CPA or the CFA or whatever exam

you're looking to take. So I think that if you're if you're if you're sure strategic about, you know, the four plus one program, I think it's you know, it's highly effective and and definitely teaches you new skills, at least coming from an accounting and finance background where it's all the numbers, it's all numbers for me.

But, you know, there I got to kind of see some some a little bit more strategy, a little bit more marketing. That's definitely kind of made me a more holistic business professional.

But it sounds like you made your decision to do four plus one earlier in the process. So you were able to plan your senior schedules so that you could add some of those courses.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And that that was definitely a big advantage, you know, for those that know that that's what they want to do. That's definitely the best way to go about it. And looking back, you know, I know there's a business analytics program now, which also sounds, you know, super enticing.

I feel like that's something I would have been excited about seeing as now in my field. We work a lot and down analytics. So it definitely sounds like great offering to.

Oh, Christian, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast. This has been a great conversation.

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for having me.

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