She hopes to work as an art history professor after completing her doctorate this spring at the University of Texas at Austin.
Valuable references
Jonathan Reynolds
Banker Bryan Milner (’00) knew his career plans when he came to UNT in the spring of 1999. But his teachers guided him to the right jobs. He had gone to UT in the early 1990s, then took time off to play guitar professionally. He also was buying and selling vintage guitars, and he soon became more intrigued with the business aspects than the guitars themselves. He went to Tyler Junior College, then transferred to UNT, choosing it over other major universities after he met Imre Karafiath, the professor who was chair of the Department of Finance, Insurance, Real Estate and Law. “I got a great feeling from the folks at UNT,” Milner says, noting the faculty seemed to be very engaged with teaching. As he approached graduation, he had several job interviews — all set up by his professors, including the late Peyton Foster ‘Doc’ Roden, professor of finance, insurance, real estate and law — and landed his first job at Mary Kay Inc. He earned an M.B.A. in 2004 and now serves as vice president of loan originations at Wells Fargo Capital Finance, where he originates loans from $30 million to $5 billion in a four-state region.
Jonathan Reynolds
Flying high
Michael Clements
Like Milner, Rusnok now works in her chosen field thanks to her education at UNT. After graduation, she landed a job as an aviation insurance underwriter at Phoenix Aviation Managers, where she examines insurance risks of commercial business and corporate aircraft. She travels around the country, sometimes flying the company’s plane, to visit brokers and meet prospective and existing customers. Through her education at UNT, she learned the basics of the aviation industry and the technical vocabulary of her field, and how airlines and cargo operators fit in the network of global supply chains. She’s grateful she attended UNT, which she chose for its well-regarded business program, location and affordable costs. “My professors gave me the right environment to pursue my passion for aviation inside and outside the classroom walls,” she says. “UNT was my gateway, preparing me for the skills needed in the real world.”
From top: Laura Rusnok (’10), Jessica Weiss (’02) and Bryan Milner (’00)
Winter 2012
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