Career Path of a Director at a Fortune 20 Tech Company
After graduating in 2005 with a Political Science and History degree, Bill's initial plans for a law career shifted after an internship, leading to a consulting role at Productivity, where Bill gained business experience. This experience, coupled with a fascination with financial markets, led Bill to Lehman Brothers, followed by a tech startup, Nexus, where Bill has spent "the last decade or more" building the business in the "interesting industry" of advertising technology.
Career Pivoting, Networking, Financial Markets, Technology Business Models, Adaptability
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Bill Casper
Director
Fortune 20 Tech Company
Kansas State 2005
UCLA Anderson
Political Science, American Studies
Technology
Sales and Client Management
Honors Student, Scholarship Recipient, Took Out Loans, Greek Life Member, Transfer Student, Student Athlete
Video Highlights
1. Bill's career pivot from law to business consulting after college, highlighting the value of networking and reevaluating career goals.
2. His experience at Lehman Brothers, showcasing an interest in financial markets and tech companies' business models, which eventually led to his career in the tech industry.
3. Bill's long tenure at a tech startup, demonstrating dedication and growth within a company, and his focus on helping build a successful business in the advertising technology space
Transcript
Could you walk me through your career path? Start with your experiences in college, and then any internships or jobs you had before your current role.
I graduated college in 2005, so I've been in the workforce for roughly 18 years. For my undergraduate studies, I attended Kansas State University. There, I double-majored in Political Science and History, and I initially thought I wanted to be a lawyer.
I did an internship at a law firm during my junior year of college. After talking to many lawyers, and with no disrespect intended, they all advised me to pursue a different path. I took their advice to heart and reevaluated what I wanted to do and what my skills were at that point in my life.
I realized I loved being competitive and interacting with people; that energized me greatly. I also knew I had a background in business, although I hadn't formally studied it in my undergraduate program. I valued my education, but I recognized I needed to develop some fundamentals in how businesses operate.
Fortunately, in 2005, I was able to network into a consulting job with a company called Productivity. For business students, Productivity was a consulting firm that started after the Enron scandal and the dissolution of Arthur Andersen. Many former Arthur Andersen consultants founded this business. Their focus at the time was helping companies comply with new government regulations, specifically Sarbanes-Oxley.
I spent two years doing that. My brother lived in New York City, and I really wanted to move there. I fell in love with the city, and that job helped me relocate and gain solid business experience. After gaining experience at Productivity, it was New York in 2007. Before that, in 2006 and 2007, I became fascinated with financial markets.
I had always been interested in finance, even during my undergraduate studies, but even more so at that time. I networked with some alumni from my school, as well as friends of friends, really anywhere I could. Eventually, after a lot of hard work, I landed a position at Lehman Brothers. Business students will know Lehman Brothers; about a year after I joined, it went out of business and into bankruptcy.
After Lehman Brothers, I went to Barclays. There, I was primarily doing equity sales trading, along with other job responsibilities. I became really fascinated by tech companies and their business models, trying to understand how they made money. It was a really innovative time in tech.
So, after several years there and a short stint selling mutual funds, I went to a tech startup called Upstart. I was employee number 100. For most of the last decade or more, I've spent my time there helping to build that business. Upstart provides technology for large enterprise media companies and advertisers, facilitating advertising and monetization of their digital inventory and ad space. Advertising is the end goal for many technology business models.
This has brought me close to an industry I'm passionate about, along with technology, which I find endlessly fascinating. The company has gone through a few different changes over the years, but I'm still happy to be there, working with my colleagues and our great customers.