Each summer, students from the University of Delaware’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics gain valuable professional-level exposure through internships. This year, young scholars were able to traverse the complications of the COVID-19 pandemic by pursuing an array of internships, externships and other professional development opportunities. Each profile of this series will detail a Lerner student’s experiences working on business-oriented projects.
Rishi Patel, Class of 2022 honors finance and financial planning and wealth management major with a minor in trust management, spent his summer as a private banking intern at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co (BBH).
Lerner: How did you find out about this internship? Why did you choose it?
Patel: I found this internship through Professor Jen McCloskey and the trust management minor. I chose it because I valued not just the private banking program but the company culture as well.
Lerner: Did the coronavirus pandemic impact your internship search and working experience? If so, how?
Patel: I was fortunate enough to be in person every day and even work remotely for a week to take care of my dog.
Lerner: What did you learn from this internship that you think you would not have learned elsewhere?
Patel: I learned the ins and outs of trust administration as well as how a corporate entity ensures efficiency by continuous improvement of various business functions. In addition, I learned how to do private and public equity research in-line with company investment philosophies and principles.
Lerner: What is the most exciting task or project that you have done or are currently doing in your role?
Patel: The most exciting project that I got to work on was helping the Delaware Trust Company of BBH to help innovate their private asset administration process.
Lerner: What is an example of a time where you were able to apply what you’ve learned at Lerner to your role?
Patel: I think that everything I derived from the trust management program was applicable in my day-to-day assignments with the Delaware Trust Company.
Lerner: How do you think this internship will aid you with your professional goals?
Patel: I think the internship ultimately opened up more avenues in terms of where I can leverage my experiences for full-time placements. For example, I believe that the commodities and logistics project as well as the private equity project adds great value in terms of understanding various sub-practices within finance. In addition, doing public equity research and pitching the security to partners of the firm really developed a muscle for the research side and on how to prepare delivery materials.
Lerner: What are your plans or next steps in your career once your internship is over?
Patel: My next step is to land a full-time offer within finance itself. I am keeping my options open but I do have my preferences with them being consulting, wealth management and even financial planning or analysis.