Frank Colombo \u201912 and Drew Heimlich \u201912 \u2013 co-founders of the Alumni Pay it Forward scholarship \u2013 will both tell you that Montclair transformed the course of their lives.<\/p>\n
Colombo was a first-generation college student. For him and his parents, who were born in Italy, return on investment was crucial. \u201cMy parents saved as much as they could for my education, but we were still looking at student loans to make college possible,\u201d he recalls. \u201cThe scholarships I received made an enormous difference for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Colombo, Montclair felt like the perfect fit. \u201cI had taken accounting classes in high school and knew that\u2019s what I wanted to study going forward,\u201d he says. \u201cMy aunt had a successful college experience with Montclair\u2019s accounting curriculum, which gave me confidence in the quality of the education I would receive. Plus, the location allowed me to live at home while taking classes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Location, cost \u2013 and the availability of scholarships \u2013 were big factors in Heimlich\u2019s decision to study at Montclair as well. His introduction to accounting came through an after-school job at a local supermarket. \u201cI worked as a cashier for a short while, when the manager offered to move me into a bookkeeping role,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Years before Colombo and Heimlich were considering college, these same factors of affordability and academic strength came into play for Frank Nelson \u201984 when he was planning for college. \u201cI chose Montclair because I thought I might want to go into teaching,\u201d he says. \u201cPlus, my sister had already matriculated there and liked it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI ended up trying my hand at psychology, history and teacher education,\u201d Nelson says. \u201cFinally, my dad asked if I would consider accounting \u2013 he pointed out that I would always have job opportunities as an accountant!\u201d<\/p>\n
Accounting was the springboard to highly successful, and very exciting, careers for all three.<\/p>\n
Nelson\u2019s first job out of college was less than inspiring, however, so he paid a visit to the Montclair career services office. \u201cAnother business school alumnus had posted an entry-level accounting job at Morgan Stanley,\u201d he says. \u201cI got through the door of an exclusive firm because of Montclair. That job was a game changer for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
From Morgan Stanley, Nelson moved on and up with roles at Lehman Brothers, Chase Manhattan Bank and Deutsche Bank. Today, he is CEO and founder of Rossdhu Capital LLC, a private equity firm, and a strategic advisor to Function4, a digital hub for business events.<\/p>\n
In his college years, Heimlich also made sure to get the most from his Montclair experience, double majoring in Accounting and Finance and helping establish the Montclair chapter of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, for which he served as its founding president. He was also co-president of the Honors Student Organization, and he contributed his business and finance perspectives to a Psychology department research project on the relationship between healthy food availability and the health and socioeconomic outcomes of a community\u2019s citizens.<\/p>\n
Graduating summa cum laude with a double major, Heimlich passed the CPA exam on his first attempt and began his career as a risk management consultant at Ernst & Young. He was recruited twice \u2013 first to RBC Capital Markets and then to Guggenheim Partners where, in just six years, he rose from an investment banking associate to a managing director.<\/p>\n
\u201cMontclair prepared me from an academic standpoint,\u201d Heimlich says. \u201cI also benefited from meeting people with diverse backgrounds and interests. What stands out for me, though, is the mentoring I received. I had professors who pushed me to think bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heimlich and Colombo met in their sophomore year and by junior year were close friends. Like Heimlich, Colombo double majored in Accounting and Finance, joining both the accounting and finance societies. Both were part of the first class to participate in the prestigious Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) competition. Their team was one of only three to make it to the New York City regional finals, helping increase the visibility of Montclair\u2019s Finance department.<\/p>\n
During his time at Montclair, Colombo focused on getting as much career experience as possible, obtaining internships at Wells Fargo, KPMG, Hertz and Deloitte. He graduated magna cum laude, passed the CPA exam, and joined Deloitte\u2019s audit department. Public accounting was not a perfect fit for Colombo, however. His Montclair friend, Drew Heimlich, encouraged him to consider a Wall Street track. Shortly thereafter, Colombo joined RBC Capital Markets as a healthcare investment banking analyst. He quickly advanced to the team\u2019s director role. In 2022, Colombo joined Med-Metrix, a healthcare portfolio company of A&M Capital, to help build out the company\u2019s financial planning, analysis and merger and acquisition capabilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt RBC, I advised healthcare technology companies like Med-Metrix,\u201d Colombo points out. \u201cNow I am helping grow a healthcare technology company, and all along the way I am using the finance and accounting foundation I received at Montclair.\u201d<\/p>\n
While still students, Colombo and Heimlich discussed their desire to pay it forward by establishing a scholarship at the University. \u201cDrew and I had both received scholarship support and we hoped that we could someday do the same for others,\u201d Colombo says.<\/p>\n
It was when they were colleagues at RBC Capital Markets that the idea for the Alumni Pay It Forward Award took shape. Heimlich recalls a 2013 phone call from one of his Montclair professors, inviting him to support the University\u2019s annual scholarship dinner. \u201cI reached out to Frank [Colombo] and a few other alumni. Frank and I were able to have our contributions to the dinner matched by RBC. We started to talk again about creating our own scholarship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heimlich and Colombo established the Alumni Pay it Forward Award, designed to support Feliciano School of Business students in their junior or senior year who are majoring in Accounting or Finance, or students enrolled in the master\u2019s in Accounting program. In addition to the financial support, recipients directly benefit from alumni mentoring \u2013 being able to learn from graduates who can provide guidance to help prepare for job interviews, answer questions regarding CPA licensure and share other professional insights.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to provide scholarship resources to exceptional students who had financial need, and we wanted to provide mentoring support,\u201d Colombo says. \u201cOur Montclair years were the most formative of our lives, not just because of the curriculum but also because of the mentoring we received from faculty, alumni and other business professionals. We felt indebted and wanted to do the same for others.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Nelson had reconnected with his alma mater and was excited to be involved: he taught a class in derivatives, participated in the independent review for the School\u2019s accreditation, arranged for hedge fund associates to visit campus, and underwrote a fellowship. Nelson was especially interested in mentoring, understanding the value of pairing high performing students with accomplished alumni.<\/p>\n
When Nelson, Heimlich and Colombo met through University contacts, all three saw the potential of pairing financial assistance and mentoring support \u2013 and were eager to join forces to increase their impact to benefit Montclair students.<\/p>\n
Heimlich remembers their first meeting. \u201cFrank [Nelson] wanted to hear about everything we were doing with Pay It Forward,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd he was all in. He doubled the scholarship that year.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe realized we could use scholarships and mentoring to create our own funnel for high-achieving students who have financial need,\u201d Colombo adds. \u201cWe are now approaching our tenth year. We are very proud of the program, and of the students we have been able to help.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s goal is to raise a minimum of $10,000 to provide scholarships for two high-performing students.<\/p>\n
Over the years, the scholarship recipients have remained involved, with several alumni contributing generously to the scholarship themselves, to keep it going. \u201cSome are now volunteering as mentors, and one is teaching a class in the Feliciano School of Business,\u201d Nelson says. \u201cIt has become a supportive, multigenerational community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Up to now, Nelson had preferred to support the University as an anonymous donor, but marking the years of success of the Alumni Pay It Forward Award has inspired him to go public. \u201cI hope to elevate the Pay It Forward initiative, and to encourage others to support Montclair students through scholarships and mentoring,\u201d he says. \u201cMy wish is to grow Pay It Forward exponentially in terms of dollars and recipients, while growing the community of Feliciano School of Business graduates working together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heimlich marvels at how little it takes to have a huge impact on a student\u2019s trajectory. \u201cSomething that seems insignificant to you, like giving a student a safe place to ask questions, can make all the difference in the world,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I look back and think about all of the people who helped me along the way, I know I can never give back as much as I received,\u201d Colombo notes. \u201cI have enjoyed an amazing career, and life, because of Montclair.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nelson agrees. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t take a tremendous amount of time and effort to help,\u201d he says. \u201cThere is nothing more important than helping a student succeed. And I guarantee that when you get involved, you receive far more than you give.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Alumni Frank Colombo \u201912, Drew Heimlich \u201912 and Frank Nelson \u201984 are \u201cPaying it Forward\u201d with a scholarship and mentoring initiative that spans generations and springboards students to success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":353,"featured_media":1548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-montclair-state-university-donors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/353"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1546"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1547,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1546\/revisions\/1547"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}