After graduating from Princeton in 1987 with my A.B. in Religion, I went to work for a commercial bank, Manufacturers Hanover.  Since I had no financial background, Manufacturers Hanover was appealing to me because it afforded me the opportunity to join a 9-month credit training program where Columbia and Wharton business professors taught us accounting, corporate financing, money & banking, and credit—all while paying me!  After training, I worked as a middle market lender in NYC staying at the bank for  2 years before getting my MBA at Kellogg (Northwestern).  I then spent over 20 years doing investment banking at firms including JP Morgan, Credit Suisse, Lehman Brothers and Barclays before founding Hark Capital in 2012.

When I tell people I was a religion major in college, they are usually shocked that I chose that major at all and that I could have successful finance career with that major.  In reality, I couldn’t be happier with my choice of major. First, being a liberal arts major taught me how to write well, which is important even in finance.  Second, quite the opposite of being “irrelevant”, everyone has something to say about religion, so it’s a great conversation starter.  I’ve had many business meals that started with, “So, why did you major in religion”?  Today, given everything happening in the world, especially in the Middle East, religion has once again come into sharp focus. Being able to think clearly and analytically about such a fraught topic has served me well in business and in life in general.

I highly recommend religion as a major, whatever one’s career goals are.