麻豆村

麻豆村 alumnus Daniel Leonard had a serious question for his good friends and fellow alumni Ronnie Bush and Kyle Eberly, all graduates and supporters of the Tepper School of Business.

Couldn鈥檛 they make a greater impact together, creating and raising funds for an endowed fellowship, a gift that would continue and grow over time?

Ronnie and Kyle readily agreed, and the three made multiyear commitments 鈥� creating the Tepper BELL (Bush, Eberly, Leonard Leadership) Veterans Fellowship, dedicated to assisting MBA students who are U.S. Army veterans like themselves.

While the G.I. Bill and Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program can help, many veterans don鈥檛 have full access to these education benefits.

鈥淭here should be no veteran who can鈥檛 go to Tepper because of funds 鈥� that鈥檚 the goal,鈥� says Daniel, a former Army captain who graduated in 2017 with his MBA. He works in transportation and logistics investment banking as a vice president with Harris Williams and is an alumni reunion co-chair for his class.

鈥淭he Tepper BELL Veterans Fellowship is a metaphor for ringing the bell as we come together as a community. How do we lift each other up? How do we build the community? Tepper helped me by providing a framework to transition into investment banking. It provided a network and a prescriptive training ground to figure out my path.鈥�

The fellowship dovetails perfectly with Kyle鈥檚 active volunteer work helping other veterans make their own transitions from military to civilian life.

鈥淭epper was transformational in my career,鈥� says Kyle, a former Army major and pilot who graduated in 2018 with his MBA. He works at Google in product strategy and business operations. 鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 be where I am if I hadn鈥檛 had the opportunity to attend this school and get that jump-start. Now I get to work at Google. It鈥檚 pretty amazing.鈥�

鈥淚 came because Carnegie Mellon has that reputation as the best in tech with incredible connections to the tech world,鈥� says Kyle, who is reunion chair for his class and former president of the Tepper Veterans Club. He helps lead Google鈥檚 recruiting effort at the school.

鈥淐ost, however, is often a big impediment for other veterans who want to go to MBA programs, and we want to see as many veterans as possible at Tepper.鈥�

Ronnie, a former Army captain who graduated in 2018 with his MBA. He is now in technology investment banking as a vice president at Barclays.

Ronnie came to the Tepper School to augment his solid leadership and communication skills 鈥渨ith the quantitative, more analytical piece and obviously Tepper鈥檚 reputation in that area is second to none.鈥�

鈥淭epper definitely helped me greatly in getting to where I am today. It provided a springboard to transition from the army into the corporate world, and I definitely would not have landed an investment banking gig without the help of the Tepper network. When I started my career, it was the Tepper folks who looked out for me and helped me along the way.鈥�

The fellowship has enjoyed strong participation, in fact, former Army Ranger, NFL All-Star and Tepper School 2019 graduate Alejandro Villanueva generously provided a challenge gift.

However, Daniel, Ronnie and Kyle are still actively fundraising to reach their goal of providing for any veteran in financial need.

鈥淎n MBA is an amazing tool for a veteran to make that transition from the military into the corporate world, and the three of us saw that up close,鈥� Ronnie says.

鈥淭epper really was the foundation for where we are today. It offers one of the best MBA programs out there and gave a lot to all of us. It made us feel that we can do some real good here and give back to the school that gave us so much and also give back to other veterans to help them get a jump-start on their careers.鈥�