Spring 2006 Issue

Jeff Fahrenholz | Class of 2005

After graduating from Davidson in May 2005, Jeff started working at Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB), where he held an internship the previous summer. CSFB works with both large cap companies and the middle-market, offering strategic advice and financing to clients. Jeff has been working with one of the largest groups of the company, which deals with everything from Automotive to Paper to Aerospace & Defense in addition to large diversified conglomerates.

On a day-to-day basis, Jeff’s tasks include everything from building the financial model of a company to putting together presentation books to show acquisition ideas to companies. He has enjoyed the young work atmosphere at the company and has been learning about all aspects of the investment banking industries from his fellow junior analysts. When he does get out of the office, New York has treated Jeff well as the city is oriented towards young professionals who have recently graduated from college.

As a Davidson student, Jeff was a leader both in the classroom as an economics major and on Patterson Court where he was the president for his fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon. The experience in leadership, coupled with the liberal arts background, has prepared him to excel at work with CSFB. The two most critical skills that he cites are critical thinking and communication skills since so much of his job is determining value for a company and then explaining how he got that value. Handling stress and time constraints was also a valuable lesson Jeff took away from Davidson, especially since expectations at work can be even higher than they were at Davidson.

In October, Jeff married another Davidson grad of 2005, Garyth Evans. Having known each other long before Davidson, the couple had been engaged since the fall of their senior year. They’re now happily living in their New York apartment with their dog.

--Walker Saik