As summer winds to a close and we get ready for the start of another school year, it's time to take a look at what our student-athletes have been up to with our annual Summer Check-In series.

Senior football player Kevin Olifiers invested his summer time in a valuable internship that allowed him to draw on his academic, athletic and extracurricular activities at Muhlenberg.

This summer I had the opportunity to remotely work at Equitable Holdings for the Equitable Investment Management Group. Specifically, I was a finance/investments intern assigned to the Finance & Strategy team. Additionally, I had the opportunity to rotate and complete projects with the Portfolio Analytics and Relationship Management & Distribution teams. Also, I was paired with two other interns from different groups within Equitable and assigned with the task of creating a presentation to be delivered to the Equitable Finance Leadership team. We chose to present about ESG (Environmental Social Governance) within the industry and specifically what Equitable, and competitors, are doing to create a more sustainable future.

Throughout the course of the summer, I was tasked with completing numerous presentation decks associated with all 130+ Equitable managed and sub-advised funds. I performed year-over-year analyses of each funds' expense ratios and assets under management (AUM). After I completed all of the numerical analyses, I then created graphical analyses for each aspect. Finally, my work culminated in inputting all analyses (both numerical and graphical) into Microsoft PowerPoint presentations. The culmination of my work was presented to the Equitable Funds Independent Oversight Board during the annual leadership, and the independent board used my presentation deck for reference when reviewing each fund. After reviewing, the oversight board takes all the information and makes decisions based on the data.

This experience gave me critical insight into how a major corporation like Equitable reports data and makes decision based off of that data. Additionally, it was also a gratifying experience to see my work be used in the decision-making process. Having the opportunity to make an impact on such an important part of Equitable business as an intern is invaluable.

Equitable provided me with a great professional experience. I thoroughly enjoyed the fast pace, but a fast pace can cause many challenges. I was able to leverage my past experiences at Muhlenberg  to help me ultimately succeed in my role. For example, being a double major in economics and finance has given me an understanding of platforms like Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint, which proved to be critical to my success. Also, the ABEF program exposed me to advanced financial concepts and analysis techniques that I used on a daily basis at Equitable.

Additionally, being a member, and now president, of the Investment Society, I was able to apply my background in investing, methods, terminology and understanding of the financial markets to my internship. By running a real investment fund at Muhlenberg, I already had an in-depth experience of funds and the review process. This greatly benefited me during the Equitable board meetings.

Finally, through my experience as member of the football team, I've been able to develop time-management skills, teamwork and a work ethic that have proven to be paramount to my success as an intern. All interns will have their struggles; it's a part of the interning/learning process. However, football has given me a great foundation that I was able to apply and overcome many challenges with. 

The professional experience I had over the 10 weeks of the internship is one that I will always remember and be grateful for. Being a finance/investments intern assigned to multiple groups within Equitable also broadened my horizons regarding my potential future in finance. The people I met and connections I made will also benefit me moving forward into my senior year. Overall, this was a top professional internship experience and I'm thankful for everyone who made this possible (family, connections, professors, coaches, Muhlenberg Career Center).