Alumna profile: Vesna Naidoo (GSB ’12) at S&P

Alumni , Areas of Study , Business Economics , Finance Stories | Dec 21, 2012 | Nicole Gesualdo

by Elizabeth Anderson (FCRH ’13)

Having a good credit rating with an agency like Standard & Poor’s is crucial to a company’s viability and performance.

One of the people behind those ratings is a 2012 Gabelli School of Business alumna.

Since graduation, Vesna Naidoo (GSB ’12) has been a research assistant at S&P, where her data-intensive work helps the agency to make accurate ratings of various firms.

The road to Vesna’s job began with a McGraw-Hill internship she held as a Fordham student. At first, that might sound counterintuitive. From a book-publishing company to a top-tier ratings agency? Many Gabelli School students know, though, that McGraw-Hill is the parent company of S&P, making Vesna’s transition quite natural.

At S&P, Vesna validates SEC data and private companies’ financials with the agency’s own databases. She runs financial models and sensitivity analyses. She also helps two colleagues with any type of financial analysis they need to assess a company for an on-target rating.

Vesna credits her success to her Gabelli School courses, particularly Financial Modeling and Portfolio Management. She said her professors brought “real life experience into the classroom” and gave her the “skills needed to strive in a data-driven environment.” Vesna also commends Principles of Management for showing her how to build and maintain relationships with coworkers and upper-level managers.

“I definitely have used something from every one of my classes,” she said.

Vesna maintains a long-term goal of earning an MBA/JD but, in the meantime, welcomes the growth potential at S&P and the opportunity to move among different groups within the agency. Despite jumping right into full-time work two weeks after graduation, she views her first full-time work experience with satisfaction.