MBA Internship Profile: Vanguard

For business school students looking to change industries, the MBA internship experience can help clarify whether a new direction will be the right fit. For Matt Brancato, a Duke MBA and Vanguard’s head of defined contribution advisory services, the MBA internship experience affirmed that his decision to change industries from hospitality to financial services was the right one. In this interview, Brancato describes his internship experience at Vanguard as well as the company’s unique culture.

What business school did you attend?

I attended the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University from 2009 to 2011.

Why did you attend business school?

I went to business school after working for Marriott International for about eight years. At Marriott, I worked my way up to lead its finance function across several different hotels. This experience allowed me to develop a strong financial acumen, as well as a good leadership focus. I felt like I wanted to continue with some of those dimensions, but also to pivot into an industry where I was a bit more passionate. I didn't get that charged up about the widget of hotels, so I went back to Duke to switch industries and focus on the intersection between analytics and leadership.

How did you end up working at Vanguard?

When I was at Duke, I honed in on the financial services space, specifically Vanguard, for a couple of reasons. One, I wanted an employer that had the same client focus as Marriott. I was also interested in working at a company where I could feel passionate about what I am doing. As I learned more about Vanguard, its mission resonated with me. Vanguard was a company I honed in on very quickly in terms of where I wanted to intern and work full time.

I was fortunate enough to get an internship where I worked in the company’s portfolio review department. That's the group that works with external managers and builds actively-orientated portfolios with some of those managers. A key function in the group is product management – overseeing all the different products here at Vanguard.

When I was at Marriott, I went through the CPA process and got that credential. As I was interning at Vanguard and working through business school, I was working on the CFA program and finished that off post-MBA. The curriculum of the CFA program was helpful both in the context of my internship as well as my career here at Vanguard.

The summer internship was all that I hoped it would be. It gave me a really great understanding of what Vanguard was all about, including what leadership looks like here. I had great access to senior leadership. It felt like the project I was given was significant and meaningful in terms of moving the dial in the context of how we looked at some of our external managers building portfolios. It was a meaty project focused on investments.  

I got a full-time offer coming out of that internship experience. In 2011, I ended up joining full time into the company’s rotational program for MBAs. This is a 15-month program that dovetails very consciously and directly into the internship. In a lot of ways, it feels a lot like the internship experience, but over a longer period of time. Through that experience I went through our corporate strategy department, our fixed-income department and our investment strategy group. There was a little bit of focus on general management and a lot of focus on investment.

I emerged from the rotational program as a senior manager back with the portfolio review department in which I had interned. I led Vanguard’s target-date fund efforts for a few years. It was a great opportunity to really be at the intersection of very interesting investment issues and very interesting business issues.

Then I moved into my current role building out a new function within our institutional group over the past year. I'm the head of our defined contribution advisory efforts working with a new team of people. The purpose of the group is to deepen the level of consultative investment dialog that we have with defined contribution plan sponsors and consultants.

What kind of projects did you work on during your internship?

I worked on a couple of key projects. One was to look at how we constructed our multi-managers and to come up with an alternative way in which to combine the different managers and funds.

Another project involved doing some of the work that the analysts on the team would do. What I really liked about the work is that it didn't feel like a project experience within the department. It felt like I was a part of the department which really gave me a good sense of what it would feel like to actually work at Vanguard. We built a market and economic overview for some of our client interaction. I was given the responsibility of putting that together. On a monthly basis, we aggregated the views of our clients. We then followed that up with a document to our senior leaders, including the CEO and folks on our global investment committee.

I was able to work in some high impact areas in the context of the natural day-to-day work in the portfolio review department.

Are there any other reasons you decided to intern at Vanguard aside from what you mentioned already?

It was a bit about the industry and then within the industry a lot about how unique Vanguard is. The way I got recruited into the internship program was through some interactions I had with Vanguard employees while I was at Duke. A couple of folks came by and spoke on a panel and I interacted with them. I think their passion for what Vanguard does – you could really feel it. Meeting some folks and getting a sense of what the culture was through those interactions was certainly part of why I wanted to intern at Vanguard.

How is Vanguard unique?

Vanguard is owned by our clients. We're not a publicly held company, nor are we a privately owned company per se. We're owned by the people who own our mutual funds. That means all our interests are entirely aligned with our clients' interests. Our clients are in fact our owners.

That creates an environment in which we don't have to serve multiple masters. We have a very clear purpose and direction. The other thing that does, more practically speaking, is generate excess revenue. Revenue minus cost generally equals profit for whoever the owner is. Here our clients are the owners and so those profits go back to the top line and drive down expense ratios. These lower expense ratios really impact the entire industry.

What was the application process like?

It was multi-faceted. The first step was over the phone and was behavioral in nature. It starts with some personal questions and résumé-based discussions, followed by situational questions, such as, "tell me about a time you did this,” and, “tell me about a time you did that."

That phone screening then dovetailed into a full-day and on-campus site visit. The first part was an overview of Vanguard and the internship program. Then, the interview process split depending on which track you were on: The investment track or the general management track. With the general management track, you go through a leadership-focused case study. If you're on the investment track, you go through an investment-focused case study that's really a presentation of investment materials. After that, I went through two additional interviews that were more behavioral and competency focused.

What were your impressions of Vanguard's corporate culture?

Vanguard has a really strong culture. Not only does Vanguard have a strong client focus, it's also a collaborative place where relationships matter. In order to navigate and get work done, you need to build those strong relationships and generally have a strong track record of results. So, those are all key elements in terms of culture. Another key element is doing the right thing. Vanguard is a place that puts a high value on ethics and orienting yourself toward the client view.

Due to the nature of the financial services industry, Vanguard is a place where there's a high level of expected intellectual horsepower. In the context of being able to move the dial and get things done, there's an expectation that you understand the investment space and make an impact. Within Vanguard, there's a huge range of different jobs, some of which require investment acumen and some of which don't, but there's a base level of knowledge that helps with that.

What did you enjoy most about your internship?

Three things - most of which I'm re-emphasizing. The first thing was actually doing a job within a department instead of being sectioned off and doing a project that's entirely separate. Two, I was given the opportunity to really make an impact. I never felt like I was micromanaged. I was appropriately viewed as somebody who had a good amount of work experience and the horsepower to make an impact and I was given the capacity to be able to do that. The third thing would be access; both formally and informally. I got a good sense from the leadership perspective down through the organization what it was like to work at Vanguard. Formally, there's a mentor relationship set up with a senior leader – a principal. Informally, there were numerous opportunities to build relationships. I felt like people would bend over backwards to help me – give me a call, set up a meeting. It is pretty much an open door policy.

What were some of the challenges you faced during your internship?

A 10-week period is not very much time to get up to speed. For me, the financial services was a new industry with a lot of new topics to dig into. I certainly had to spend the time and work hard and get up that learning curve.

It was also a new culture. Coming into that environment you have to figure out how you get things done. Those are the things that were a bit challenging for someone new to the company.

How has interning at Vanguard helped you grow as a professional?

The internship experience and the rotational experience afterwards really clarified what I wanted to do in my career. I went into business school thinking that I wanted to continue my work around analytics and leadership. I was probably more focused on the former than the latter. I was really going down a path of wanting to work pretty closely to the investment space.

While going through the internship, I had a realization that I had a lot of experience prior to business school and I wanted to find an opportunity that really represented the intersection of all the different disciplines. My last two roles have been right there. So, the internship provided a lot of clarity in terms of what type of job I wanted to go into. Fortunately, I've been able to meet those objectives.

How was your CFA helpful with your internship and career at Vanguard?

There are two tracks you can go down at Vanguard: a general management track and an investment track. I was coming from outside the investment industry and trying to pivot into the investment track within Vanguard. So, going through the CFA curriculum was a way to indicate to Vanguard that I was serious about doing that and that I had the chops and horsepower to be able to do that. That was part of it.

When you think about the recruiting class coming into the internship program, there are a lot more general management-focused hires than investment-focused hires. So having a CFA is by no means a prerequisite, particularly on the general management side. Is it helpful even on the general management side? Yes, it's definitely helpful. After all, it's the industry that we're in. But with the general management track, the focus in terms of recruiting and the focus of the internship is a lot more about leadership. The interview process is focused more on finding people who have demonstrated leadership experience and capability, and who can come to Vanguard and develop people.

What advice do you have for MBAs who are interested in interning at Vanguard?

Be persistent. Vanguard certainly has a presence at all the top schools, but we aren't as visible as some other employers on campuses. We not only recruit on campuses, but we also recruit at different events like Prospanica (formerly known as the National Society of Hispanic MBAs) and the National Black MBA Association conference. We're focused on finding the right fit from a personal standpoint as opposed to identifying wholesale schools that we want to specifically target.

In some cases, you've got to go to that next layer and do the research, find somebody to contact and reach out to your network. When you get an opportunity to network with folks from Vanguard on campus, ask a lot of questions. Be engaged. Be clear about why Vanguard is a place that's interesting to you. Lastly, be clear about what Vanguard's values are and how that aligns with what your career trajectory is going to look like.

You don't have to network with everybody under the sun. I think that's one of the key things that distinguish Vanguard from other financial services firms. You can apply online and often be as successful as anybody else or get your foot in the door and get that internship. It is a merit-focused place. While the network's important, it's not the be-all and end-all.

Do you have any advice on how to convert from being an intern to being a full-time employee?

Work hard. Vanguard is a meritocracy. If you produce great results, you'll be successful. When I say, “produce great results,” I don't necessarily mean turning out a bunch of spreadsheets. It's a matter of networking a bit within the context of getting that work done. I think that's a critical part of it.

It's also important to get work done in the right way – in a way which shows that your values align with those of the organization. So there's a relationship management part to it as well. Developing those relationships is critically important.

Answers edited for flow and clarity.