Meet the Members of the MSFA Cohort

This fall the Master of Science in Financial Analysis (MSFA) program welcomed its first full-time students. They join the program’s current part-time students to form the first complete cohort. To celebrate, let’s introduce you to a few graduate students who will not only give you a run for your money, but will help you make it.

Meet Anna. Anna Brinling ’20, the MSFA’s first graduate assistant, is a Grove City College graduate and math major who is well on her way to becoming an actuary. But this is not a path for the faint of heart, nor faint of mind. To become an actuarial scientist, Anna will need to pass nine exams. It makes sense; being able to determine the statistical probability of future events takes practice. In the short term, Anna is awaiting the opportunity to spend time with her favorite American president at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, IL, which, “features holograms of Abraham Lincoln and his family,” she adds.

Meet Emmanuel. Emmanuel Appiah-Mensah ’20 started his MSFA as a Gordon Plus student with an entrepreneurial track record. As a Gordon undergraduate, he co-founded A.F.R.O. Hamwe, a studentclub that creates opportunities for students of African descent to discuss their cultural similarities and differences. He also interned for Urwego Opportunity Bank in Kigali, Rwanda, where he saw firsthand how to create a business model in which the lender and borrower both benefit. It’s a model he wants to emulate when he starts his own business. But until then, he’s studying for the CPA exam and making travel plans to visit his extended family in London.

Meet Kimberly. Kimberly Stewart ’20 has already landed a full-time job with an accounting firm, but she’s working toward her MSFA part-time in order to obtain the 150 credits she needs to take the CPA exam. For Kimberly, accounting is less about complicated math and more about organizing information—interpreting the data and making it useful to people. When Kimberly is not working or studying, she hosts dinner parties (some in the form of beloved Taco Tuesdays). When asked about her dream dinner party scenario, she says, “Think Downton Abbey but with an ocean view.” Joining these three, are six other students. They come to Gordon from as nearby as Connecticut and as far away as Nigeria, and their interests ranging from banking to wealth management. The next part-time and full-time cohorts will begin in the spring of 2019. Applications for both MSFA options are now open.