Working His Way Up: Brian Rapoport '11 BSBA (Finance)
Brian Rapoport, Analyst, Product Review, Edward Jones
Just three years after graduation, Brian Rapoport has moved up in a competitive division at Edward Jones and passed all three levels of the CFA exam. In October, he returned to campus to represent the company at career fair and visit Professor of Finance Kathy Kahle’s Finance 412 class.
It was a given that Rapoport would study finance. “In sixth grade, I was talking about stocks,” he said. His father, who is an executive with the Arizona State Retirement System, is also a UA alum. The family connection, Eller’s reputation, and a full-ride scholarship cemented Rapoport’s decision to come to the UA.
During his time at Eller, he scored the second-highest score worldwide on the Bloomberg Assessment Test, competing with other undergraduates from top b-schools around the country, and graduated valedictorian. He was also recognized as the Eller College of Management Outstanding Senior and Finance Department Outstanding Senior.
Rapoport interned in the Tempe office of Edward Jones in the trading area, then later got a competitive internship in the product review division in St. Louis—his father’s hometown. Then he got a full-time offer to join product review as one of the division’s 15 analysts—a rare position for an undergraduate hire. “It’s a great opportunity to work with people who are 20 years older than me,” he said. “But I am also responsible for approximately $85 billion in life insurance and annuities, and it’s stressful to have that as my sole responsibility.”
He began studying for the CFA exam right away. “Studying for the CFA exam is hard,” he said. “I would talk to other analysts about the material and ended up feeling very well-prepared in comparison. Ultimately, I was really impressed with the finance program at Eller for that preparation.”