As a Tucson native, Kelsey Walcott ‘21 BSBA (Finance) ‘22 MSF, knew right away that the Eller College of Management was her first—and only—choice for college. “I never applied to other schools, and I had nothing but amazing experiences with Eller,” she says. “The environment and the faculty are completely top-notch. I loved my undergraduate online program. I made friends that I am still good friends with. It was an incredible experience all the way through.”

During her time as an undergraduate, Walcott helped create a mentorship program to foster more connections within the Eller online community. “I think when people are doing online school, there is a misconception that they don’t want to engage and make friends,” says Walcott. “That was not the case for me and many other online students. It just takes more effort to create a community. Having someone who could relate to what I was going through and could give me tips, and be a sounding board was great for me, and I was hoping to give others the space to have that opportunity if they wanted to engage in that way.” 

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Kelsey was an active Eller student and added a lot of value to her undergraduate and graduate programs. “While I was in the online undergraduate program, Matt Haertzen encouraged me to participate in both the CFA Research Challenge and the Applied Portfolio Management class even though I wasn’t technically a finance student,” she says. “While this felt extremely intimidating at the time, these experiences were significant building blocks in the foundation of my finance career.” Walcott was also a teaching assistant to David Brown in his FIN 360L class while she was pursuing her master’s in finance degree. “Students tend to think that class is challenging, but when they get to the workplace, they realize how incredibly essential financial modeling skills are,” she says. “Participating in the Microsoft Excel Collegiate Challenge (MECC) was also a great experience in teaching yourself how to think creatively with financial models.”

After graduating from the Eller Master of Science in Finance program, Walcott entered the Finance Analyst Rotational Program at Google in Austin, Texas. After rotating across various teams, she began a permanent role as a financial analyst on the Executive Reporting team within Corporate Financial Planning and Analysis. 

Through hard work and perseverance, Walcott found her own way to her current position at Google. “I applied on LinkedIn. I didn’t have any contacts there,” she says. “This is another thing I like to stress because so many people believe you can’t get anywhere without networking, and I like to think that I am proof that networking is not everything. I applied to Google, got the interview, and got the job, and it’s because of the quality experience on my resume through Eller—the CFA Research Challenge, MECC and coursework.”

Waclott was one of six analysts in her Google rotational program to win an “Innovation Award”, given to those who solved complex business problems through automation and technology in their rotations. In March 2024, the six winners had the opportunity to share their projects with a panel of senior Finance leaders as part of a Pitch Competition, and Kelsey won first place. “I attribute the win to the fact that my eyes light up every time I’m given the opportunity to speak about the automated attribution model I built while rotating on the Treasury Team,” she says. “In this project I leveraged SQL, Looker, and good old-fashioned mathematics to automatically quantify the impact of balance, rate, and FX factors on changes in interest income - especially useful amidst a very interesting (no pun intended) rate environment! I was a personal trainer five years ago. If I can go from that to presenting to Finance VPs at Google, then anyone can do anything.”

When asked what her plans for the future are, Walcott stressed that she wants to continue on the path she’s on and continue to learn as much as she can. Walcott is relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area to continue to work at Google.  “I know that Eller has prepared me for this,” she says. It goes back to learning and how to enjoy being challenged. Eller helped me realize my potential. During my first day of the MSF program, I thought, ‘There is no way I can do this’. I had just come off a five-year break from school, where I was a personal trainer and gym manager. Even though it was only a 16-month program, I learned through that process (and being believed in) that I could do much more than I originally thought. That gave me the confidence, so I’m going to go for it.”

The best way to summarize Walcott can be stated in a direct quote from her father, “No one outworks a Walcott.”