Quality Equals Quantity: Eller Alumni at Equity Methods
Paul Leisey ’06 MSF is one of nine Eller College of Management alumni working at Equity Methods in Scottsdale, Arizona. Together, they make up 12 percent of the total employees working there—talk about representing!
Leisey began working at Equity Methods in 2006 and is currently the chief information officer. “It was sort of an aligning of the stars,” says Leisey, who was approached by Kay Ross, director of graduate programs and academic affairs at the Eller College, after a representative of Equity Methods came to her asking for recommendations for potential hires. “So I interviewed and got the job.”
Ever since, the professional services company has hired from other universities in Arizona—but has kept Eller graduates close to heart. “We look for quality workers, and everyone we’ve gotten from Eller is amazing, so we continue to do what works,” says Leisey.
In fact, the success rate of employees who are Eller alumni is higher than that of employees that attended other schools.
Yijue Pu ’17 MBA is one such example.
“She was really awesome straight out of the gate and got put on one of our top two clients,” says Leisey. Pu has been at Equity Methods for only two years.
“We have a more mainstream recruiting schedule now,” says Leisey. “We regularly attend career fairs at Eller and also hold info sessions for the MBA program.” Leisey and several other Equity Methods employees have also maintained relationships with Ross and other Eller employees such as Christopher Lamoureux, Diamond Professor of Finance, and Gloria Verdin, assistant director of MBA employer relations.
“Getting my master’s in finance from Eller made me view the world with a lens that I hadn’t up until that point,” says Leisey. “It greatly impacted me.”
“It is truly rewarding to see Eller being represented in such a positive light at Equity Methods,” says Paulo Goes, dean and Halle Chair in Leadership at Eller. “We’re pleased to be a small part of the company’s success and look forward to hearing of their great accomplishments for many years to come.”
Other Eller graduates that are currently working at Equity Methods are Qi Ding ’12 MSF, Fang Wang ’13 MSF, Therese Sebastian ’14 MBA, Benjamin Clow ’14 MBA, Lisa Hsieh ’17 MSF/MBA, Nathan O'Connor '05 MSF and Charlie Bao '18 MSF.
Equity Methods is the number one small company to work for in Arizona; providing valuation, financial reporting and human resources advisory services related to equity compensation and other complex securities.