Robert W. Baird & Co. Rodney Tyson — Director of Business Development/Mergers & Acquisitions Rodney Tyson is a director in the investment banking division of Robert W. Baird & Co. Mr. Tyson joined Baird in 1998 and has participated in a number of mergers, acquisitions and equity financing transactions. Mr. Tyson complet- ed a two-year secondment in Baird’s London office from 2002 to 2004, where he was primarily focused on developing Baird’s transatlantic mergers and acquisitions practice. In 2006, Mr. Tyson was promoted to the role of director of M&A business development and became responsible for enhancing Baird’s M&A franchise through an increased focus on identifying and sourcing poten- tial acquisition candidates for Baird’s corporate and financial sponsor clients. Mr. Tyson is a member of Baird’s M&A Fairness Opinion Committee. Mr. Tyson also serves as co-chair of Baird’s Business Diversity Council, where he has been responsible for the development and implementation of a long-term diversity strategic plan for the company. Prior to joining Baird, Mr. Tyson worked in the consumer finance and commercial lending areas of Citibank, Chase Manhattan Bank and First Chicago NBD. Mr. Tyson received his MBA degree from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and a holds a BS degree in finance from the University of Maryland. Q&A with Rodney Tyson What are some steps that you took to get to the position that you are in now? My job is to identify and develop merger and acquisition ideas for our corporate clients, which tend to be public companies, and our private equity clients. The objective of my role is to develop an understanding of the strategic and corporate devel- opment objectives of our core clients and then use Baird’s substantial industry knowledge, industry contacts and skills as merg- er and acquisition, or M&A, advisors, to provide our clients with M&A ideas that match their strategic objectives. Basically, my job is to create more M&A opportunities for our clients, and ultimately, Baird. The first step in preparing me for the position was pursuing a formal postsecondary education. I earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Maryland. I then worked for six years in the commercial banking industry before deciding to continue my education by earning an MBA degree with a concentration in finance and accounting, from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. The MBA degree was particularly important because it opened me to a vast set of career opportunities that I had not known were possible, including investment banking. The degree also gave me a “credential” that was widely accepted in the world of investment banking. Without the MBA, I think it would have been a little more chal- lenging for me to make a successful transition from commercial banking to investment banking. As an M&A banker, my job is to work with a team of colleagues to advise companies on buying another company, divesting a non-core division or selling their company. Over the eight years that I have been at Baird, my responsibilities have increased from doing the support work involved in analyzing and completing an M&A transaction, to managing a team responsible for completing all of the tasks our firm may undertake to assist a client in an M&A transaction, to what I do today, which is to work with other senior bankers to further Baird’s relationships with CEOs, CFOs and private equity firm partners so they will hire Baird to serve as their financial advisor. All of this became possible because of my education. CAREER 18 LIBRARY © 2007 Vault, Inc. View from the Top: Advice from Top Minority Executives Robert W. Baird & Co. The second thing was sponsorship, which means having senior bankers take an interest in you and your career development. Sponsorship is very important. Typically, sponsorship arises as a result of you doing your best on each transaction and asking questions to the senior bankers to show your interest in the job. Although most senior level individuals have very busy sched- ules, my experience has been that you will find they are interested in explaining their job to a younger professional. Asking intelligent questions about their job or why they are taking a certain approach in a transaction or how they may view changes in an industry they cover will convey your interest in the job. Conveying a sincere interest in the job or industry is often the key to getting a senior person’s attention. If people know you are interested in the work you are doing then they are more like- ly to invest in you. If people think you are simply “punching the clock just to get a paycheck” then my experience is that they will not invest in you. I asked a lot of questions to the senior people with whom I worked and in turn, they took an interest in my development. I think having senior people pay attention to me be concerned about my career development and eventual- ly speak on my behalf to other senior people provided me with a level of sponsorship within the organization that has been incredibly valuable and has helped me achieve my current position. It also helps if you attempt to make friends, not enemies, in the workplace. Our world is incredibly small and a good reputa- tion is very difficult to build but very easy to ruin. So it should be part of your daily practice to avoid taking actions that can tarnish your reputation. The last thing that helped me achieve the position I am in has been my confidence, but not arrogance, in my ability to do the different jobs that have been asked of me. What are some effective ways to show that you have confidence? Preparation is key. You need to work hard to make sure you have fully thought through what you want to say and why you are saying it. Being well prepared allows you to be more confident in the manner through which you may ask a question, chal- lenge a point or develop and provide advice. Offering advice or asking a question that has not been well conceived can dimin- ish people’s confidence in you. Part of your success hinders on your ability to convey that you have been thoughtful in your approach. The more prepared you are for a situation the more confident you will be when you articulate a position to others. The more confident you are when you articulate a position, the more likely people will believe in what you have to say. To me, confidence in yourself can translate into a view by those with whom you work that you are also competent. Competence is the second major part of your success. The other way you display confidence without being arrogant is to have a sense of humility. One of the mistakes young pro- fessionals often make early in their career is to assume they are always right. At 22, you are not always going to be right. Even at 35, you are not always going to be right. What some young professionals may not realize is that if you are willing to ask questions and admit that you might be wrong, or that you do not know something, you can still be highly effective in the work- place. Our industry is full of people with very large egos. My advice to young professionals is that they should show some humility and focus on gaining competence in their job and building confidence in their skills with other members of their team. In most situations, arrogance will hinder, rather than help, your professional success. How did you develop an interest in finance? My interest in finance came through a national internship program called INROADS. In many ways the INROADS program changed my life. Prior to the start of my freshman year of college, Citibank hired me as an INROADS summer intern. I sub- sequently stayed with Citibank for three consecutive summers. My positive experiences with Citibank and the INROADS organization are what changed me from wanting to be a psychology major to becoming a finance major. Citibank was my first exposure to the world of finance and I have remained interested in finance since my freshman year of college. My interest in investment banking arose from another significant event in my life. Just before I was about to begin business school, I received a call from the Robert A. Toigo Foundation. The Toigo Foundation is an organization that specifically tar- gets ethnic minority students who are attending the top business schools in the country and have an interest in pursuing a career Visit the Vault Diversity Channel for diversity program profiles of 100s of top employers, insider advice CAREER 19 from executives about workplace diversity and more. Go to www.vault.com/diversity LIBRARY View from the Top: Advice from Top Minority Executives Robert W. Baird & Co. in finance. The foundation provides you with a fellowship to help pay for a portion of your business school tuition. More importantly, the foundation provides you with an opportunity to meet and speak with a broad cross section of individuals with- in the world of finance. It was through the Toigo Foundation that I learned about investment banking prior to entering busi- ness school. I had always worked in commercial banking, but did not have any knowledge of the activities of investment banks. Today, that sounds a bit strange because so many commercial banks have securities divisions, but that was not the case in the early 1990s.