Meet Carnegie Mellon’s MBA Class Of 2019

Andrea Caralis 

Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University 

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: A motivated and passionate person who enjoys connecting people, building relationships and loves theater.

Hometown: Detroit, MI

Fun Fact About Yourself: I sometimes fall asleep in public places.

Undergraduate School and Major:  Miami University, Farmer School of Business, Finance Major

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation:  I began and grew my career for the past 8 years at PNC Bank. I started as a summer intern, and worked my way up to earn the title of VP and Director of Foreign Exchange (FX).  Our team helped corporate clients expand globally while aiding in the understanding, navigating, and mitigating of inherent banking risks. We leveraged global and currency market expertise to provide creative hedging solutions for minimizing those risks.

Post-undergrad, I completed an 18-month rotational credit program, and landed on the FX trading floor as the first female analyst. I had the opportunity to learn the business inside and out on the Pittsburgh (HQ) trading floor and after a short time earned the responsibility of managing my own book of business. A few years ago, I relocated to Chicago to help build on my experience at headquarters and help expand PNC’s FX market presence.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I’m extremely proud of the Employee Business Resource Group that I helped found at PNC, PREP (PNC Recognizing Emerging Professionals). As a founding board member and teammate, I helped create an environment that provided professional development opportunities, community impact, as well as built employee engagement at PNC in Pittsburgh.

I held a variety of roles including Secretary, Vice President, and Chair of Recruitment. Within those positions, I was able to understand the importance of effective communication, organization and purpose in planning professional events, and the importance leveraging a network to grow an engaged membership base.

During my last year in Pittsburgh (before my move to Chicago), my PREP Chapter won Chapter of the Year against over 50 other PNC Employee Business Resource Groups and had over 600 members. Today, PREP’s legacy has spread amongst all PNC geographic markets and continues to give emerging professionals opportunities for leadership.

Looking back on your experience, what one piece of advice would you give to future business school applicants? For those of you who are considering an MBA, I recommend going to campus and meeting with the admissions staff and current students, if possible, before applying. When visiting a campus, you will get a true sense of the community and culture and will therefore understand whether or not you can see yourself there. The admissions teams are going to sort through a lot of applications to ultimately get to a small group of acceptances. Let them meet you, put a face to the name, and follow up with them!

What was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you?  There were three main factors that led to my decision to join Tepper:

First, The Tepper School of Business is a program that prides itself on Data, Analytics and Leadership, which in my opinion, is the future of business. I also plan to transition into the technology industry, so the strong alumni base and analytical skillset that I will gain should help position me for success.

Second, the Tepper school is a part of the most prestigious and diverse academic community, Carnegie Mellon University, which is full of extremely talented students and professors in fields like computer science, engineering, and fine arts – just to list a few. Having the opportunity to collaborate with students outside of the business school and perhaps come up with life-changing technology is something that excites me.

Finally, the Tepper school felt like home when I was interacting with students, faculty, and staff.  It has a smaller class size compared to other programs and is a noticeably tight-knit community. One of the most impactful outcomes of a full-time program is the network that you grow, so with a class size of about 200, Tepper has provided me an amazing opportunity to get to know everyone on a deeper and genuine level.

What would success look like to you after your first year of business school?  I’m truly excited to kick off my first year of business school.  During the upcoming year, I plan to dig deep into the academic rigor that comes with Tepper, actively participate in the clubs to hopefully prepare myself for a leadership role, and meet and get to know my fellow classmates.  I will feel successful if I can effectively manage these things as well as lock down an internship for next summer.