Alexander Renzi

Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame

“An energy-focused finance professional who also likes to cook fine foods.”

Hometown: Potomac, Maryland

Fun Fact About Yourself: I was an amateur bull rider my sophomore and junior years of college (a very bad one).

Undergraduate School and Major: Davidson College, BS in Physics

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: KEWA Financial, Alternative Strategies Associate

When you think of Notre Dame, what are the first things that come to mind? How have your experiences with the Mendoza program thus far reinforced or upended these early impressions?  I think of tradition and community. This school lives and breathes Irish, and I feel a sense of community with everyone at the university (especially people within Mendoza), even if I don’t know them personally. Mendoza also spends a considerable amount of time and effort organizing community events, and our MBA class feels extremely tight-knit.

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of the Mendoza MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? The Grow the Good in Business mantra was a driving factor in selecting Notre Dame. The belief that capitalism and free enterprise can be used to improve the aggregate quality of human life was very appealing to me, and Mendoza takes that mentality seriously.

What course, club or activity have you enjoyed the most so far at Mendoza? I think the Mendoza football tailgates were my favorite activity thus far. Notre Dame football is an incredible tradition, and tailgating for home games with your entire class is an awesome experience. Our first-year MBA Association representatives do a great job planning these activities.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: In 2018, I was part of a team that acquired Alabama Shipyard from BAE Systems. When the facility was purchased in late-2018, it employed only 6 or 7 people and had no revenue. We were able to grow the facility to over 200 full-time employees (with hundreds more contracted and part-time employees) and grew revenue from zero to over $150 million a year. The facility contributes tens of millions of dollars each year to the local Alabama economy and provides high wages and salaries to skilled production professionals.

Describe your biggest accomplishment as an MBA student so far? I would say that securing a summer internship was the most challenging and time-consuming achievement thus far. I will be going to Evercore in Houston as a Summer Associate.

Mendoza is known as a purpose-driven MBA program that asks students to “Grow the good in business.” What is your mission and how has Mendoza been helping you realize it? I have always wanted to make my career in the energy industry; I believe that access to affordable and reliable power is the key to a prosperous society and is the key to quality of life improvements in emerging markets. Growing the good in business, to me, means using free markets to benefit people besides yourself, and I think that a career in energy is the best way to do that.

What has been your best memory as an MBA so far? Going to Dave’s Hot Chicken at 2 am after walking home from The Linebacker.

DON’T MISS: MEET NOTRE DAME MENDOZA’S MBA CLASS OF 2025