Great Range Capital Welcomes Julia Parkerson and Alex Barbee

The Great Range Capital team has grown by two—at least for the next three months. We recently welcomed Julia Parkerson and Alex Barbee to our summer internship program, and we’re so proud to be able to partner with them now and in the future.

Meet Julia Parkerson

Julia is majoring in both financial economics and art history and will be a junior at Columbia University in New York City this fall. She chose to pursue financial economics after her interest was piqued by an intro to economics course, and she’s come to appreciate her major’s mix of economic theory and real-world application.

While Julia would like to go into investment banking after graduation, she’s interested in working in private equity down the road. “I was excited that Great Range Capital offered such a hands-on, immersive internship where I could gain knowledge and skills that would set me up for success later in my career,” she explains. “I’ve been interested in the private equity industry, but it’s usually hard to find an internship as an undergrad.” Julia says that as an intern, she’s most excited to learn about financial modeling and company valuation and to contribute to possible future investments.

When she’s not honing her financial skills in school, Julia leads tours for elementary school children at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She also dances with both the Columbia Ballet Collaborative and the Columbia Repertory Ballet and enjoys yoga and chess. Dreaming of how she can one day merge her diverse interests and passions into a profession is the fuel that keeps Julia motivated to work hard and push herself in the present.

Meet Alex Barbee

Alex is on track to graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Finance degree from the University of Kansas in May of next year. His interest in finance can be traced back to conversations he had with his parents’ financial advisor while in high school. Since then, Alex has worked to narrow his focus by speaking with professionals across the industry.

Alex’s dream is to return to the private equity space someday, as either a partner or founder, and to be involved in the ownership of one or more businesses. “I’ve always had an interest in becoming an entrepreneur, and transactional finance offers me an opportunity to interact with and even own a successful business without having to undertake the initial startup risks,” he explains. “Moreover, being in a position to help others and make a difference is a key motivating factor in my life, and I see investment banking and private equity as industries that are striving to assist businesses in critical transitions while creating returns for their employees and investors.”

While Alex is excited to learn about the deal sourcing and due diligence processes and to see how companies are evaluated, he says that relationships are what ultimately drew him to Great Range Capital. “I feel it’s of utmost importance to be surrounded by experienced professionals who are able to mentor me and help me reach my full potential,” he says. “From the conversations and interactions I’ve had with the GRC team, I can tell that each and every person wishes nothing but the best for everyone within the firm.” And for his part, Alex looks forward to contributing his research and analysis efforts to potential future deals for the firm.

When he’s not studying finance in the classroom, Alex works as a financial analyst with RedTire and is active with KU’s Finance Club. With such a rigorous schedule and ambitious plans for the future, he says he draws inspiration from his dad. “Although he didn’t attend a university, he’s still managed to become successful through his own hard work and initiative,” Alex explains. “I think this is something he’s instilled in me from a young age, and I’m forever grateful for his guidance and for always pushing me to be my best.”

About the internship program

When we started our internship program in 2012, we knew we didn’t want to ask bright, budding professionals to apply their knowledge and skills to merely making coffee and copies for the rest of the team. Instead, we wanted to design it to be as beneficial as possible for both the intern and the firm.

To that end, GRC’s interns are given meaningful work and participate as full-fledged members of the team. They also receive training in key skills such as financial analysis, modeling, and company analysis, and complete a capstone project at the end of the term. The project involves evaluating an investment opportunity (typically a live deal the firm is evaluating) and presenting a recommendation to the full team.

And while there are no job offers at the end of the internship program, we don’t send interns back into the world with just a pat on the back for a job well done. In addition to advising them on how to get their foot in the door at large investment banks and how to be successful once they get there, we’re always happy to help them land full-time jobs once they graduate by connecting them with our networks. Past interns have secured positions at a number of well-respected organizations, including Guggenheim Investments (NYC), Stifel (NYC), Morgan Stanley (Houston), William Blair (Chicago), SunTrust (Atlanta), and Robert W. Baird (Milwaukee).

But if we had to pick one internship success story to share, we’d definitely choose to highlight our own Larry Flanagan. After joining us as an intern in 2013, Larry went on to work in investment banking at UBS in New York City for a few years before returning to the firm as an associate. So perhaps we’ll see Alex and Julia again in the not-so-distant future.