Helping Main Street manage Wall Street
Pierce Edwards, BSBA
Real Estate
Some people are drawn to a career in real estate to tackle a challenge. Others see the fields as an opportunity to leverage skills in quantitative analysis in pursuit of high earning potential. Pierce Edwards was drawn to the fields because they offer an opportunity to help others.
So much for all the easy stereotypes.
As the business major concentrating in real estate gets ready to start a career working for Fidelity in Denver, he’s already talking about how he’ll be able to help everyday people make sound financial decisions and set them up for the future. With clients’ long-term lifestyle plans based on investment decisions and financial advice, he knows that many laypeople view the intricacies of the markets with trepidation.
“Doing financial consulting, I’m selling something to someone to help them get set up for their financial goals,” he said. “It’s overwhelming for a lot of people.”
That people-first approach to his career was likely formed by those who preceded him. When he was growing up, his father worked in finance, providing loans to small businesses to secure real estate. Edwards saw the impact that finance can have on local entrepreneurs as well as the real estate investors who help drive the economy.
“Professors really care about your well being.”
– Pierce Edwards
That exposure to the industry’s impacts was enough to hook his interest for life, and unlike many students, he started college with a clear inkling of where his future was headed.
“I was a little nervous when I was trying to pick my major when I was a freshman, and everybody was telling me, ‘You’re probably going to change it anyway.’ I knew I wanted to do real estate,” he said. “I came into college wanting to do that, and I left college still wanting to do it. Through my classes it just got more and more interesting as I learned stuff. I love everything about it.”
Part of the Biz Ram family
While at the College of Business, he’s been the beneficiary of that business-for-good mentality. Graced with a scholarship from Loveland’s LC Real Estate Group, he had the opportunity to meet the firm’s partner and former College of Business alumni Eric Holsapple at a scholarship luncheon event. The pair struck up a conversation and, over the course of lunch, Holsapple requested Edwards’s resume for consideration for a summer internship.
“Almost every single person that worked there went to CSU … I learned a ton.”
– Pierce Edwards
Soon, Edwards was learning from industry professionals – and learning firsthand about the Rams Help Rams philosophy. Over the course of a spring and summer internship, Edwards worked in an office staffed by a distinct majority of CSU alumni. The office culture wasn’t just instantly welcoming, but reinforced Edwards’s sense that the industries could be a driving force for good.
“He loves to hire from CSU,” Edwards said of Holsapple. “There were a lot of CSU grads there, so it was kind of cool that they brought me in to do an internship there. That was an awesome experience, meeting all those people. I learned a ton.”
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About CSU's College of Business
At Colorado State University’s College of Business, we know business with a conscience changes the world for good, every day. We instill this message in our students, who become graduates, who become employees and leaders who use what they’ve learned here to make a difference.
We are in the business of transforming lives. Through business education, scholarly research and community engagement, we make our world a better place.
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