Going Pro at Citi
By Tom Symonds
HurricaneSports.com
If there is such a thing as corporate professional job training for student-athletes in college athletics, the University of Miami’s newly created Citi Canes program is it.
Citi, which partnered with Miami this year to prepare student-athletes for life after graduation is already seeing immediate results with Hurricane basketball forward Chris Stowell, who serves as the organization’s most recent success story.
Although he is still competing for the Miami men’s basketball team, Stowell will finish his senior season as a winner regardless of the outcome of the Hurricanes final game on the court this year.
Through the assistance of the Citi Canes program, Stowell has recently accepted a full-time job with Citi as an Analyst in the company’s Treasury and Trade department located in New York City.
“I got it out of the way really early and that was a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders and it was great just getting accepted into this program,” Stowell said.
Student-athletes involved in the Citi Canes program are partnered with a mentor, which assists the student-athlete in the interview process and provides each individual with the necessary information to be successful, as they begin their business career.
For Stowell to score his first job, he got a big assist from Citi’s Dave Fenster, who served as the New Hampshire native’s mentor in the Citi Canes program.
“The people at Citi are so great,” Stowell said. “They’ve been really friendly to me and I’ve got a chance to use some of the skills that I’ve learned here to do something meaningful, do something that’s going to help businesses and I’m really excited about it.”
As Stowell prepares to trade in his sneakers and gym clothes for a suit and tie, the 6-foot, 6-inch forward is excited to begin his new career working in the corporate world where he hopes to make an immediate impact in his new role.
“The work I’m going to be doing is going to be challenging, rewarding and maybe even fun,” Stowell said.
With an impressive 3.9 grade point average in entrepreneurship and a triple minor in business technology, international business and sports administration coupled with the leadership skills he has developed on the court, Stowell believes he has the ability to fit right in with his future colleagues at Citi.
“With Citi it’s really all about working together as a team to accomplish something as a whole,” Stowell said. “That’s been huge for me because having experience as a student-athlete I have shown experience to get people to work together towards a common goal. They really like that I was able to showcase teamwork qualities.”
With a bright future ahead and a huge load of trying to find his first job off of his shoulders, Stowell can now focus on closing out his academic career and helping the Hurricanes basketball team earn their third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament thanks in large part to the Citi Canes partnership.
“We’re very lucky to have this program and have them working with us,” Stowell said. “I learned a ton from it and the benefits I got through it in just one year have been huge.”
