Hi everyone! My name is Matthew Starker and I am a fourth-year finance & MIS major from Marietta, GA. Lately, I have been spending a lot of time with my friends here at school because graduation is quickly approaching and I’d like to enjoy my last few months in Athens. There are no plans for my post-graduation future besides traveling, and I am excited to visit Europe for the first time this May. I will be seeing Greece, France, Italy, and the UK, and I am open to any recommendations from those of you that have been to these countries. Life can’t be all fun and games, so like most other students I am currently searching for a job or internship where I can start my career. I would prefer to work in technology consulting or private equity, but this could change quickly if I find something else I am drawn to. I absolutely love the MIS department here at UGA with it being a completely new thing for me, and I have personally found it more inspiring and captivating than the study of finance. With that being said, I would like to learn as much as I can about finance and technology and how they are becoming increasingly tied together.
Outside of school, there are two great dogs in my life that I would have a hard time living without. Cooper is the golden retriever that I have at home in Marietta, and Murray is the dog I share with my roommates here in Athens. I do not choose favorites when it comes to these two, but I do have other favorites. My favorite movie is Cast Away, my favorite song is 7 Years by Lukas Graham, and my favorite artist is Daft Punk. Music has always been the best way for me to express creativity, and there isn’t anything I love more than making or playing music with my closest friends. My favorite thing about music is that it can travel across all borders and be enjoyed by anybody regardless of background, culture, race, or generation. If anyone has found any music they feel more people should hear, please send it my way! I forgot to mention earlier that I am also studying the music business here at UGA. I would not be surprised if I somehow ended up working in this industry, but for now, it is just something I am passionate about learning.
This past summer was full of amazing experiences. After finals in May, I traveled to Hawaii with my family. Seeing a place like Hawaii is surreal, and being with my family made it even better. We swam with turtles, hiked through the Hawaiian wilderness, and enjoyed the beaches. After a week of this, I hopped on a plane and flew straight to Miami to start my internship. I had never moved to a new city alone before, but it was not difficult to move to south Florida at the beginning of summer. I worked at a small private equity firm called the ID Fund, and I would listen to company executives from all over the United States attempt to secure funding. There were brilliant minds, and for most of these entrepreneurs, it was not their first run at starting a business. As for the fund itself, it was fascinating to see the variety of companies that the ID Fund has invested in over the past few years. I learned about companies that specialize in hydroponic farming, social media ad creation, crisis management using AI, and even TopGolf. I was especially drawn to the companies that use AI, and if I were an investor and not an intern working for the investors, I would be focusing most of my attention and $$$ on companies that are already using AI. Hopefully, this course can give all of us a deeper understanding of how AI can be used as a tool instead of a vessel for laziness. We have already talked in class about how greatly technology has changed since many of us started college in 2019, and I am curious to see what we will be talking about in May.
