Enrolled Program: MBA, Finance Concentration
Current role: Relationship Manager for Empower Retirement
Jeremy Serow M'10 earned an MBA through the University of Hartford’s Barney School of Business while maintaining a full-time career. He holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Pittsburgh.
In his current role, Serow is responsible for supporting sales and fostering ongoing relationships of retirement plans for governmental, Taft-Hartley, and not-for-profit institutions in the large and institutional space with the goal to optimize an organization’s retirement plan. This is through empowering members and participants with the tools and resources necessary to achieve their retirement and financial goals in order to fulfill a successful retirement. Serow has over 18 years of industry experience in servicing and working with both corporate and municipal entities in retirement plans such as 401(k), 403(b), and 457(b). Additionally, he maintains FINRA Series 6, 7, and 63 securities registrations.
While attending the Barney School, Serow was in the retirement plans industry in Account Management at The Hartford. His central career goal was to take on greater leadership responsibilities at The Hartford to focus in the areas of management and finance. Serow felt that he needed a different avenue in addition to what was provided through his job in order to obtain knowledge and skills to continue moving up in his career and experience greater success. The Barney School seemed like a logical fit. Not only did the program have a strong reputation for teaching excellence in management and leadership, classes on campus were in close proximity to both his job and home. Serow could continue to pursue his career and job with the opportunity to apply the foundations of what was being taught and learned through his classes to the job—and vice versa. Not only that, the program included people from a variety of backgrounds and work experience due to the School’s close proximity to the City of Hartford. All of the professors and students were able to share their stories and experiences during the many team projects and assignments. This helped Serow learn various viewpoints and ideas in business with the ability to problem solve both individually and as a team. He applied these new skills and his growing confidence in his job.
Jeremy Serow MBA'10, Client Engagement Manager at Empower RetirementThe program included people from a variety of backgrounds and work experience due to the School’s close proximity to the City of Hartford. All of the professors and students were able to share their stories and experiences during the many team projects and assignments. This helped me learn various viewpoints and ideas in business with the ability to problem solve both individually and as a team.
One class that made a true impression and required applied skills in leadership and finance, coupled with hands-on experience, was FIN 510. Here, the class was able to manage its own stock portfolio. Supervised by professors, students were given a substantial budget and required to do extensive research on the companies they recommended buying or selling, eventually presenting their proposals to the class. FIN 510 became so successful, it gained notice from the Hartford Business Journal, which interviewed the class and published an article along with an article in The New London Day and a TV segment on Channel 30. As Serow mentioned in the HBJ article, “Being able to take what you learn in the classroom and apply it to real life is a great opportunity.”
The class made such an impression on Serow that he began to focus on investments and finance. The skills he learned through the class, and throughout his entire MBA experience at the Barney School, helped put him on a path to a job where he eventually earned three investment security licenses and registrations to become a fully licensed financial professional. The themes of leadership, teamwork and management are deeply established into the Barney School of Business MBA program— and this is clearly apparent in FIN 510.
Serow explains that obtaining his MBA through the Barney School’s program helped accelerate his career opportunities and build the confidence and skills necessary to navigate a diverse and ever-changing business environment.