About Prem

Hometown:
Palm Harbor, FL

University Partner:
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Degree:
B.S. in Business Administration, 2005

Grant Partner:
Bloomberg News

Senior Mentor:
Mark Pittman, Editor, Public Finance

"The Steamboat summer allowed me to explore the field of journalism while interacting with influential members of the finance community. It also gave me a chance to do two things I probably would not otherwise have pursued—working at a news organization and living in NYC. Steamboat has been a learning experience that will follow me throughout the rest of my life."

Scholar Background

With a keen interest in business and international studies, Prem was a member of the Global Scholars Program at UNC, where he spent a semester learning about global business practices and customs with exchange students from Asia, South America, and Europe. After graduating in 2005, Prem was awarded the J. Troy Smith Study Abroad Scholarship for the Global Scholars Program and traveled for two weeks with five other students to Asia, meeting with former classmates and touring manufacturing and business headquarters of IBM, Daewoo, 7-Eleven, and many local companies in South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand, and China. Prem was also a member of the Kenan-Flagler Business School Case Competition Team, which won the 2005 Wake Forest University Marketing Challenge for developing a proposal for an urban news network targeting an African-American and Latino demographic. Prem’s summer experience at Bloomberg News undoubtedly contributed to his success and persistent pursuit of business-related opportunities and gave him an edge as a leader in a field of ambitious college graduates.

Internship Highlight

At Bloomberg, Prem worked as a reporter and researcher, producing several bylined stories and participating in an investigative project to survey state employee healthcare nationwide. As a member of the public finance team, Prem helped cover the resignations of two state governors, including former NJ Governor James McGreevey, as well as option rate security pricing developments in the municipal bond market. During the minutes before Connecticut Governor John Rowland was expected to resign, NY Bureau Chief Fred Wiegold pulled up a seat next to Prem in a meeting with the public finance team and worked closely with the reporters there to present the breaking story. He assigned Prem the task of finding biographical information about Rowland’s replacement, then Lieutenant Governor Jodi Rell. As Prem observed Wiegold skillfully direct the news coverage, he felt he had a front-row seat to see leadership in action.

Where are they now?

Prem started as a financial analyst with the Healthcare Investment Banking Group at Banc of America Securities and now works as an associate at the New York City Investment Fund, a private fund with a civic mission to invest in socially responsible ventures in New York City.