Currently a student in TCNJ’s inaugural MBA program, Tristan Breeze ‘17 graduated from Rutgers New Brunswick with a degree in Finance and Marketing. He currently works as a Finance Business Partner at Bayer in the Consumer Health, North America Financial Planning & Analytics Team.
Past positions have included internships at Bank of America/ Merrill Lynch, Lubowicki Insurance Agency, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, as well as work at Bayer as an International Financial Management Analyst through an 18-month international rotational training program across the company’s Financial community and 3 main businesses (Crop Science, Consumer Health, and Pharmaceuticals) in the areas of Accounting, Audit, and Planning. He was able to travel extensively from places across the country as well as overseas in Germany.
Tristan appreciates this unique MBA program as he finds himself applying what he learns in the classroom directly to his job. “It’s more of a personal thing I just noted in my head because maybe other people aren’t directly working with things that are in the class, but I’m literally correlating it back to my job,” said Tristan. While returning to theory can be helpful, the real-life context of his classroom learning is primarily what helps him envision how his education can be used to enhance his on-the-job performance.
Tristan also finds the TCNJ MBA program appealing due to its accessibility and price. “I feel like the more flexible that these programs become, the more attractive they become,” said Tristan. He especially likes management and product development classes because of their focuses on how a new product is developed from scratch, then tailored and marketed towards a given population. “There’s so much flexibility to life. It’s like all these things that we buy on a daily basis,” said Tristan. “It’s always cool to see like, why my mom would be picking this up, or why my grandfather would be picking this up at the store. There needs to be a reason why they say, ‘oh, I need that because it’s going to help me in my day to day life’.”
Beginning January 1, 2021, Tristan will be joining Bayer’s Europe, Middle East, and Africa division for commercial finance organizations as their new Business Analyst in Basel, Switzerland. He will be continuing the TCNJ MBA program remotely in order to graduate in Spring 2021. Since the position requires traveling to different projects in the area, his relocation was necessary. “I technically could have temporarily worked in Europe from here, but I don’t want to wake up at two in the morning or whatever crazy time,” said Tristan. He is also looking forward to exploring a new culture, the work-life balance, and learning German.
Advice to students: Since he is also working full time right now, Tristan also describes time management as a good life skill: “For the most part, I feel like the biggest thing about balancing both or at least doing both full time is, if you’re not organized, you’re going to really struggle.” He suggests getting ahead on your work and keeping in check when assignments are due. He also says that students sometimes get caught up in the prestige of a college program, but it really comes down to its affordability, accessibility, and workplace application. His current position was made possible by his own initiative, not necessarily a name.
Fun Facts and Hobbies: Tristan has traveled to 29 countries, including a family reunion in Istanbul and a backpacking trip in Thailand. He was on the crew team at Rutgers and enjoys hiking and basketball. He also plays in his workplace’s softball league. Tristan also co-founded a non-profit organization with three friends where they host a sports camp for children in Nicaragua. Now in its fourth year, they have donated $20,000 of sports equipment to the camp, which lasts for 10 days and is run by 20 volunteers and 15 members of the Peace Corp.