Every Kogod student commits to a business discipline at some point during their education. But as their passions evolve, so, too, can their career paths and futures as business leaders.
Three distinguished alums, graduates of Kogod’s MBA, MS in Analytics, and MS in Accounting programs, each embarked on a transformative career journey driven by their passions. Through self-exploration, hard work, and tenacity, they have each found a career path informed by both their past experiences and their future goals—which, in all three cases, have changed over time. The one thing that remains true? A Kogod education helped them figure it all out.
Building Relationships Through Real Estate
When Kevin Gold started his first job after undergrad doing sales and account management with Gold Pure Food Company, he’d never truly considered a career in real estate. But as he discovered his strengths—and explored a career transition through Kogod’s MBA program—he realized real estate might be the perfect industry fit.
“Real estate, especially commercial, combines many different things: sales, finance, marketing,” says Gold. “It is also very focused on relationship-building, which is probably my greatest strength. I felt like I finally found a field that incorporates my different experiences and strengths.”
Now a senior field research analyst for CBRE, a global commercial real estate services and investment company, Gold investigates market trends and insights to inform clients’ decision-making. He’s currently focused on both local office and retail properties.
“It’s my job to know what’s going on within the market,” he says. “I gather information and share it with our brokers, which gives them data to leverage when negotiating sales and real estate deals.”
He emphasizes that his success hinges heavily on developing trusted client relationships—an art he fine-tuned while at Kogod. Gold notes that the MBA program taught him how to leverage his connections to fulfill business outcomes authentically.
Moving forward, Gold will continue researching commercial real estate trends—such as today’s “flight to quality” for office buildings in cities across the US—and staying current on the latest tech for his job. He’s currently learning to navigate Ellis, CBRE’s recently launched multi-LLM generative AI platform, to organize and analyze market data.
“I'm very happy with where I am right now,” he says.
It's a little cliche to say, but we're living in an interesting time right now. There’s always challenges ahead of us, and I'm ready to tackle them."
Kevin Gold
Senior Field Research Analyst, CBRE
Connecting People Through the Power of Data
When Daniela Salazar discovered data analytics during her senior year as a Kogod undergrad, she was instantly hooked. It gave her the technical savvy she needed to connect people through business—a pursuit she says is a “personal calling.”
“I’ve always been passionate about connecting people from different backgrounds and cultures,” she says. “But I couldn’t do that just with soft skills. Data analytics creates a common language that unites everyone in an organization.”
Today, she works as a Senior Data Analytics Consultant at EY, doing just that. Her primary project is building a streamlined data repository for her client to help unify decision-making across its organization.
And like many tech workers, she’s working to optimize her projects using artificial intelligence.
For instance, she’s learning to use ChatGPT to generate HTML code for web-based projects. She still needs to fine-tune the data she receives, but AI provides a starting point that saves valuable time.
“It's not a one function for all,” says Salazar. “But it gets you started so you can develop things more quickly.”
Salazar also pursues another passion at EY: diversity, equity, and inclusion. She’s a core member of the company’s Latinx Professional Network, leading recruiting efforts to grow its number of Latinx employees. EY recently celebrated Salazar’s efforts with a 2024 Impactful Leader Award, recognizing employees championing belonging and wellbeing.
Salazar’s next plan? To integrate analytics into her DEI work, especially for recruiting.
I want to start connecting DEI efforts with analytics, such as running surveys that investigate prospective employees’ needs and interests. This will allow me to optimize our impact while pursuing both of my passions.”
Daniela Salazar
Senior Data Analytics Consultant, EY
Most of all, she wants to continue convening and connecting with others through data and evolving as an analytics leader at EY.
“The motivation to keep learning is so important, especially in a tech-focused field like data analytics,” says Salazar. “This continuous growth drives me.”
Taking Risks and Leading Authentically
Several years into his auditing career at Deloitte, Kogod MS in Accounting alum Devon Wallick knew something needed to change. He felt uninspired and disconnected from the impact of his work—and from himself.
To explore a new direction, Wallick revisited his original passion: service and learning. In 2021, he started volunteering with Deloitte’s burgeoning DEI learning team, helping develop a suite of client and staff equity trainings.
“I was looking for something more personal, more creative,” he says. “I wanted to lead work where my personality could come through.”
By exploring this equity-focused work, Wallick found the career path he truly wanted to follow. This September, he will begin his third year as a Human Capital Consultant at Deloitte, where he helps drive the company’s staff training strategy and learning experiences.
Corporate development is a good home for me. It’s hands-on and is a space where I can play."
Devon Wallick
Human Capital Consultant, Deloitte
“I also feel like my personal experiences have prepared me for some of my work," he says.
Even though he’s no longer pursuing a career in auditing, his forensic accounting education still informs his day-to-day work.
“Everything I've done up to this point has been a building block,” he says. “Because of my accounting background, I understand how an organization functions financially. Now, when I look at an organization through a process lens, I can talk about things like marketing, operations, HR, and supply chains.”
“Forensic accounting is what makes me look for the story. There’s a psychological aspect to it; ‘Does what I’m looking at make sense?’ I’m able to navigate complex information quickly to uncover the truth because of my forensics training.”
As Wallick continues to evolve in his new field, he’s starting to seek out his niche and set new goals. Most of all, he’s continuing to learn and integrate new knowledge as he grows into the most authentic version of himself.
“I crave learning,” he says. “I'm such a curious person, and I want to understand new things. This will always be part of my journey.”
