He first became interested in finance and accounting through a good family friend and former employee of Credit Suisse First Boston, who, as Mr. Schaefer explains, had an admirable work ethic, was extremely intelligent, and was one of the top mergers and acquisitions specialists on Wall Street. As a teenager, Mr. Schaefer attended Deerfield Academy, where he was a superior student as well as a talented baseball player and ski racer. When it came time for him to make a decision about college, he opted for UVM over the University of Michigan for two reasons: 1) the strength of the business program, and 2) the strength of the ski team (he opted for skiing over baseball because he felt his ski career was incomplete). Not only was he accepted into the School of Business Administration, but he walked on to the UVM ski team his first year.
With a career goal of working on Wall Street, Mr. Schaefer wanted to receive "the right education in finance and accounting." He is proud to say that the three best professors he ever had were Laber, Jackson, and Tashman from the UVM School of Business (Mr. Schaefer also has an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan). "They were disciplined and focused, and they gave me a good, rigid approach to statistics and finance," Mr. Schaefer says. "I spent a lot of time in their classes both learning important skills and observing them and their sense for business ethics and excellence."
He also had a fantastic record with the ski team while at UVM. By 1990, Mr. Schaefer was Captain of the Men's Alpine team. That year, the ski team won the NCAA Division National Championship. After graduating from UVM in May, 1991, he spent a few years ski racing and coaching overseas as well as at UVM in 1993.
Mr. Schaefer completed his M.B.A. at Michigan in May, 1995. He then went to work for Chemical Bank (which later merged with Chase Manhattan) in mergers and acquisitions of the power and gas sector. He was interested in power and gas because it was the only remaining industrial sector to avoid deregulation. "Deregulation had a significant impact on the U.S. economy. There was a huge churn in the way that ownership was structured, and Wall Street was at the heart of all of this," he states. After spending a year at Chemical Bank, he went to work for Salomon Brothers because it was the company that had undertaken most of the mergers and acquisitions in the power and gas sector. He became a part of Lehman Brothers when his group split in two during the summer of 1998.
Mr. Schaefer has now moved from mergers and acquisitions work to being a Client Officer. He has 16 accounts, all North American power and gas. Some of the Fortune 1000 companies that he represents include Westar Energy, Portland General Electric, and Sierra Pacific Resources. As a Client Officer, he believes that his previous experience in strategic advisory provides him with an advantage in that he understands the financing and restructuring aspects of the power and gas sector. A number of the clients Mr. Schaefer covers have fallen below investment grade, which makes financing both debt and equity much more difficult.
As a member of the School of Business Administration Board of Advisors, Mr. Schaefer is very involved with the changes that are taking place. He believes in the quality of education that the business program has to offer and is contributing to the school's growth by giving lectures and helping with career development.
He is pleased to be working in concert with Dean DeWitt, especially because of the energy and inspiration that she brings to the school. Due to his competitive spirit, he admits that he will never be content to finish second, nor will he be content if his clients (including, in a manner of speaking, the School of Business) finish second. As with every aspect of his life, he will not rest until Dean DeWitt's vision of excellence is met. And it is exactly because of this drive that he and his clients will continue to be successful.