Even though the University of Oregon Investment Group decided against buying it, the report Ian Haas put together on Columbia Sportswear was a winner: it led to a job on Wall Street. Haas '00 joined Lehman Brothers immediately after graduating as a financial analyst in the Investment Banking Division. The UOIG experience prepared him for a successful series of interviews both on campus with Kevin Lewis '85, Lehman Brothers senior vice president and recruiter, and final rounds with other executives in New York.

"The investment group prepared me for the investment banking world," Haas said. "Our research and financial analysis methods are not necessarily the ways the professionals do it, because we're just learning, but exposure to this type of analysis gave me a leg up on other candidates."

Ian can't say enough about the networks the Lundquist College of Business opens to students.

"It was pretty fantastic that someone from Lehman Brothers--a UO grad--came," he remembered. C.J. Radford, UO '98, now with venture capital firm J.H. Whitney in Connecticut, was also a role model. "Sometimes students don't believe that coming from Oregon, you have a chance out there," Haas said. "But Lundquist College of Business students can actually have an edge."

He noted that campus resources are there for the asking.

"You've got to talk to people and get to know your professors. They can open doors for you," he advised. "Start saying, 'I'm in the job hunt'." He also believes the UOIG gave him confidence. "It was a little like being in front of a firing squad," he recalled, "but I became more assertive and more comfortable with public speaking."