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Alumni Profile: Erica Hamilton

Erica Hamilton, MBA 97 from the Fall 1998 Alumni Newsletter

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(September 30, 1998) - Only 28 years old, Erica Hamilton made the June 1998 cover story of Working Woman as one of the top "20 under 30" -- one of the nation's top 20 professional women under thirty years of age. An officer in the Franchise Systems Finance unit at Chase Bank of Texas, Hamilton works on finance deals for large franchisees of corporate customers like McDonald's, Coca-Cola, and Anheuser-Busch. She draws strong praise from supervisors and other top executives, but her route to her present career may be just as interesting as her prospects in the field.

After quitting a tough, Teach For America assignment at an inner-city school in New Orleans, Hamilton looked for work as a bartender. She was hired by the Praline Connection, an African American owned restaurant in New Orleans, where the owners quickly promoted her to office manager.

In time she assisted with almost every aspect of the business. While helping apply for an SBA loan, Hamilton realized that this was the kind of work she wanted to do for a living, so she applied for an MBA.

She found UT especially well suited to her background, which included a BA in sociology. "I think UT is a great environment for non-BBA graduate students," says Hamilton. "The program was a great introduction to business. There is a balance of academic and real world experience and education." Hamilton in particular cites Professor Ed George ("I never thought I would enjoy statistics") and her courses in small business finance and financial statement analysis, which she describes as perfect preparation for her job.

Hamilton was set from the start on a career in banking, with the goal of working in commercial lending. During her training at Chase, she did not even want to try corporate banking, saying that as an African American woman she felt unsure about the environment. Luckily her manager convinced her to try a rotation in Franchise. She loved it. Now, Hamilton is working on multi-million-dollar deals in one of Chase's fastest growing divisions.

Hamilton works with a number of UT alums at Chase, including Bill Pyle (BBA '77, MBA '79), John Sarvadi (BBA 88, MBA 89), Michael Costello (BBA 88, MBA 89), Gary Handcox (BBA 77, MBA 80), and Kara Nordstrom (BBA 91). One aspect of her job that she especially appreciates is working with entrepreneurs. "There is nothing like listening to a client talk about their business, opportunities for growth, management style, and life," she says. "Client calls are great opportunities for life learning."

Chase and the MBA expanded Hamilton's career prospects but did not dim her idealism. Noting that information about capital is hard to come by in the African American community, Hamilton foresees herself becoming a mentor to African American entrepreneurs.

She advises MBA students to set their goals a few notches higher than what they think they can do, then "network, network, network -- every single person you meet has information you need to be successful."

What does she advise bartenders? "Believe it or not," says Hamilton, "a lot of the same skills apply to business, especially in the financial arena. It takes the same skills to get a big tip as it does to win a big deal, get opportunities, and succeed."

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