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ALUM Spotlight Gizman Abbas '97

Gizman Abbas, Vice President of Fixed Income Currency Commodities at Goldman Sachs is putting his engineering degree to work in the finance sector. He discovered a passion for finance while pursuing an MBA and has now combined his degrees with his current position at Goldman Sachs in New York City. Living and working in the city that never sleeps has proven to be an excellent fit for Gizman, who thrives on the fast pace and high energy. The endless selection of restaurants provides a variety of social settings for catching up with friends, but his favorite thing to do is to walk the city in spring or fall. "The different cultures and personalities of the neighborhoods are amazing when considering Manhattan is only twelve miles long." Sounds like Gizman has found the perfect setting for success!

Q. Tell us about your career since graduation.

A. I graduated from Auburn University in 1997 with an electrical engineering degree. While at Auburn, I made use of the cooperative engineering program to gain work experience in my field by working at Southern Company as a power plant engineer. Upon graduating, my career began at Exxon Mobil as a project engineer. After about four years of design and project management roles, I realized I was missing the complete business understanding of why and how the business decisions that impact my work flow were being made and I decided to pursue an MBA.

While attending Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management pursuing my MBA, I discovered the financial services industry which I am part of currently. I found the pace and intensity of the financial sector fascinating after a summer internship and decided this was the right career for me. Upon graduating from Kellogg, I worked at Morgan Stanley in the investment banking division as a generalist (not specializing on a particular industry) focusing on corporate clients with needs for mergers, acquisitions and financings such as initial public offerings and bond issuances. After a few years in investment banking, I decided I had gained enough experience in finance to combine that knowledge with my energy background. That led me to Goldman Sachs' Commodity business where I now focus on investing in energy assets.

Q. What is a typical day at Goldman Sachs for you?

A. This is an easy answer but it is a cliché. Since my job is transaction oriented and there are no two transactions that are the same, there is not a typical day. My job generally involves evaluating investment opportunities, valuing incoming offers, negotiating with counterparties to buy and sell assets and dealing with a host of accounting issues. One thing that is typical in my day is I am not bored and I am nearly always very busy. Hence, I am kept interested in what I do.

Q. How do you like living in NYC? Where did you grow up?

A. Having had the privilege of living in Boston, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, Chicago, London and Auburn prior to New York, it is my favorite city. I am at heart a big city guy and there is no other place that has the pace or passion of living in NYC. Out of all the cities I have lived in, NYC is the place I called home the quickest.

I was born in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia and migrated to the U.S. at the age of eleven. After spending a couple of years in Boston, I moved to South Georgia where I attended a boarding school until I finished high school. I then moved to begin what I call my “Alabama experiment” because until I came to go to school in Alabama, I had never been in the state nor did I know anyone there. The experiment eventually turned out well but it was not without its trials. I struggled my first three years while attending Auburn University at Montgomery working many manual labor jobs and quitting school at times because I needed to earn enough money to live on while attending school. After securing enough credits to transfer to Auburn in Auburn, I joined the cooperative engineering program that turned my experiment into a success.

Q. What is your favorite AU memory?

A. My absolute favorite memory at Auburn and what I firmly believe will be the greatest sports moment of my life was attending my first Auburn vs. Alabama game in 1995 at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Until that moment, I could not understand the rivalry. We won a close game 31 – 27 when Alabama could not score on the final drive and I participated in the activities at Toomer's Corner. So today when my friends speak of great sports rivalries, I tell them to attend the Iron Bowl and let's compare notes.

Q. Any advice to undergraduates?

A. My advice to the undergraduates is to have fun but not at the expense of working hard. Those that are working hard in school are more likely to reap the rewards of success than those that are not. Balance work and fun but when it is crunch time, put work ahead of fun.