Six Unique Internships Rice MBA Students Held in 2026

The Rice MBA is designed to meet students where they are and transform their strengths to help them reach their ultimate career goals. Central to our Full-Time MBA curriculum is a required summer internship, which gives students a hands-on opportunity to apply classroom concepts to real-world business challenges while serving as a powerful pipeline for full-time employment. For many students, these internships directly launch their post-graduation careers. 

Backed by Houston's thriving market and dedicated support from our Career Development Office, members of the Class of 2027 secured competitive internship roles across today’s top global industries. Here is how six current students leveraged their summer internships to step into their next chapter. 

Note for Working Professionals: While the internship requirement is built directly into the Full-Time MBA curriculum, working professional students in our Professional MBA (Evening and Weekend) programs may also pursue internship opportunities if their work and course schedules permit.

Taran Jain

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Internship Company: Visa, Inc.
Internship Department: Global Finance, AI Acceleration Office
Internship Location: San Francisco, CA;
Pre-MBA Role: Commercial underwriter, Middle Market Banking, Comerica Bank

Stepping outside traditional on-campus recruiting, Taran Jain secured a role with Visa’s Global Finance AI Acceleration Office in the San Francisco Bay Area. During his internship, Jain spearheaded strategic initiatives — building financial planning and analysis (FP&A) dashboard prototypes, evaluating generative AI workflows for product teams and standardizing enterprise AI tracking across global finance.

Jain credits specialized Rice MBA courses, such as GenAI for Business Applications and Strategic Business Communications, with sharpening his technical fluency and presentation skills prior to the role. A key highlight was receiving direct mentorship from senior leaders through a Q&A session with Visa’s global CFO and subsequent networking conversations. After graduation, Jain will join Visa’s Finance Leadership Development Program, where he will gain experience across FP&A, mergers and acquisitions, deals, ventures and more.

Taran’s career advice for prospective MBAs? “Stay organized,” he says. “Track the companies, contacts, applications and follow-ups in your search so that you can manage the process effectively.”

Justin Jin

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Internship Company: IBM
Internship Department: Infrastructure, IBM Fusion
Internship Location: Austin, TX 
Pre-MBA Role: Senior Software Engineer

After six years as a senior software engineer, Justin Jin ’27 pivoted into tech product management through a summer internship with IBM Fusion in Austin, Texas. During his internship, Jin owned two high-impact initiatives: taking an AI-powered seller enablement tool from concept to working prototype and leading the marketing and production of a three-day enablement event for sellers.

Working cross-functionally across software engineering, UX design, marketing and sales, Jin turned to his Rice MBA coursework — pulling from classes like Product Management and Core Communications — to adopt a user-first mindset and craft executive-level presentations.  

Jin’s advice for prospective MBAs? “Be curious, yet intentional,” he says. “If you don’t know exactly what you want to learn yet, that’s fine, but be proactive about finding the right people to steer you in the right direction."

Stephen Fialko

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Internship Company: Hines
Internship Department: Hines Global Income Trust, Houston Development Team
Internship Location: Houston, TX
Pre-MBA Role: F-15E weapons systems officer, USAF

Wrapping up over a decade of service in the U.S. Air Force, most recently as an F-15E weapons systems officer, Stephen Fialko successfully transitioned into global real estate development. Leveraging his network among fellow veterans, Fialko secured a summer internship with Hines on the Houston Development Team of Hines Global Income Trust.

During his internship, Fialko spearheaded critical investment analysis — building financial modeling structures for potential developments, evaluating acquisitions and contributing to deal summary decks for executive investment committees. Reflecting on the coursework that prepared him for the role, he credits professors Alan Crane and Stephanie Johnson for helping him understand operations.  

Fialko’s advice for prospective MBAs? “If your goal is real estate, start networking immediately,” says Fialko. “Not only will connections be able to provide pivotal advice, but you need to immerse yourself [in the industry] to follow trends, cycles and news.”

Amdia Saccoh

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Internship Company: Medtronic
Internship Department: Marketing (Downstream) Finance, U.S. Marketing
Internship Location: Houston, TX 
Pre-MBA Role: Tech product management

Combining seven years in healthcare operations with product management expertise, MBA student Amdia Saccoh secured a high-impact process improvement internship at Medtronic. In her role, she assessed and scaled a software launch process — interviewing more than 40 stakeholders and performing competitive analysis to ensure product growth.

Her final task was to build a solution, complete with frameworks for continuous learning, a playbook, performance scorecards and a formal business case, which she presented to leadership. For Saccoh, the internship with Medtronic helped clarify her long-term career trajectory at the intersection of medical technology, operations and strategic advisory roles.  

Saccoh’s advice for prospective MBAs? “Stay open to the direction your internship can take you. A lot of what I actually did was closer to internal consulting than traditional marketing,” she said. “That wasn’t what I expected, but it opened up a new interest.”

Ned Southwell

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Internship Company: Phillips 66
Internship Department: Finance, U.S. Marketing
Internship Location: Houston, TX
Pre-MBA Role: Senior M&A Analyst at Hanger, Inc.

Transitioning from his prior role as a senior mergers and acquisitions analyst, Ned Southwell began his move into energy from within the very heart of the industry. On-campus recruiting through the CDO landed him an internship with Phillips 66, where he joined the U.S. Marketing Finance team.

During the 10-week program, Southwell served as the owner of a brand strategy project for refined products across key markets — building comprehensive financial models and strategy that aligned with legal, marketing and finance stakeholders before delivering final recommendations to senior executive leadership. 

Throughout the process, he was able to connect with Rice Business alumni across the company, learn from their unique paths and plan for his own post-MBA career goals.  

Southwell’s advice for prospective MBAs? “Leverage Rice Business’ deep alumni network early and often,” he says. “It is one of the program’s biggest assets, and you won’t find a community like that everywhere.”

Marta Antoniv

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Internship Company: UT MD Anderson Cancer Center
Internship Department: Cancer Survivorship
Internship Location: Houston, TX
Pre-MBA Role: Lab scientist, Aramco Americas

Marta Antoniv, who previously worked as a lab scientist at Aramco Americas, applied to internships across industries, but ultimately made her selection with intention and self-reflection. That led her to the UT MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Summer Leadership Institute program, where she was assigned to the Cancer Survivorship department.

During her internship, Antoniv collaborated with department leaders to expand the Survivorship Certification for Health Professionals — analyzing metrics, developing marketing materials and extending educational reach. Her experience as a researcher, paired with data analysis coursework from Rice, helped her develop outreach strategies to address a growing demand — with U.S. cancer survivors projected to reach 22.4 million by 2035.

Antoniv’s experience sparked a definitive career pivot toward hospital administration, and she is now pursuing the Graduate Certificate in Healthcare Management alongside her MBA. 

Antoniv's advice for prospective MBAs? “Find small ways to recharge throughout the recruiting process,” Antoniv says. “MBA recruiting is a marathon, not a sprint.”

Curious where a Rice MBA can take you? Chat with a current student to hear more about the experience or take our find your MBA quiz to see how the degree can best fit your life and goals. 
 

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