Department: Global Finance, AI Acceleration Office
Location: San Francisco Bay Area, CA
HOW DID YOU SECURE YOUR INTERNSHIP?
I secured my internship through Visa's external recruiting process, as Visa was not recruiting on campus at Rice. I wanted to explore corporate finance, corporate development and investment analysis roles, particularly within technology and healthcare. While I leveraged Rice Business and the CDO where relevant, I also had to be proactive in identifying, networking and applying to opportunities outside of the school's traditional recruiting channels.
WHAT WERE YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES DURING THE INTERNSHIP?
I worked as part of Visa's AI Acceleration team within global finance on several projects throughout the summer. My work included building a dashboard prototype for FP&A, evaluating how product and technical teams could enhance their use of AI workflows and agents, and developing standardized processes for tracking and reporting on AI solutions across finance.
HOW DID YOUR MBA COURSEWORK PREPARE YOU FOR THIS INTERNSHIP?
Although my internship was within global finance, much of my work focused on AI and finance transformation rather than traditional financial analysis. Rice Business gave me the analytical foundation to approach complex business problems while also helping me become a stronger communicator. Strategic Business Communications (MGMT 594) helped me learn how to communicate effectively with senior leaders, while courses such as GenAI for Business Applications (MGMT 803) and GenAI for Finance (MGMT 675) gave me practical experience with many of the AI concepts and tools I encountered during the internship.
HOW DID THE INTERNSHIP ALIGN WITH YOUR CAREER GOALS?
One of my goals in attending business school was to broaden my skill set across finance, strategy and technology while learning how to build a career within a multinational organization. Working on finance transformation initiatives at Visa showed me how a global company is using AI to solve real business challenges, exactly the intersection of finance, strategy and technology that I came to Rice for.
I will be returning to Visa's Finance Leadership Development Program (FLDP) full time after completing my MBA, where I'll have the opportunity to rotate across areas such as FP&A, M&A, deals, ventures and more while continuing to build a broad foundation in finance.
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taran with visa team
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF THE INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE?
My favorite part was the opportunity to learn directly from senior leaders across Visa. Visa's global CFO took an hour to meet with a group of MBA finance interns and share his career path, advice and perspective on the company. I also had the opportunity to connect with other senior finance leaders and SVPs at Visa, ask questions about their careers, and learn from their experiences. Those conversations gave me a much better understanding of how to leverage the FLDP program best for my career and were some of the most memorable parts of my summer.
WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS?
First, stay organized. Keep a tracker of the companies, contacts, applications and follow-ups in your search so that you can manage the process effectively.
Second, cast a wide net. Be open to different industries, functions, and companies, and have multiple paths you are pursuing at once.
Finally, network proactively, but also strategically. Networking is valuable, but not every conversation will lead to an interview or opportunity. Pay attention to what is actually working in your search and be willing to adjust your approach. In my case, I did extensive networking across several companies, but ultimately secured Visa through the application process without having networked there beforehand. The lesson for me was to stay proactive and flexible.
Taran Jain is a Full-Time MBA student in the Class of 2027.
Rice Business is deeply connected across industries. Explore six internship paths Rice MBA students held across tech, finance, energy, healthcare and more.
Curious about how an online MBA helps your career? Explore the career impact of an online MBA, from salary growth and long-term ROI to hands-on skills, global experiences and career advancement.
Wondering how to build a career in investment banking? Explore how an MBA, especially from Rice Business, can help you develop the finance skills, network and recruiting experience to launch a career in IB and advance from associate to VP and beyond.
Find out how Rice MBA student Marta Antoniv '27 landed her summer internship at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center.
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Marta Antoniv, Full-Time MBA Class of 2027
PREVIOUS CAREER BEFORE MBA
Title: Lab Scientist
Company: Aramco Americas
SUMMER INTERNSHIP
Company: UT MD Anderson Cancer Center
Department: Cancer Survivorship
Location: Houston, TX
HOW DID YOU SECURE YOUR INTERNSHIP?
The path to securing a summer internship took time, intentionality and self-reflection. I entered the MBA program interested in LDPs, opportunities in the energy sector, and healthcare, while staying open to exploring other paths. Throughout the year, I attended on-campus recruiting events and spoke with second-years, who mentioned in the fall that the MD Anderson application came in the spring. I continued applying to other jobs and intentionally networked at different events in the meantime. Attending the healthcare trek to MD Anderson in the fall and speaking with one of the MD Anderson Administrative Fellows really sparked my interest in applying for the summer internship, which I applied to in late February/early March. The application consisted of submitting a personal statement and two letters of recommendation. It also asked applicants to rank their top four projects of interest from a list of 20-plus projects. After interviewing with two departments I had selected as my top choices, I received an offer letter that paired me with the cancer survivorship team.
WHAT WERE YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES DURING THE INTERNSHIP?
Every intern in the MD Anderson Summer Leadership Institute program works with a different department. I worked with Katherine Gilmore, MPH, and Dr. Michael Roth to expand the Survivorship Certification for Health Professionals, analyzing metrics like completion numbers, learner profiles and geographic spread, while also developing marketing materials and identifying channels to extend our educational reach. With 18.6 million cancer survivors in the US today, a number projected to reach 22.4 million by 2035, educating the physicians who care for survivors is urgent work to support cancer survivors.
HOW DID YOUR MBA COURSEWORK PREPARE YOU FOR THIS INTERNSHIP?
Core data analysis and core marketing were most relevant to my summer internship work. My prior experience as a researcher, paired with the data analysis coursework, built the foundation for the analysis I did during the internship. Additionally, learning about market segmentation and channels in core marketing helped me approach the marketing aspect of my project by asking what each learner is looking for in this certification program, how we can best market to their interests and what channels they use to find new learning opportunities.
HOW DID THE INTERNSHIP ALIGN WITH YOUR CAREER GOALS?
The internship gave me the opportunity to explore whether I wanted to pivot my career from the energy sector to healthcare. I found the experience deeply motivating. The mission of serving patients through my work helped me rediscover a sense of drive in my day-to-day life. Inspired by my summer work, I am now applying to the Administrative Fellowship program at MD Anderson and other hospitals to pursue my short-term goal of deepening my understanding of the complex healthcare system as quickly as possible and to support my long-term goal of becoming the director of a cancer survivorship department.
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF THE INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE?
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Marta with MD Anderson Interns
I really enjoyed interviewing stakeholders and learners, both internal and external to MD Anderson. Speaking with people on the ground who engage with MD Anderson's educational survivorship content helped me understand the unmet needs in survivorship education and how our program serves that need in the community and across the globe. I was motivated knowing my project was ultimately helping cancer survivors and the people who care for them. Additionally, I was very grateful for the support and mentorship from the cancer survivorship team. Working with them on a day-to-day basis inspired me to pursue a career in hospital administration and to prepare for that path via the Rice Graduate Certificate in Healthcare Management alongside my MBA.
WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS?
First, engage with people and stay curious about their experiences and career paths. You will learn a lot from what others have done and start to understand whether certain paths are right for you. Talking with others will also help clarify your own goals. Second, find small ways to recharge throughout the recruiting process; recruiting is a marathon, not a sprint. Third, keep an open mind and keep showing up. Everyone experiences failures and rejections, but do not get discouraged. Keep putting in the work, and you will end up where you need to be.
Marta Antoniv is a Full-Time MBA student in the Class of 2027.
Rice Business is deeply connected across industries. Explore six internship paths Rice MBA students held across tech, finance, energy, healthcare and more.
Curious about how an online MBA helps your career? Explore the career impact of an online MBA, from salary growth and long-term ROI to hands-on skills, global experiences and career advancement.
Wondering how to build a career in investment banking? Explore how an MBA, especially from Rice Business, can help you develop the finance skills, network and recruiting experience to launch a career in IB and advance from associate to VP and beyond.
Rice Business is deeply connected across industries. Explore six internship paths Rice MBA students held across tech, finance, energy, healthcare and more.
Helen Huneycutt
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.
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.”
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."
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.”
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.”
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.”
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 advice for prospective MBAs? “Find small ways to recharge throughout the recruiting process,” Antoniv says. “MBA recruiting is a marathon, not a sprint.”
Rice Business is deeply connected across industries. Explore six internship paths Rice MBA students held across tech, finance, energy, healthcare and more.
Curious about how an online MBA helps your career? Explore the career impact of an online MBA, from salary growth and long-term ROI to hands-on skills, global experiences and career advancement.
Wondering how to build a career in investment banking? Explore how an MBA, especially from Rice Business, can help you develop the finance skills, network and recruiting experience to launch a career in IB and advance from associate to VP and beyond.
Find out how Rice MBA student Stephen Fialko '27 landed his summer internship at Hines.
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Stephen Fialko, Full-Time MBA Class of 2027
PREVIOUS CAREER BEFORE MBA
Title: F-15E Weapons Systems Officer
Company: United States Air Force
SUMMER INTERNSHIP
Company: Hines
Department: Hines Global Income Trust / Houston Development Team
Location: Houston, TX
HOW DID YOU SECURE YOUR INTERNSHIP?
I secured my internship through the veteran network. A well-connected veteran introduced me to a few people within the company who were ultimately able to vouch for my candidacy, as I come from a nontraditional background.
WHAT WERE YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES DURING THE INTERNSHIP?
I analyzed real estate acquisitions and contributed to deal summary decks and investment committee memos that were presented to high-level decision-makers. I also analyzed and constructed financial models for potential developments to determine viability for investment.
HOW DID YOUR MBA COURSEWORK PREPARE YOU FOR THIS INTERNSHIP?
My Intro to Finance course taught by Alan Crane and my Real Estate Valuations course taught by Stephanie Johnson were pivotal in helping me understand the operations and not drown while drinking from the proverbial fire hose over the summer.
HOW DID THE INTERNSHIP ALIGN WITH YOUR CAREER GOALS?
This internship was with my target company in my target role, so it aligned perfectly with my goals.
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF THE INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE?
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Stephen with Hines team
My favorite part of the experience was seeing how deal flow and alpha generation are sustained at a global company through both good and bad times. Even though real estate is coming out of a down cycle, Hines never slowed down. It was interesting to see how structure, track record and connectivity to the industry have helped them thrive.
WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS?
If you’re interested in recruiting for real estate, start networking and connecting with folks in the industry immediately. Not only will they be able to provide pivotal advice in your pursuit of your vision, but you need to immerse yourself in the vernacular, mindset and community as much as possible to stay in tune with current trends, cycles and news.
Stephen Fialko is a Full-Time MBA student in the Class of 2027.
Rice Business is deeply connected across industries. Explore six internship paths Rice MBA students held across tech, finance, energy, healthcare and more.
Curious about how an online MBA helps your career? Explore the career impact of an online MBA, from salary growth and long-term ROI to hands-on skills, global experiences and career advancement.
Wondering how to build a career in investment banking? Explore how an MBA, especially from Rice Business, can help you develop the finance skills, network and recruiting experience to launch a career in IB and advance from associate to VP and beyond.
Michael went from banking to renewable energy. Now he's helping Oracle power the AI boom.
Owl Have You Know
Michael Pariser ’12 was a banker at Lehman Brothers when the 2008 financial crisis pulled the rug out from under him. But after buying a one-way ticket to Southeast Asia and exploring the world, he stumbled into the work that would reshape his career: finding clean energy solutions.
That experience led Mike straight to Rice Business and into a career that has taken him from selling utility-scale wind and solar at NextEra Energy and EDF Renewables to buying power for Walmart, Microsoft, and now Oracle, where he oversees global energy procurement and clean energy strategy for one of the largest AI data center buildouts in history.
In this conversation with co-host Brian Jackson ’21, Mike unpacks what it actually takes to get electricity to a data center in 2026, why the U.S. grid is struggling to keep pace with AI's appetite for power, and how embedding environmental justice commitments directly into power purchase agreements can turn billion-dollar infrastructure projects into engines for local community investment. He also offers career advice for Rice students eyeing the power sector and explains how his monthly happy hour became a go-to gathering for Houston’s energy and power crowd.
[00:00]Brian Jackson: Welcome to Owl Have You Know, a podcast from Rice Business. This episode is part of our Flight Path series, where guests share their career journeys and stories of the Rice connections that got them where they are.
Today I'm joined by Michael Pariser, a 2012 Rice Business MBA graduate and senior principal for renewable energy and utilities at Oracle. Mike's career has taken him from finance and traveling the world to working on both the sell side and buy side of the energy industry. After helping companies like NextEra and EDF Renewables sell power, he moved to the buyer side at Walmart, Microsoft, and now Oracle, where he's helping secure energy for the rapid growth of AI and data centers.
In this conversation, we'll talk about his unconventional career path, how the energy industry is evolving to meet unprecedented demand, the challenges of powering AI, and Houston's role in the future of energy.
Hi, Mike. Welcome to Owl Have You Know.
[01:01]Michael Pariser: Yeah, great to be here, Brian. Good to see you again.
[01:04]Brian Jackson: Hey, great to see you. Your career, you started off in finance. You were, you know, at Lehman Brothers for a bit. Going back in time, trying to think about, you know, the phase of life that you were in, what did you imagine the rest of your career was going to look like?
[01:19]Michael Pariser: Yeah, sure. So, it's been a minute since I graduated from my undergrad, but yes, if I ever knew 20 years ago when I was a banker at Lehman Brothers with a finance undergraduate degree that I'd be in the business of data centers and renewable energy, I would've thought that someone looked up the wrong Michael Pariser in the future phone book.
My former career pre-Rice MBA, I was a commercial real estate banker in Miami, Florida, where I was born and raised. Went back home after college up at Georgetown and decided to get into the commercial real estate cycle, which was on a big upswing, and Wall Street was on a big upswing.
And then September 2008 happened, and both commercial real estate and finance evaporated for the foreseeable future at that time. So, basically, I ended up buying a one-way ticket to Southeast Asia and had two years to think about what did I want to do with my life, and ended up getting really interested in supporting clean energy projects for off-grid rural villages in Southeast Asia for USAID, the Agency for International Development for the U.S. government.
And came back to the U.S. to switch into energy as a career, coming straight from Manila, Philippines, to Rice MBA. I actually remember doing all of my Rice MBA admissions interviews at midnight, like, you know, wearing a jacket on the top and, like, pajamas on the bottom, off camera with all the Rice admissions folks.
And so, my wife and I, who are all from Miami, we came to Houston. I loved my experience at Rice. I was a Full-Time 2012 MBA. And when I came out, I went into clean energy. I sold for almost 10 years utility-scale wind and solar and battery energy storage projects to utilities and to increasingly to corporate buyers, such as data centers, who have really large energy procurement goals and 100% clean energy procurement goals at that.
And so, after a few years in South Florida with NextEra Energy and a few years in Southern California with EDF Renewables, I moved back to Houston in The Woodlands and became a buyer of power, first for Walmart, where I led Walmart's clean energy procurement and strategy for a bit before I moved into the data center space about five years ago with Microsoft.
At Microsoft, I was leading the North America renewable energy procurement strategy, and I actually for a while, my last year or so at Microsoft, was leading the European theater of renewable energy procurement. So, it was really interesting work at Microsoft. I executed several of the first power purchase agreements for wind and solar and offshore wind that had environmental justice components in the PPA agreements, which was really cool. So, that's something that was very novel.
[04:17]Brian Jackson: What does that mean, an environmental justice component?
[04:20]Michael Pariser: Yeah, so all of these large infrastructure projects, you know, cost hundreds of millions or billions of dollars, and no lender is willing to stroke a check and pay for this infrastructure to get built unless they have certainty on what the revenues are going to look like for 10 to 20 years. The fixed revenue component is what a power purchase agreement is, so PPA.
And so, all these large wind and solar projects, and now even these gas projects, you know, these nuclear deals that you're seeing driven by data center growth, they all require a buyer, a creditworthy offtaker, to sign up for 10 to 20 years, fixed price of all the power that that generator can produce. And so, I think Microsoft was very smart and showed a lot of forethought a few years ago when they started the environmental justice component of their PPAs, and what that is, is Microsoft will agree to a price with a generator, you know, a solar, wind, nuclear project, whoever.
They'll agree to a price, they'll agree to commercial terms to buy the power for 20 years, and then Microsoft will say, "Yeah, and on top of that, I want to pay an extra couple of dollars per megawatt hour, which is going to add up to several million dollars a year, and I want you, the seller, I'm going to pay that to you for the power produced, and at the end of the year, I want you to send that component, that additional money that I'm agreeing to pay, into a nonprofit fund that we're going to hire a third party to manage, and that third party is going to be governed by a board of community members for the local community of where the infrastructure project's located, and they're going to decide how to best spend those millions of dollars."
And the good thing is, when you sign a 20-year deal, and you structure it in the right way, you provide a runway of 20 years of seven- to eight-figure revenue for this nonprofit fund to operate from, and so they can plan some pretty impressive, impactful local projects.
Anyway, yeah, the Microsoft environmental justice component was pretty neat, and I've obviously taken those learnings as I've come over to Oracle. I joined Oracle because Oracle had been historically a software company, not an infrastructure company, and about a year and a half ago, Oracle pretty much overnight went from having no energy procurement function to being one of the largest procurers of power in the world when they decided they wanted to not only be a software company, but have most of its revenues come from its infrastructure build-out and basically renting of GPUs to large language model operators like Anthropic and OpenAI.
And so, that's when I joined Oracle, and I'm responsible for buying all the power. And because of my clean energy background, I've also created the clean energy power procurement program here, which we've made some recent announcements about, lots of wind PPAs in Texas that we've executed this year. We've made a lot of progress on our march toward 100% clean energy procurement to support our customers.
[07:26]Brian Jackson: Well, I mean, all of that, it's like a compounding of lessons learned, and it seems like that's what you're doing in each role. And ultimately at Oracle, you have the buy side, the developer sell side of energy, and bringing all of those parts to what you're doing today. It makes me, and I'm going to take us back again to Southeast Asia because, one, I'm partial to it because you and I have that shared experience of living there.
But, you know, beyond the travel, you were working in microfinance, you did typhoon relief, climbed in the Himalayas, explored shipwrecks. You also rode the 1,500-mile Ho Chi Minh Trail on a motorcycle, and then also somehow you're trained in Thai massage. Never knew this about you, Mike.
[08:06]Michael Pariser: I am. Royal Thai massage from Wat Pho in Bangkok. Yes, 80 hours, actually.
[08:12]Brian Jackson: It's impressive. Had no idea. You know, what were you looking for during that period? Was it just grab every experience so you had more to draw upon later? Like, what were you trying to find?
[08:22]Michael Pariser: Yeah. At that time, I was trying to aggregate experiences that I knew in the future... Because I was not working full-time out there. That was after the Lehman implosion and Wall Street implosion and the real estate implosion. And so, I decided instead of moping around applying to jobs that are probably either going to be highly unproductive or just not even exist for probably a period of two years, I'm going to try and gain some life experience that I would never be able to fit in a standard two-week corporate vacation window.
And so, all of what you just described, you know, becoming a PADI Divemaster in the Coral Triangle out in Borneo, moving from Cambodia to Laos to Vietnam, you know, by boat and motorcycle and elephant, to hiking the Himalayas in Nepal with my wife.
I mean, all of that is really just trying to gather life experiences that would help inform what I think is most important for me and what motivates me. Because honestly, you know, I think a really interesting question to ask yourself is, if you were to hit the lottery tomorrow and no longer need whatever job you're in right now, what would you do with yourself every day?
And ideally, it would have something to do with what you're actually spending your day doing already. I mean, of course, you know, it doesn't always work out like that. But for me, renewable energy, clean energy, was that answer. I saw when I was traveling around the developing countries of Southeast Asia that these folks did not have electricity, they did not have air conditioning, most of them had no vehicles, and probably in 20 or 30 years, they're all going to be having air conditioning and driving SUVs and using a lot of electricity.
And if we did it the old-fashioned way of just building coal plants, these absolutely incredibly beautiful places on Earth are just going to be destroyed ecologically. And so, the way to help these developing economies leapfrog the old way of doing things while still getting folks up to speed on having infrastructure and access to the internet and access to power is, we've got to do it in a sustainable way from an emissions standpoint. So, that's, kind of, how I came to the realization.
[10:51]Brian Jackson: So, I totally understand the experience of being in Asia, seeing developing countries, seeing a growing need for energy, and that the demand's going to get there, and we're not getting there fast enough. But then you come back, and you go to Rice for your MBA. I'm trying to understand that part. How did you know that, "Okay, I need to get an MBA, it needs to be from Rice” — why did it matter at that time?
[11:12]Michael Pariser: That's a great question. It was very specific to Rice. So, pre-MBA, post-Lehman Brothers, I, you know, had already a deep experience from a finance field standpoint, real estate lending standpoint. I was, you know, my last role at Lehman Brothers was vice president, so from a resume-building standpoint in that industry, I already had pretty solid standing.
But because I wanted to career pivot and switch industries into more of the, kind of, basically the non-lending, non-Treasury side of the energy business, a lot of the commercial skills that I gained as a banker have remained useful, and the negotiation skills as an originator back then originating commercial loans to real estate buyers, you know, have served me well as I continue to negotiate large contracts, even though this time it's for buying and selling large power contracts with generators and with utilities.
The fact is, if I wanted to get a role within a utility or power company, energy company, that wasn't starting out at the bottom with the 21-year-old undergraduate folks, I was going to need some, sort of, energy-specific resume component, and I figured that that was a Rice MBA, because Rice still obviously has a very strong energy industry flavor, just given who our faculty is, who the alumni base is, the fact that we're located in Houston, and what the internship opportunities and the post-MBA recruiter opportunities are.
And so, that was the calculus on Rice. It certainly was really interesting. My Rice MBA, I, you know, had an interest in the more commercial-flavored electives from an energy industry standpoint. So, I remember, like, classes taught by Scott Gaille about, like, international energy markets and entrepreneurship and private equity-type classes, like, taught by Dennis Murphree, were really interesting to me.
I always have had a kind of admiration for entrepreneurs and never had the courage to go out and strike on my own, but that's something that obviously Rice is really strong in. I, in fact, with one of my MBA 2012 colleagues, Phil Leach, we were in the Rice MBA business plan competition, and we even won $10,000 for best elevator pitch for our product at the University of Louisville business plan competition that year, which was Action Figure Laboratories, and our tagline was, "It's like Build-A-Bear, but for boys."
I don't even know if Build-A-Bear exists anymore. And it was when 3D printing just came out, so we take a photo in the store, we print out an action figure with your face and head on it, and then you get to accessorize it, et cetera, and walk out with a mini version of yourself. I tried to find mine before this podcast so that I could show it on camera, and unfortunately I think it got lost at the shop.
[14:19]Brian Jackson: Oh, that's awesome. And I agree, like Houston is, and I think will continue to be, the energy capital, right? But energy, like that word, has evolved over the last 20 years. And I know you do a really great job in connecting clean tech and data center folks here, but I'm curious, like, what role do you think the city of Houston's going to actually play as energy tech and AI increasingly intersect? Like we've got all these fantastic players here.
[14:43]Michael Pariser: Yeah. That's a great question, and I think that Houston can do more, frankly, and Houston can do better with the ingredients that Houston already has.
I find that here in Houston, most of the energy, clean energy, and power companies that have locations here or expand locations here are folks that already have legacy, kind of, oil and gas or legacy power trading activity and footprint and team located in Houston, and they typically will expand on that.
But honestly, you know, as a buyer at Oracle and as a buyer previously at Microsoft, I've done at this point probably 100 different power purchase agreements in the past few years with, I don't know, more than 30 counterparties.
And I think honestly, we could do better as a community here in Houston on making it known what synergies this city has to offer for folks looking to get into the mix, get into the deal flow, and, you know, have a faster takeoff when trying to get their name out to counterparties and prospective customers that, you know, they're in the business of selling power or a new energy solution to data centers or large corporate buyers, et cetera.
[16:01]Brian Jackson: Yeah. Well, I mean, your happy hour is one big step towards helping us get there, so thanks, Mike. I appreciate it.
[16:07]Michael Pariser: No worries. Yeah, I'm up in The Woodlands, work from my home office here, and the happy hour is funny. The original idea, which I started about five years ago when I was with Walmart buying power across the U.S. I love staying in touch with my network and with my Rice network and with my power and energy industry network, and making the trip down to Houston from The Woodlands, you know, multiple times a month to catch up and grab lunches, breakfasts, et cetera, was getting a little heavy on my travel schedule.
So, I said, "You know what? I'm just going to be in a place once a month, and I'm going to send out a note to everybody. Come if you can, don't come if you can't. Don't worry about it. But if, you know, if… I will be in town right at this spot, and we can catch up in person there."
I also meant it to help out my colleagues and, kind of, spread the... I think it originally started out as, like, the Energy Clean Tech Happy Hour, so more of a renewable energy bent. And it's really, kind of, broadened to data center developers and to big tech buyers because we've, you know, as Amazon and Meta and Microsoft and Google have post-COVID basically become an almost fully remote workforce, a lot of the folks here in Houston have joined those companies and still, you know, domicile here.
And so, yeah, we've got a good mix of sellers of energy and power, buyers of energy and power. We've got oil and gas folks. We've got power generation folks. We've got renewable energy folks. We've got data center folks. So, yeah, it's a good time, and I'm glad that you make it out as much as you do.
[17:48]Brian Jackson: No, it's great. And I mean, you know this, on both sides of this, it's the network that tends to make deals happen. And I think, you know, you're very intentional about building your network, and it seems like it constantly gets pulled up and used on either side that you're on. My next little pivot is jumping from NextEra, EDF, developer sell side, going to Walmart, Microsoft, now Oracle, buy side.
You're sitting on the opposite side of the table. Is there now, like, these "aha" moments that you're having of like, "Oh no, I understand their position. This is what we'll do?”
[18:14]Michael Pariser: Yeah, no, I think as you can imagine, having been on the opposite side of the table and coming to the other, you know the pain points of who you're facing on the other side of the table because you've sat in their seat. You know what makes them excited, what would make them most interested in whatever you're proposing or offering.
And you also understand from a negotiating standpoint where they actually have a firm line and cannot move from, versus they're just positing from a negotiation tactic standpoint that, you know, they don't want to have flexibility. So, it's a little unique. I haven't met too many people that have gone from buyer to seller or gone from seller to buyer. But that's something that I've done, and who knows? Maybe I'll flip back to the seller side at some point in my career.
But yes, I think even if, from an internship standpoint, you can intern on one side and then, you know, if you plan on getting a job on the other side, I think it's a really insightful experience to be able to have sat in the seat or, you know, worn the shoes of the person who you're tasked with executing a heavily negotiated agreement against.
[19:25]Brian Jackson: Well, and you being the cost center but also the crux of the development of the data center site, I feel like you and I have heard enough of, like, "speed to power." And for folks that aren't in energy and have no idea how this works or what that even looks like, could you, kind of, explain what's making getting power to site so difficult?
[19:47]Michael Pariser: Yes, so "speed to power" is the catchphrase of 2025 and 2026 and probably 2027 as well in the AI infrastructure data center community. And what that's referring to is, you've got OpenAI's ChatGPT, you have Anthropic's Claude, you have Google's Gemini, you have Facebook's Muse... Or sorry, Meta. I just aged myself, dated myself there.
And all of these large language models are effectively in a race to see who can train up to an elevated, efficient model quickest. Because the idea is, whether it's correct or incorrect, you know, there's a little bit of an idea of a winner-take-all theory with AI. I mean, that's just one theory, where whoever's model becomes the most advanced and quickest and fastest and most accurate is going to dominate the space. And in order for that to happen, you really need to have as much GPU and CPU compute power as possible running on racks inside data centers 24 hours a day, seven days a week, ideally as soon as possible so that that training can begin.
So, really the bottleneck to Anthropic or OpenAI is, you know, getting as much compute capacity as they want, is not money. They have access to almost infinite capital with every... Basically, the stock market is focused on investing into this AI infrastructure build-out. So, really what it is, it's not land, it's access to electricity.
These data centers are, from an energy intensity standpoint, the most energy-intensive buildings probably that the world has ever seen. To give you an example, one of the data center sites that Oracle has announced in New Mexico for 2.2 gigawatts of power is going to consume on a routine basis the equivalent electricity consumption of 1.8 million American households.
It's hard to think about without seeing, because the numbers are so large, it's almost like, you know, my mind can't compute it. But my point is, the energy is really the key ingredient to these data centers to be able to train up these large language models. And the grid, the transmission system in the United States for electricity, is not strong. It is old, it breaks. We have built in the United States, I think the total amount of transmission mileage, miles of lines of high-voltage transmission lines, in the past 10 years, I think we built like, I don't know, 100 miles, whereas China has built like thousands of miles in the past 12 months.
And the reason why is because we have a lot of "not in my backyard" issues, and it's really expensive, and the permitting processes take years from a federal level, from a state level. Depends if you're crossing state lines, it becomes a federal permitting issue. And then once you get permission to access the grid, the utilities typically take several years to build the actual power line that's going to connect the grid to your new data center facility.
And so, that's why you see a lot of deals being announced, including the one I just mentioned in New Mexico for Oracle, that are totally off-grid. Now, one day, eventually, years from now, they will probably connect to the grid, but they are not counting on access to the U.S. electric grid for first power. They're just saying, "We're going to find natural gas. We're going to, you know, put some renewable energy, and we're going to combine the two, and we'll have round-the-clock power. We don't need the U.S. electric grid because we don't want to wait five years. We want to build this and be up and running in 24 months."
So, that's a big, big effort that really all of the large data center companies and big tech companies are focused on.
[23:48]Brian Jackson: But you're trying to solve for reliability, speed, cost, and also carbon-free energy all at the same time. Those priorities, to me, don't always lead to the same answer.
[24:01]Michael Pariser: Yeah, several contradictions in there, and although they are all true at the same time, we want and need reliable power. These data centers need 24/7 continuity, so we can't just wait for when, you know, the wind is blowing and the sun is shining. What happens at night when there's no wind? We want clean power. We want affordable power, although affordability's probably lower on the list of priorities than it would normally be in normal times.
The speed-to-power theory is that the revenue that will be generated from the dominant AI model that can come online first is going to be so great that the cost of power is going to be a non-issue, even if you're paying a premium for power.
[24:45]Brian Jackson: Yeah. So, when you look like five or 10 years out, which I know trying to be an oracle here is difficult...
[24:53]Michael Pariser: No pun intended.
[24:54]Brian Jackson: Yeah, no pun intended. What's happening in energy today that you think we're collectively underestimating?
[25:00]Michael Pariser: Yeah. So, my crystal ball, we're sitting here in 2026, getting toward the mid-to-late 2020s, amazingly. We've had an incredible growth of installed renewable energy capacity over the past 15 years since I graduated from Rice, and a lot of that has replaced old, retiring coal capacity generation.
And at the same time, up until five years ago, the U.S. load, the amount of power America and American businesses were using, was actually either flat or slightly declining 1% to 2% a year because of energy efficiency programs. You know, we were offshoring large, heavy industry, you know, to Mexico and China and other places.
And so, power demand for two decades since 2000 was pretty much going down in America, and the aging coal generation fleet was being retired and replaced increasingly by clean energy sources and renewables, and that was a great thing to be a part of while I was at NextEra and at EDF.
And now with AI, there's been this incredible spike in demand for power, which looks like it's, you know, going to be very strong for the next several years. We also have an electrification of buildings and of things that is driving electricity demand in the United States. And also my Polestar that's sitting in my garage, and everybody's electric vehicles increasingly is going... The electrification of the transportation industry is also driving electricity demand. So, it's pretty interesting.
Now, you know, U.S. industry has gone from declining demand over two decades to, like, almost, like, pretty strong, like, you know, mid-to-high single-digit year-over-year growth for the next few years.
So, what does that mean? We need a lot of baseload power. What does that mean? Non-intermittent, dispatchable power, where you can flip the switch on and off of the power plant and it turns on. So, that's either renewable energy sources that can be stored into some, sort of, you know, energy storage system like lithium-ion batteries, or there are some other long-duration energy storage technologies being worked on, or baseload power like natural gas generation or nuclear generation, geothermal generation.
So, right now, you know, we're, kind of, having a renaissance that the renewables will continue to be built out because they are the cheapest marginal cost of energy for any new megawatt installed in the United States. Solar is cheaper than anything by a long shot. Wind is second to solar right afterwards.
So, renewables, I think, will continue to have a bright future. We're now having this renaissance in natural gas generation. So, the last time the United States had a big build-out of natural gas generation was basically when Enron collapsed. And so, we haven't really built gas that much in 25 years. So, we're pulling a lot of people out of retirement to help us build gas plants today, and same thing with nuclear. I think the, kind of, end of the 2020s to the beginning of the 2030s, we're going to see a lot of gas generation build-out in the United States to serve, you know, data center load growth, to serve vehicle electrification load growth.
I think we're going to see a lot in the 2030s, I'm hopeful, of nuclear, new technology, small modular reactor nuclear power, which can provide carbon-free baseload power. And at the same time, I'm hopeful that we will crack the code on some long-duration energy storage technologies, which can be paired with wind and solar and store the power not for just a few hours, but for several days or even several weeks or months. So, that will be pretty amazing.
And yeah, I think we're going to increasingly see the electrification of our industrial society, and I think there's also a really interesting role for each of our homes and apartments and businesses to play in the grid, because there's the distribution of power sources is now happening even at our homes, like, you know, raise your hand while you're driving listening to this podcast if you have a generator or if you know someone who has a Generac at home. You know, living in Houston, I bet half of you do. I'm up in The Woodlands where our power lines thankfully are buried in the ground, so I don't have much of an issue with trees falling and cutting my power for days at a time, right?
Who has a base power or a Tesla Powerwall? These are power sources that not only provide, you know, residents and small businesses with emergency backup power for when the larger grid fails, but also potentially a revenue source for you to sell your power back to the grid in times of stress on the grid when there is a shortage of capacity, they can draw from basically a distributed network of thousands or millions of tiny little power plants in people's homes. So, I think we're going to see more of DER, which is distributed energy system, in the next five to 10 years. That's just my crystal ball.
[30:09]Brian Jackson: No, I think you're right. So, if you were a recent Rice grad or, let's say, even a current student, and you're looking at everything happening across power, infrastructure, AI, and of course you're thinking, "I want to be a part of this," where would you tell them to start?
[30:24]Michael Pariser: So, I would look at the power industry. I would look at, in particular, independent power producers, IPPs, which are competitive companies that enter competitive power markets or different markets across the U.S. and try and sell long-term power purchase agreements to utilities or large consumers of power like data centers from large CapEx power generation projects that they built, like wind, solar, batteries, gas. There are a lot of IPPs. There's several actually that have major offices in Houston, so you know, from a locale standpoint, I think that works.
So, yeah, I would take a look at the IPPs. There's a lot of them. I'm sure ChatGPT can give you a good list. "Throw me the IPPs with an employee presence in Houston." I would start there.
[31:15]Brian Jackson: Well, perfect. Well, Mike, this has been a ton of fun. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm looking forward to seeing you at the next happy hour or maybe a Rice event.
[31:24]Michael Pariser: Yeah, thank you, Brian. I appreciate it. It's been great to join you. Go Owls.
[31:33]Brian Jackson: Thanks for listening. This has been Owl Have You Know, a production of Rice Business. You can find more information about our guests, hosts, and announcements on our website, business.rice.edu. Please subscribe and leave a rating wherever you find your favorite podcast. We'd love to hear what you think. The hosts of Owl Have You Know are myself, Brian Jackson, and Maya Pomroy.
Stuart, senior manager of sustainability at Chevron Phillips Chemical, shares why, a decade into his career, he decided to enroll in an MBA program and how Rice Business has helped shape the way he leads and sees the world.
Meet MD/MBA candidate Aileen Hu! Find out why she chose Rice Business and hear her honest reflections on Launch Week.
Aileen Hu is one of the newest members of Rice Business’s Full-Time MBA Class of 2028. We asked her to share a little bit about herself and her experience starting the program. Here's what she had to say.
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Aileen Hu, Full-Time MBA Class of 2028
TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR CURRENT CAREER AND BACKGROUND.
Education: The University of Texas at Austin, BS in public health with a concentration in health policy and administration
Most Recent Title: Baylor College of Medicine, M.D. candidate
Career Highlights and Industry Experience:
Conducted research in infectious disease, dermatology and oncology
Completed a rotation at a pediatric HIV/AIDS clinic in Malawi
Published in leading journals
Presented at national conferences
WHAT IS A FUN FACT ABOUT YOU?
I'm a former competitive ballroom dancer.
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE RICE BUSINESS?
Houston is where I'm from, and my family is here. Family support is very important to me, and as an MD/MBA student, Rice Business' proximity and connections to the Texas Medical Center made it the clear choice.
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE OUR FULL-TIME MBA PROGRAM?
I'm interested in exploring and learning more about the business side of healthcare.
HOW ARE YOU FEELING ABOUT STARTING YOUR MBA? WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO?
Excited! I am looking forward to utilizing the resources provided to broaden my horizons, as I have spent the past three years rotating in hospitals or in lecture halls.
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Aileen with med school classmates
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Aileen with FTMBA classmates
HOW WAS YOUR EXPERIENCE DURING LAUNCH WEEK? WHAT WERE YOUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE PROGRAM AND YOUR CLASSMATES?
I loved it! It was long and exhausting, but the strategy class was really fun. I think our program has a lot of opportunities to explore, and it's a matter of what you want to prioritize. Sometimes I feel like I don't have enough time to do everything. My classmates are great and come from all sorts of interesting backgrounds. It's nice to have a life outside of medicine!
Aileen Hu is a Full-Time MBA student in the Class of 2028.
Curious about how an online MBA helps your career? Explore the career impact of an online MBA, from salary growth and long-term ROI to hands-on skills, global experiences and career advancement.
Rayna Anderson-Crier, Associate Director of Career Education and Advising
For working professionals, an online MBA can offer a more flexible program than a traditional in-person MBA. But it also allows you to build critical skills, pursue promotions, increase your earnings and pursue long-term ROI — all while continuing to work and study from anywhere.
Many business schools across the U.S. now offer remote learning options. The key is finding an online MBA that not only enables you to apply what you learn immediately to your work, but also gives you the skills and network to help you grow your career.
At Rice Business, the online MBA@Rice combines interactive digital classes with hands-on learning, an on-campus residential experience and even a Global Field Experience. The program is also highly ranked, placed No. 6 among online MBA programs (The Princeton Review, 2027), No. 13 globally (Financial Times, 2026) and No. 17 for veterans (U.S. News & World Report, 2026) — making the Rice MBA a top program for active-duty and U.S. military veterans.
If you’re considering taking the next step in your career, here’s how an online MBA can make an impact — both now and in the years ahead.
1. Increase career momentum and earning potential
Unlike students who step away from the workforce for a full-time MBA, online MBA students can continue to work and build professional experience while completing their degree. That creates opportunities to apply new skills in real time, take on greater responsibilities, and strengthen their positioning for future career and salary growth.
Depending on your experience and career goals, many online students at Rice Business may see promotions either during or after completing their MBA. For professionals looking to move into management, change functions or accelerate their career progression, the combination of existing work experience and advanced business education can be especially valuable.
Earning an MBA while continuing to work also demonstrates the ability to manage competing priorities, apply classroom learning in a professional environment, and remain committed to continued growth.
Did you know that an MBA has one of the highest returns on investment in academia? Not only does it open the door to raises, promotions and lateral movements — it offers invaluable career support and financial security that compounds over time.
Through your MBA community, you’ll gain a broader understanding of business and expand your professional network, preparing you to take on increasingly complex roles. Long after graduation, you’ll have the ability to leverage career support — and you’ll always be able to turn back to your Rice Business community, whether as a mentor or as a student auditing a course (learn more about special alumni rates).
3. Hands-on skills you can apply immediately
Through coursework in areas such as finance, strategy, marketing, data analytics and leadership, online MBA students develop skills they can apply right away. At Rice Business, a research-first approach to business education from our world-class faculty also integrates data analytics, AI and emerging technologies into the curriculum, helping students prepare for a business landscape that changes every day.
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All Online MBA courses are taught by renowned Rice Business faculty.
Rice MBA@Rice students can choose from a variety of electives or tailor their degree to their own personal interests and goals through one of the following focus areas:
Corporate Strategy
Corporate Finance
Investment Management
Marketing
Entrepreneurship
Energy
Healthcare
Online MBA students can also involve themselves with the broader Rice Business community by attending on-campus events, joining student associations and participating in opportunities like Rice Business Board Fellows, a program that gives students leadership experience on the board of a local nonprofit.
You’ll walk away with an experience that you can apply to your daily work life. The case studies and lectures have made an impact on my contribution to work meetings.
Liam Morris ’23
MBA@Rice Alumnus
4. Expanding your network
The MBA@Rice pairs live online coursework with in-person experiences designed to build a tight-knit network, like the Rice Residential — an immersive, four-day experience on campus with your cohort. Although your classmates are remote, online Rice MBA students join a strong culture of support and collaboration among peers, faculty and staff.
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The O'Connor Atrium in Virani Hall.
The online MBA program is integrated into the Rice Business community, so your networking opportunities are widespread, even after graduation. Both your cohort and the broader community of professional MBA students brings vastly unique perspectives, experiences, skills and strengths — enriching your learning experience and offering greater support.
You also become part of the Rice University network, with access to the university’s programs and resources. With the recent addition of Virani Hall, a state-of-the-art facility that more than doubles Rice’s on-campus business hub, you know you can depend on next-level resources when you need them.
5. Gain real-world, global experience
During your MBA, online students participate in a Global Field Experience (GFE) — a core part of the Rice Business experience. The GFE offers online MBAs a critical learning experience abroad that many remote programs may not facilitate.
As an undeniable highlight of the program, the GFE encourages students to take their learning into an international business environment and gain a broader perspective on how organizations operate around the world. Plus, there’s no better way to experience global business than through diverse cuisine, arts and culture.
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MBA@Rice students from the Class of 2024 in Bogota, Colombia.
To top off the MBA@Rice experience, students work on a Capstone project that allows them to apply everything they’ve learned throughout the program — combined with their own professional experience — to solve a complex, real-world managerial problem.
6. Prepare for your next role from anywhere
An online MBA gives you the flexibility to pursue your next step without putting your current career on hold.
Whether you’re aiming for a promotion, transitioning into a new function, moving into leadership or building the business skills to pursue an entirely new direction, an online MBA can help you prepare for what’s next — from wherever your career takes you.
Rice Business is deeply connected across industries. Explore six internship paths Rice MBA students held across tech, finance, energy, healthcare and more.
Curious about how an online MBA helps your career? Explore the career impact of an online MBA, from salary growth and long-term ROI to hands-on skills, global experiences and career advancement.
Wondering how to build a career in investment banking? Explore how an MBA, especially from Rice Business, can help you develop the finance skills, network and recruiting experience to launch a career in IB and advance from associate to VP and beyond.
Shannon Sciarappa studies how people engage with work after leaving a profession they once considered a “calling.” Here’s how leaders can help make career passion sustainable.
Shannon Sciarappa studies how people engage with work after leaving a profession they once considered a “calling.” Here’s how leaders can help make career passion sustainable.
What happens when people leave work they once considered a calling? Research has largely assumed that they won’t: When people see a profession as central to who they are, they usually find ways to reshape their lives around it so they can stay.
But what happens when the effort to remain in meaningful work becomes its own source of harm?
In this Q&A, Shannon Sciarappa, a new assistant professor of organizational behavior at Rice Business, discusses her research on what happens when people recognize that a beloved profession has become unsustainable and how they can construct a meaningful life beyond it.
First, welcome to Rice. How has your experience been so far?
Thanks so much. One thing I noticed about Rice right away is that there are resources everywhere, and people are genuinely happy to help you succeed. I’m grateful for the opportunity to join such an impressive, supportive community. I’m very happy to be here.
How would you describe your research?
I’m on the more micro side of organizational behavior, interested in the experiences of individuals at work. Most of my work is qualitative, and I draw from research on identity and meaningful work. I may be a glutton for punishment, but I’m especially interested in what happens when things go wrong: when the way you work changes, or when the future you expected from your work no longer seems possible. How do people grapple with that disruption? How do they recalibrate and move forward?
The idea of having a “calling” is especially interesting to me because it’s more than enjoying your job or feeling intrinsically motivated. It is a highly meaningful view of work, one that is closely tied to identity and often carries moral and social significance. The work feels integral to who you are. That makes it powerful. But it also makes disruption much harder to absorb.
How did you become interested in this area of study?
While I was at Boston College, teachers in nearby Newton went on strike. I read a news story that quoted a former teacher who had returned to support her former colleagues. She said the profession was supposed to be a calling, something you did because you loved the kids. It was hard to say, “I love the kids, but I want to leave.”
That stayed with me. I had been studying meaningful work, so I started looking for research on people who leave callings and found very little. Most studies tell us that a calling is sticky. People are more likely to craft their jobs and their lives around maintaining it than to walk away. But people can and do leave. I wanted to understand what finally makes that possible, and what leaving means for them afterward.
Is this dynamic specific to teaching?
Education makes the tension especially visible, but I would expect similar dynamics in other helping professions, including healthcare and animal care. But, in theory, it could exist anywhere we find passionate workers. The common ingredient is the combination of a strong source of meaningfulness, deep identification with the work, and conditions that can exploit that identification.
If leaders want work to remain sustainably meaningful, they have to provide the resources that allow people to continue doing it. Money is one resource, but so are time, recovery and support for mental health.
What pushes people to leave work they feel so strongly about?
I expected to find a particular force pushing people out or pulling them toward something else. Instead, I found a tension that built over time. The former teachers I interviewed talked about an almost magical draw toward teaching. It was what they were supposed to do and who they were supposed to be. At the same time, they described significant suffering.
Because people with callings work so hard to stay, they often begin by altering themselves to fit the profession. They absorb more, lower their expectations or keep trying to repair the relationship. Over time, that effort can damage their mental and physical health. The final breaking point is often not one dramatic event. It’s the realization that the calling had become unsustainable. My research participants would look toward the future they once imagined, including retirement, and ask: Can I keep doing this for that long? Eventually, the answer was no.
It must be emotionally very difficult to leave one’s calling. What does it feel like to people who go through that?
It’s not a clean process. There’s grief and sadness because people are losing work they loved, but there’s also guilt and shame. Many of my research participants entered teaching because they cared deeply about students and education. Leaving can feel like abandoning those commitments, especially when people around them don’t understand what they’ve lived through.
At the same time, many begin to acknowledge the injustices they experienced. They recognize that a profession that was supposed to work for them did not, and that callings can sometimes be unhealthy or exploitative. Recovery requires them to reconsider what work could or should be. They begin to create distance from the job as their primary source of identity and meaning, then invest in family, hobbies or other parts of themselves. Once they feel the benefits of this recovery, some later miss the meaningfulness and seek it again, but with a clearer sense of boundaries.
Managers shouldn’t interpret continued dedication as evidence that the conditions are working. People with callings may tolerate poor conditions longer precisely because the work matters so much to them.
What can people do when a calling has maybe become too large a part of who they are?
The people in my study who seemed healthiest approached work as one part of a loosely coupled system, drawing from the work of late organizational theorist Karl Weick. In this case, their work, identity, and sense of meaning were connected, but not so tightly that losing one caused the entire system to collapse. They had built a more complex system wherein other identities, relationships, and sources of meaning could support them through a disruption.
One former teacher described changing how he thought about himself. Instead of saying, “I am a teacher,” he began to say, “I am someone who teaches.” That small shift opened other possibilities. He could teach in different settings or in different ways. The calling did not disappear, but it became part of him rather than the whole of him. That leaves more room to change, and more room to stay well.
How can managers recognize that meaningful work is becoming unsustainable before someone leaves?
One signal is that the employee keeps changing themselves to accommodate the job. They absorb more, lower their expectations and treat deteriorating mental or physical health as something they have to manage privately. Another is that they can no longer imagine doing the work over the long term. We often hear this talked about in terms of burnout.
Managers shouldn’t interpret continued dedication as evidence that the conditions are working. People with callings may tolerate poor conditions longer precisely because the work matters so much to them. By the time they leave, the tension may have been building for years.
We all want a passionate workforce, but not at the expense of workers’ health. That dedication only lasts so long. Sustainable passion is something worthy of investment.
What else can managers learn from the experiences of people who leave a calling?
Passion is not an infinite resource. Organizations want dedicated employees, but they can’t treat dedication as a substitute for support. If leaders want work to remain sustainably meaningful, they have to provide the resources that allow people to continue doing it. Money is one resource, but so are time, recovery and support for mental health.
If possible, leaders should consider offering sabbaticals or other opportunities for genuine recovery. Anything leaders can do to encourage employees to invest in other identities or sources of meaningfulness (that is, create a more complex system) would be beneficial for the health of their workforce, and for retaining dedicated employees.
Research on “decent work” identifies five essential elements: safe working conditions, time for rest, values that complement a person’s family and social values, adequate compensation and access to healthcare. Those basics may matter even more in professions where people feel called to the work, because passion can motivate people to tolerate their absence for a while.
The idea that organizations can exploit passionate employees because those employees will remain dedicated is not a reality leaders should count on, if it ever was. We all want a passionate workforce, but not at the expense of workers’ health. That dedication only lasts so long. Sustainable passion is something worthy of investment.
Shannon Sciarappa studies how people engage with work after leaving a profession they once considered a “calling.” Here’s how leaders can help make career passion sustainable.
Learn how Rice MAcc alum Emily Rychener ’20 went from Rice University to PwC manager, with insights on CPA preparation, recruiting, career growth and accounting skills.
Helen Huneycutt
What can you do with a Master of Accounting?
For Emily Rychener ’19 (B.A.; MAcc, 2020), the answer has been a career that has grown alongside her — from earning her undergraduate degree in statistics at Rice to completing the Rice Business Master of Accounting program, joining PwC and advancing to a manager in the firm’s audit practice.
Along the way, the Rice MAcc helped her prepare for the CPA exam, build professional connections and develop the technical and interpersonal skills she uses with clients today.
Here’s how Rice Business prepared her for life after graduation, what she has learned about building a meaningful career in public accounting and her advice for students pursuing a MAcc.
Can you tell us a little about your background?
I completed my undergraduate degree in statistics at Rice University and graduated in 2019. I had taken a lot of classes when deciding my major, and statistics and economics stood out to me. I came to Houston from Colorado Springs and decided to stay at Rice for the Master of Accounting.
Throughout my time as an undergraduate, I realized I enjoyed many of the skills that are necessary for accounting. I knew I liked math and organization, but I also had a lot of experience with customer service and working with others. During undergrad, I worked at Chaus (Rice Coffeehouse) and even became general manager during my junior and senior years. That gave me more experience in business, finance and management — on top of people skills. Once I discovered the MAcc and public accounting, I realized it was a career path that aligned strongly with my skill set and interests, because it allowed me to combine my customer service and analytical skills.
How would you describe your experience at Rice Business?
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Emily Rychener with MAcc classmates.
Rigorous, but also supportive and tight-knit. As a one-year program, it went by quickly, but it was manageable because we were able to work together and depend on each other. We had lots of preparation for the CPA exam and recruiting, and I feel like the atmosphere really prepared me for the real world.
Looking back, I am grateful for how much the Rice MAcc prepares you for the CPA exam. Once I started my career, I had already successfully passed all of the CPA exams, and was able to focus fully on my work with the firm.
What class stuck with you the most?
Advanced auditing, taught by Kelly Drakey. Professor Drakey had experience working in public accounting, so our assignments and lectures felt very applicable and valuable because she taught from her perspective working with clients at a Big Four firm.
How did the Rice MAcc help you land your first role?
One of the things I loved about the Rice MAcc is that it helps students prepare for recruiting before they even begin the program. Professor Ben Lansford, director of the MAcc program, is very intentional about introducing students directly to recruiters early on and ensuring they make the right connections. In addition to hosting on-campus events, the program provides training sessions that prep students for recruiting and building soft skills, such as setting up a mock business lunch.
The program also prioritizes helping students exercise judgment — making calls when things aren’t always clear — because in accounting, hardly anything is black-and-white.
Emily Rychener
Rice MAcc Alumnus
What is your current role?
I started at PwC as an intern before entering the MAcc program. After graduation, I returned as an associate and was promoted to senior associate after two “busy seasons.” I am now a manager in the audit practice at PwC and predominantly work with private companies. Day to day, I provide assurance services to a variety of industries and clients — such as family-owned or private equity-owned businesses across industries ranging from healthcare and utilities.
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Rychener at the CPA Swearing-In Ceremony.
What does a typical “day in the life” look like for you?
Something I like about public accounting is that every day looks a little bit different. Even as far as where I’m working can differ: Sometimes I’m in the PwC firm office downtown, sometimes I’m at site visits with clients and sometimes I travel to clients across the country.
We use an apprenticeship model, which allows our team to stay very connected. As a manager, much of my role is to help coach our associates through and sharpen their accounting and soft skills.
If you could go back to your first year at PwC, what would you tell yourself?
During the MAcc, I was very Type A, goal-oriented and always working toward the finish line — whether it was completing an assignment or reaching the end of a semester. I think I would tell myself, “Focus less on finishing your to-do list and more on building your network and the journey along the way.”
How did the MAcc influence your advancement into higher-level roles?
Being prepared to take the CPA exam was key. The Rice MAcc also gave me lots of practice working in group settings, which translated well to my role in public accounting since we work in teams for most everything we do. The program also prioritizes helping students exercise judgment — making calls when things aren’t always clear — because in accounting, hardly anything is black and white.
What benefits of the MAcc became noticeably more valuable over time?
One of the biggest benefits was my ability to build my network. We still get together often, but many of my peers took different career paths. It’s really helpful to know different people in different industries — whether they work other accounting consulting roles or are in-house accountants for a specific company.
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Rychener and fellow MAcc alumni at a PwC event at Disney.
What are your next career goals?
Six years into my time at PwC, I am feeling fulfilled in my current role. I am frequently given new opportunities and look forward to continuing to mentor others at our firm. As I enter my third year as a manager, I am grateful to continue working with clients across diverse businesses and fields, learning about their work and helping them succeed.
Do you have any advice for someone considering pursuing a MAcc at Rice?
You won’t regret it! The Rice MAcc program offers students a strong path to career stability, particularly through its preparation for the CPA. Whether you plan to stay in Houston like I did or look for roles across the country, CPA credentials are always in demand.
What skills would you recommend for someone who wants to accelerate their career?
Get comfortable receiving feedback, especially if you’re a high-achieving student or are used to receiving straight A’s. This is crucial both in the MAcc and on the job.
Learn how to ask good questions so that you can get to the right answers.
Practice explaining things simply, particularly complex ideas into client-friendly language, by using your own words.
Learn how Rice MAcc alum Emily Rychener ’20 went from Rice University to PwC manager, with insights on CPA preparation, recruiting, career growth and accounting skills.
Meet Willa Tao, a twice-Rice graduate and senior associate in audit at PwC. Learn why she chose the Master of Accounting at Rice Business, what a day in her life looks like and her advice to prospective students.
A Master of Accounting (MAcc) degree from Rice Business opens door to a wide range of career opportunities, from in-demand roles at accounting firms to corporate accounting, finance and advisory roles across industries. Here’s where it can take you.
Department: Marketing (Downstream)Finance, U.S. Marketing
Location: Minneapolis, MN
HOW DID YOU SECURE YOUR INTERNSHIP?
I secured my internship through pre-MBA recruiting at the Consortium conference in June 2025. That began a long journey that ended with the final interview and offer at the end of November 2025.
WHAT WERE YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES DURING THE INTERNSHIP?
My role was to assess the software launch process for a specific division in Medtronic's portfolio, one that needed to scale, stay competitive and build the agility to handle future growth. That meant running interviews with over 40 cross-functional stakeholders to understand where the process needed to change, synthesizing what I heard into a set of prioritized themes, and benchmarking our approach against competitors and a best-in-class tech company. From there, I was responsible for building the actual solution: a launch framework for continuous learning, a playbook with clear ownership, scorecards to track launches and a retro process so lessons carried forward from one launch to the next. I also built the business case behind it and presented the recommendation to leadership.
HOW DID YOUR MBA COURSEWORK PREPARE YOU FOR THIS INTERNSHIP?
Operations Management, Business Communications and Competitive Industry Analysis helped the most. Organizational Behavior, Marketing and the rest of the core curriculum helped me understand how to communicate value to stakeholders across different functional areas, think strategically and spot where a process could improve. I actually went back to my class notes more than once during the internship, which I'm grateful for. More than anything, coursework gave me frameworks for problem-solving that I could apply directly.
HOW DID THE INTERNSHIP ALIGN WITH YOUR CAREER GOALS?
Before business school, I worked in healthcare operations and revenue cycle for about seven years, then moved into product management in tech for about three. This internship let me bring both of those together. My healthcare background gave me context for how the clinical side of the business actually works, and my product management background gave me a way to structure and pitch a recommendation that could actually be used.
It also stretched me. I was managing and gaining buy-in from over 40 stakeholders across functions, aligning on milestones and keeping the work moving. And it clarified something for me, pointing to areas of work I want to explore further — closer to internal consulting or process improvement than to a single product role.
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Amdia and Medtronic team
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF THE INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE?
The people, and how much the company centers everything around patients. There's a real culture of continuous learning and service: Symposiums, volunteer opportunities, networking events and patient/physician panels run through the whole summer. Sitting in on those made it clear that decisions get made with the patient and the people they affect in mind first, and that staying innovative and differentiated comes down to high quality work and empathy, not just the product itself. I got to build relationships across the business naturally, just by being present for all of it, and that was the best part of the summer.
WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS?
Stay open to the direction your internship can take you. I was assigned to a downstream marketing role, but a lot of what I actually did was process improvement and implementation — closer to internal consulting than traditional marketing. That wasn't what I expected going in, but it opened up an interest I didn't know was there, and I was glad to have the room to follow it.
Amdia Saccoh is a Full-Time MBA student in the Class of 2027.
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