Corporate Finance Boot Camp offers unique insights for Penn State Smeal students

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Undergraduate finance students in the Penn State Smeal College of Business are getting an insider’s look at the world of corporate finance, thanks to a new program that blends alumni and corporate partnerships with experiential learning.  

The Corporate Finance Boot Camp pilot program during the 2024-25 academic year included a select two dozen finance majors. This academic year, the program is officially part of Smeal’s offerings as a one-credit, special topics course. More than 220 students applied and 35 were accepted. 

The idea is to expose students to career options beyond Wall Street and banking, according to associate teaching professor Delina Agnosteva, who leads the program. 

“The main goal of the boot camp is to get our finance majors excited for careers in corporate finance and also prepared for those careers,” Agnosteva said. “We want to make sure that they are not only aware of what kind of jobs they can have within corporate finance, but also be really ready to take on those responsibilities.” 

‘An incredibly valuable experience’ 

One way to learn about potential career paths is to talk with people who are already successful in the industry. That happens throughout the two-semester boot camp, when guest speakers share their real-life experiences and advice with participants. 

Weekly speakers during the inaugural year included C-suite executives and represented industries as varied as aerospace, government contracting, hospitality management, pharmaceutical, financial and auto manufacturing. 

“I remember there was a woman from Ford who had been there pretty much her entire career, across the different careers within that company,” said Jacob Waniewski, a member of the first cohort and now a senior double-majoring in finance and accounting. 

The session, with Smeal grad Allyson Waldman, especially stood out to Waniewski because, he noted, students aren’t typically exposed to that sort of deep dive. 

“Having a perspective on both the companies and all these different roles that were never really talked about at most other clubs or organizations, I thought, was an incredibly valuable experience,” he said. 

And it fits exactly with Agnosteva’s vision for what students gain from the speakers and the boot camp overall. 

“I hope that this gives them a more diverse perspective of what corporate finance could be,” she said, adding that the speaker series continues with this year’s boot camp. 

Many of the presenters are Smeal graduates, according to Agnosteva.

“This wouldn't be possible without our great alumni network … a lot of people willing to show up to campus, speak to the students, teach them about corporate finance and just give back,” Agnosteva added.  

Luke Corcoran, a senior finance major at Smeal who also participated in the first year of the boot camp, pointed out the value in meeting alumni working in his own future career field. 

“In class you're not really graded on the connections you make with someone, but in business that's extremely important,” said Corcoran.

A behind-the-scenes view of real-world corporate finance 

Not only did alumni come to the students, but the students were also invited to go to them for the culminating event of the boot camp: A day spent at Marriott International headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland.  

There, participants were shown the inner workings of the world’s leader in hospitality. The program included nearly every aspect of Marriott’s corporate finance divisions from budgeting to financial planning and analysis (FP&A), plus mergers and acquisitions, a look at the company’s annual and most recent quarterly reports. 

The event was coordinated and hosted by David Boardman, a Smeal finance graduate and Marriott’s vice president of asset management.  

“His generosity with his time and his deep commitment to supporting Penn State Smeal College of Business students truly blew us away,” Agnosteva said of Boardman, declaring the event “a best-in-class learning experience.” 

Students agreed. Waniewski said he appreciated that the day was full of speakers from all different walks of Marriott who told, and showed, students what they do on a daily basis. 

“It wasn't so much presentations as it was quite literally pulling us into a conference room and having top-level executives explain their business,” he said. “You learn so much in school, but this was a prime example of real-world experience you wouldn't really get elsewhere.” 

The students, in turn, got high marks from Boardman.  

“Marriott is thrilled to have partnered with the Smeal College of Business in hosting its first on-site corporate visit for the Corporate Finance Boot Camp with our senior leaders in Bethesda, Maryland,” Boardman said. “The day was filled with insightful presentations from our corporate finance team, and the Penn State students shined with inquisitive questions throughout in areas such as understanding value in M&A and considerations companies weigh in determining optimal capital structure.”

Winning with hands-on learning

The inaugural boot camp students also had the opportunity to participate in an annual case study competition in partnership with Johnson & Johnson. They were given a theoretical assignment to analyze several companies being considered for acquisition, using the same steps Johnson & Johnson and other corporations would go through. 

Teams from the Corporate Finance Boot Camp took first and second place and tied for third. Waniewski was a member of the winning group, which received a $2,000 cash prize. It was his first case competition experience. 

“Working with a team, learning a lot of valuable interpersonal skills as I went, I think that was very beneficial as a whole,” Waniewski said.  

Several of the Johnson & Johnson executives involved in the event were, once again, Smeal alumni. They included Jillian Favorite, Allison Fritts, Matt Altimare and Derek Deihl. 

Favorite shared her praise of the competitors on LinkedIn: “I cannot wait to see what these future finance leaders do outside of the classroom.”  

Building bonds through Smeal boot camps

Agnosteva said long-term goals of the boot camp include connecting incoming students with those who have already gone through the program and setting up a database of alumni who have volunteered to talk to students.  

The Corporate Finance Boot Camp is the newest of Smeal’s experiential learning offerings. Depending on majors and interests, students can also apply to the Real Estate Boot Camp or Wall Street Boot Camp.  

Alumni partnerships run strong throughout, which Corcoran said inspired him to think about giving back to Smeal as a mentor himself one day. 

“I know there are going to be kids that were just like me and want to learn and want to be successful,” he said. “So, I feel like it's my obligation to kind of help them as much as possible and be open to answering their questions.”

How to apply

Applications for the 2026-27 Corporate Finance Boot Camp open in January 2026. Interested students must have a strong academic record with at least a 3.5 GPA. Contact Professor Delina Agnosteva at dea5223@psu.edu for more information.