>> So, I went to Penn State.
I'm actually a two-time Penn Stater.
I went there as an undergrad and then went back there as an MBA student.
So, I grew up in Central Pennsylvania.
I-- Most of my family either went to or spent some time at Penn State.
I have an uncle who's a Finance professor at Penn State.
So, all things being equal, Penn State is sort of in my blood, as they say.
You know, when I was actually going choosing colleges in high school,
Penn State wasn't my first choice.
My part was sort of that immature notion that you're going to go often
and try to do something different.
I had a very convincing discussion with my uncle who is a professor there that basically said,
"You know, you're choosing these other school, these are fine schools,
but the bottom line is globally, everyone knows Penn State."
And in that-- in a lot of the cases with some of the other schools,
you're looking at their fine institutions but if you're in Europe, if you're in the Middle East,
if you're in Asia, they might not know where those schools are.
So, you have an instant relate in a lot of cases by having that brand behind you.
My family was in the mining business but also in the banking and insurance business.
So, kind of looking at different ways to go in terms of a career path, I was very interested
in the mining aspects and the natural resource management aspect of our family's business,
but I always had this kind of a notion I want to be in business.
So, I essentially started by studying business, started by studying finance.
Three courses the way through, I just--
I started to think about maybe going the other direction,
and then basically brought myself back to the notion that I wanted to be in mining management.
And that happened really between my junior and senior year during an internship
where I started off on the banking side of a regional bank and then ended
up getting my internship extended.
It was supposed to be a 15-week internship, or excuse me, six-week internship,
and again ended up being extended for the whole summer where I had the opportunity to go work
with the asset management group inside.
And that's really what sealed the deal in terms of this is what I wanted to do.