Daniels MBA and MSAQF grad Will DeGuzman gains inspiration from his younger brother
Will DeGuzman had plenty of people and experiences he could tap into for inspiration. But even after investing seven years in the U.S. Army and earning an undergraduate degree in communications, DeGuzman found inspiration in his younger brother, Dunavyn.
And some inspiration it was. The elder DeGuzman graduates from Daniels on June 13 with dual master’s degrees—an MBA with a concentration in Finance and an MS in Applied Quantitative Finance. Afterwards, he heads off to Amazon’s Pathways program in Roseville, California, where he will help solve the company’s last-mile logistics challenges.
“Dunavyn was the first in our family to earn a degree—it was in business information systems. He was a huge inspiration for me,” DeGuzman said. “Whenever we got together, we would wander into some business topic, and he would have some fun with my general lack of knowledge—‘Dude, really? You don’t know this?’ He would explain in more detail and talk about the ‘why’—how something happened or why it happened—which triggered my interest.
“That exposed my interest in strategy,” DeGuzman added. “I was a SWAT team leader in the Army, which was all about tactical execution. But I realized I wanted to broaden my scope to more strategic thinking; understanding what businesses do, how they run and how they grow. My time in the Army made me comfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity, so jumping into something new, like business, wasn’t stressful but I knew the challenges ahead.”
A California native, DeGuzman learned to love the Centennial State while based in Colorado Springs during his military service. He chose Daniels’ because of its hands-on, challenge-driven approach to learning.
“The four challenges in the full-time MBA curriculum—the Entrepreneurial, Social, Corporate and Global Challenges—and solving problems in each of those areas, let me know I would be getting real-world, hands-on experience,” DeGuzman said.
“But I also chose Daniels because I wanted to improve my ability to lead; to learn new skills outside of the military framework and put them into practice in a corporate setting,” he added. “Daniels’ experiential approach to learning gave me opportunities to do that.”
DeGuzman credits Doina Chichernea, program director of the Master of Science in Applied Quantitative Finance and associate professor in the Reiman School of Finance, for solidifying his passion for finance. Chichernea’s Financial Modeling class in the first quarter of his second year sparked his fire.
“It’s where I first learned about financial modeling,” said Deguzman. “Professor Chichernea introduced me to the concept of Monte Carlo Simulations, and I became fascinated by how they can help track uncertainty and make strategic decisions, which truly resonated with me.
“Talking with her has been an incredible source of support throughout my academic journey,” he added. “Something she says that has been a driving factor in my growth is, ‘It’s not the science we fall in love with, it’s the art of doing.’ That encouraged me to dive deeper and think more critically.”
DeGuzman used his time at Daniels wisely. He completed internships with the Securities and Exchange Commission and a Denver-based investment banking firm. And his team placed second in Daniels’ 2024 Race & Case business ethics case and ski challenge. Not surprisingly, his professors are equally as effusive in their praise of him as he is of them.
“Will stood out from day one,” said Chichernea. “In our first class, we give our students a few minutes to introduce themselves. Will came to my office afterwards to continue his introduction. He told me what he wanted to do and what he wanted to get out of the class. We talked for 30 minutes. It was refreshing to meet someone who is that engaged.
“A few months later when he was no longer in any of my classes, Will contacted me and asked how he could learn more about a concept we discussed in class,” Chichernea continued. “His level of interest and enthusiasm amazes me. Some students just learn to pass a class and get a degree. Others learn for themselves, they’re into it and they want to know more about it. Will is the latter, and it is so rewarding to see that as a professor.”
Jack Buffington, associate professor of the practice in the Daniels Department of Marketing, taught DeGuzman on the MBA side and helped him work through a challenging period.
“My supply chain program is structured to have people with different skillsets, and we do a different project every quarter,” Buffington said. “This allows us to hold students to different levels of accountability based on their skillset.
“Will took my class last quarter and I pushed him pretty hard,” Buffington added. “He really struggled for a couple of weeks, but he came to me to talk about it. We talked about how his struggles were helping him gain the skillset, and getting on top of it was about getting back to the process he had learned.
“It was a very mature approach on his part. Some students get frustrated and put the onus back on the professor. He internalized it and worked through it on his own. This is one of the reasons I do what I do—to be able to work with people like Will.”
DeGuzman aspires to be a CEO someday. But before that and heading off to Amazon, he has one more item on his agenda: schooling his younger brother on the nuances of finance—“Dude, really? You don’t know this?”