Noah Simon

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Noah Simon – Peterson

Biography: Noah is a second-year student studying business economics at UCLA. He is from San Diego and grew up as an athlete playing baseball from four years old until graduating high school. At UCLA, he is currently part of Bruin Asset Management, a Sharpe Fellow in the investment banking cohort, and a participant in the UBS Investment Banking Workshop. He has previously completed internships in venture capital, strategy & finance, and investment banking. Outside of his academic and professional endeavors, Noah enjoys playing golf with friends, going to Dodger games, and competing in poker tournaments.

Future Plans: Noah has accepted an offer to be a Private Equity Summer Analyst at StepStone Group this upcoming summer, where he will be focusing on fund & co-investments. After gaining more experience within the private equity field after UCLA he hopes to one day create his own private equity firm. He is especially passionate about private equity as he loves the intricacies of helping businesses become more efficient and being able to be a part of enterprises that form the basis of the American economy is exciting to him.

What this scholarship means to me? I am honored to receive the John J. Peterson Scholarship – thank you to the Petersons for their support of my academic endeavors. This scholarship inspires me to continue working hard to achieve my goals and to help other generations achieve their aspirations. I am looking forward to the next chapter in my life and hope to give back to UCLA as much as others have done for me.

Joel Santiago

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Joel Santiago – Bragg

 

Biography: Joel Santiago is a 4th year Business Economics major, minoring in Accounting. He was raised in Anaheim, California and is a first-generation student in college pursuing a career in the business industry. Joel became fascinated by the art of entrepreneurship and accounting from a young age and is always looking for innovative ways to succeed through business while also helping his family and community in the process. In his spare time, Joel makes music with his bandmates and enjoys teaching others about several different subjects, always trying to find a way to entertain others and hoping to make a positive impact.

Future Plans: After graduating, Joel plans to work at an accounting firm while also pursuing to become a CPA and eventually obtaining a Master’s in Accounting. This is all to gain the experience needed to eventually start his own business to help others and his family live a better life. One day he hopes for him and his dad to start a non-profit in Mexico to help those in need and truly make a difference where it matters the most.

What this scholarship means to me? I am extremely honored to have been selected for the Donald Edward Bragg & Diane Sims Bragg Scholarship. I am truly grateful for this opportunity since now I don’t have to stress out about my financial situation, and instead put my full attention into pursuing academic greatness and search for opportunities that will enhance my career in the future. This scholarship truly inspires me to keep moving forward and overcome any obstacle placed in front of me and reminds me of how proud I am to be at UCLA. I really appreciate the support, and I’m extremely thankful for the scholarship and the Economics Department for all their help.

Samuel Sankisov

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Samuel Sankisov – Peterson

Biography: Samuel Sankisov is a Fourth-Year Undergraduate student at UCLA majoring in Business Economics and minoring in Entrepreneurship. Originally from Walnut Creek, CA, he graduated from Northgate High School in June 2019. At UCLA, Samuel has been an active member of several notable on-campus organizations, including Bruin Investment and Trading (BIT) Group, TAMID Group, and the Undergraduate Entrepreneurs Association (UEA). He has also interned at Grant Private Wealth Management, TELEO Capital, Band of Angels, and Pacific Western Bank.

Future Plans: After his graduation in June 2023, Samuel plans to begin his career at Carta, a San Francisco-based technology company that specializes in capitalization table management and valuation software. In the coming years, Samuel hopes to join one of the Bay Area’s top Venture Capital firms, get his MBA degree, and potentially start his own company one day as an entrepreneur himself. 

What this scholarship means to me? It is truly an honor and a blessing to be the recipient of the 2023 John J. Peterson Scholarship! By reducing the amount I need to spend on tuition to complete my Bachelor’s Degree at UCLA, this scholarship will allow me to focus on completing my undergraduate coursework to the best of my ability, graduate, and get a head start on paying off my student loans. It will also help me save up for my future MBA tuition.

Samuel Sanchez

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Samuel Sanchez – Shapiro

Biography: Samuel Sanchez is a third year Business Economics major from Riverside, California. Being a UCLA fan since childhood, Samuel enjoys being able to study everyday at his dream and school and always makes the most of any opportunity he can. He is currently the captain of the UCLA Track and Field club as well as a mentor of the UCLA Mentorship Program. Away from campus Samuel enjoys snowboarding, screenwriting, and playing music in two bands.

Future Plans: For the upcoming summer, Samuel will be participating in an economics work-study internship program in Prague, Czech Republic.  Being paired with a company for three months will allow him to gain hands-on experience and knowledge of real life scenarios that will allow his potential in the United States to skyrocket. With the experience gained during the internship, Samuel hopes to be able to join a sports front office and work every day in an environment that he loves.

What this scholarship means to me? Being able to be the recipient of such a generous blessing in the name of two wonderful people, Ralph and Shirley Shapiro, truly is an honor and a privilege. This scholarship is more than money to me, it is a sign that I am on a path filled with potential and that there are those out there who believe that I have the ability to make a difference, which is what I truly plan on doing. This award truly does give me the opportunity to make the difference I have always dreamed of making.

Barry Qi

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Barry Qi – Bruce

Biography: Barry is a senior studying Business Economics and Data Theory, with a minor in History. As a Bay Area native, Barry has always been interested in the intersection of business and technology. On campus, he is involved in Bruin Hedge Fund and the Undergraduate Business Society. In his free time, he enjoys traveling and listening to podcasts.

Future Plans: After graduating, Barry will be joining Bain & Company as an Associate Consultant Intern, with plans to pursue an MBA a few years down the line. Long-term, he hopes to work in strategy roles in the technology space, such as in corporate strategy or corporate development.

What this scholarship means to me? I’m incredibly honored to be selected as a recipient of the Patricia and Harry L. Bruce Endowed Scholarship and thankful to the Bruce family for their generosity. Having spent much of my time in college working, the scholarship will allow me to dedicate my time to my academic and professional goals.

Jonathan Nourafshan

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Jonathan Nourafshan – Lipschutz

Biography: Jonathan Nourafshan is a third-year Business Economics major and aspiring Accounting minor. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Jonathan’s dream was always to attend UCLA. Having that opportunity, Jonathan dove into UCLA joining Tamid, an investing and consulting organization. Rising through the ranks from general member to Director of External Affairs, Jonathan now serves as the President of the UCLA Tamid Chapter.  With a natural fervor for numerical analysis and statistics, the accounting minor has offered Jonathan the unique opportunity to proficiently speak the  “financial language of business.” During this time, Jonathan’s horizons have expanded by taking classes in advanced and analytic accounting, business law, and corporate/partnership taxation, where Jonathan realized his passion for tax and law, and has thus taken on the position of External Operations Coordinator at VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance). In addition, Jonathan has humbly been elected as a teaching assistant with Professor Gordon Klein, specifically in his Corporate/Partnership tax class. Outside of the classroom, Jonathan enjoys skiing, learning new languages, cooking with family and friends, and most importantly is an avid UCLA sports fan.

Future Plans: With plans to pass his CPA exams before graduating from UCLA in a little under four years, Jonathan will be coupling his passion for tax with an internship at Deloitte’s tax practice in Los Angeles in the National Federal Tax Solutions team. Jonathan is considering reinforcing his eventual CPA with a law degree to master tax law and accounting and ultimately establish a vigorous foundation that can be utilized in all fields. As an Angelino, Jonathan strives to build a real estate portfolio to diminish the burdens of a housing crisis in Los Angeles utilizing his tax law foundation to do so.

What this scholarship means to me? I want to first thank the late, Mr. Donald Lipshutz for initially endowing this scholarship and I want to express my sincerest gratitude to Ms. Marugo for continuing to prop up this unique scholarship. Your generosity will allow me to make further use of the endless learning opportunities at UCLA and buttress my dedication to experiential learning. It is an absolute honor to be recognized for this award, which reflects the TrueBruin values that have been instilled into me during my time at UCLA

Anajely Moreno

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Anajely Moreno – Wark

Biography: Anajely Moreno is a first-generation Latina student at UCLA. She is a fourth-year majoring in Economics and minoring in Accounting. Born and raised in Northeast Los Angeles, CA, she knew she wanted to stay local, so she decided to pursue a higher education at UCLA. While she focuses on her academics, she continues to be involved in her community as a mentor and coach for youth female soccer players. Her biggest motivation is found through her mother, Julia Rojas, who has sacrificed everything so she can give her kids an opportunity for a higher quality education. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her loved ones, mastering her mom’s Mexican dishes, and exploring new hiking trails.

Future Plans: Anajely Moreno will be staying in her hometown, Glassell Park, after graduation. She has interned with PricewaterhouseCoopers for two summers consecutively during her undergrad. She will be starting full time at PricewaterhouseCoopers at the Downtown, Los Angeles office as an Audit Associate under the Financial Services sector. While working at her dream career, she will be studying to obtain her CPA. In the long run, Anajely hopes to play and establish a recognizable role within her community as a mentor for students to pursue a higher education.

What this scholarship means to me? I am beyond grateful and thankful to be a recipient of the Robert D. & Margaret A. Wark Memorial Scholarship.  This scholarship will help alleviate any financial stress within my last year of undergrad so I can dedicate more time towards my academics and extracurricular activities. This scholarship further encourages me and confirms the hard work that I have put in my academics. This scholarship also serves as an inspiration to continue to work hard so I can one day pay it forward.

Akshat Mittal

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Akshat Mittal – Mortenson

Biography: Akshat Mittal is a junior who is majoring in Business Economics with a minor in Data Science Engineering. He is a social impact entrepreneur from New Delhi, India and has scaled multiple social startups before. He launched and sold his first company at the age of 13 and has a passion for solving problems that impact millions of people. He is now working on a startup called FavorX to build the world’s largest favor exchange economy based on reciprocity. His father, a consultant by profession and an entrepreneur by heart, always taught him to choose the unorthodox, non-traditional, high-risk high-reward path in life and his mother, a teacher, always taught him the value of a good education. At UCLA, he has been an active member in business clubs like Sharpe Fellows, Ascend, and International Bruins in Business, and is also a board member on Bruin Entrepreneurs. He has also started dabbling in the blockchain VC industry recently, helping multiple funds with deal flow. Akshat is also very interested in Formula 1 and boxing and he loves going on hiking trips. He defines success as the ability to work hard every day, chasing a huge goal, and being exhausted before going to bed very night.

Future Plans: Akshat believes that his purpose in life is to work on startups and impact people by creating something meaningful. So, in order to gain more experience, he worked in various different fields of business. He has worked in accounting (KPMG in Summer ’21) and consulting (EY Parthenon in Summer ’22) earlier, and is now set to explore his passion for finance through an investment banking internship at J.P. Morgan in their tech investment banking team in San Francisco. Through these experiences, he aspires to learn the language of the corporates and wants to know how huge conglomerates are built and run so that he can use those learnings later in all other aspects of his life.

What this scholarship means to me? I am extremely grateful to the Harold R. Mortenson Endowed Scholarship Donor and the Economics department for this scholarship. As an international student with a high tuition fee and little to no other scholarships available, getting this scholarship proves that effort doesn’t go unnoticed. This scholarship has definitely helped in taking some financial burdens off me and my family and inspired me to work harder and give back to the UCLA community.

Eric Longo

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UCLA Department of Economics

Biography: As an honors student pursuing a double-major in Business Economics and Communication, Eric is passionate about the fields of finance, real estate, and housing policy. For the past two years, he has worked as a commercial real estate intern at Pinnacle Capital Management Services, LLC, assisting with asset and property management. Additionally, he has worked as a Business Finance and Mathematics Instructor at Juni Learning since 2021 and has held multiple positions as a course grader for undergraduate pre-law classes within the Department of Communication. Eric has also been thankful to have been able to provide mentorship, counselling, and various events for honors students as the President of the Honors Fellows at UCLA.

Future Plans: Upon graduation, Eric plans to continue in the commercial real estate industry as an analyst within the capital markets sector. He is very interested in commercial real estate finance and investment, so he intends to stay within the industry long-term. Eric also intends to incorporate non-profit and public policy housing work into his later career.

What this scholarship means to me? I cannot express how grateful I am to Mr. and Mrs. Anderson for their generosity in helping me pursue my academic and professional goals. Your donation, beyond the burden of educational expenses that it has helped lift from me, has reminded and motivated me to continue to pursue what I am passionate about and put my best foot forward always. Thank you.

Geovanni Llerenas

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Geovanni Llerenas – Bragg

Biography: Geovanni Llerenas is a driven and passionate fourth-year Business Economics major at UCLA, with a double minor in Chicanx and Global Studies. As a first-generation college student from Los Angeles, Geovanni recognized early on that higher education was a pathway to fulfilling his dreams. His academic journey has been shaped by his lifelong fascination with business, which he has been fortunate enough to explore in depth during his time at UCLA. With a particular interest in data science, accounting, and game theory, Geovanni is always seeking new ways to challenge himself and expand his skill set. Beyond his academic pursuits, Geovanni enjoys staying active by hiking and exploring the city of Los Angeles, as well as nourishing his passion for entertainment by attending movie premieres and visiting theme parks.

Future Plans: In terms of career plans, Geovanni is excited about the prospect of working in data science, either within a company or as an independent consultant. Given this interest, Geovanni believes that pursuing internships in the field would be a great way to gain experience and build a network of connections. Additionally, considering law school could provide valuable skills and knowledge that could be applied to a career in data science. Furthermore, Geovanni is also passionate about real estate and sees it as a potential side hustle that could provide additional income and opportunities for personal and professional growth. Whatever path Geovanni ultimately chooses, he is confident in his ability to succeed and make a positive impact in his chosen field.

What this scholarship means to me? This scholarship has been of immense help to me as it has allowed me to take off some of the financial burden that comes with pursuing higher education. Additionally, it has also allowed me to immerse myself in my coursework without the added burden of financial stress. This scholarship means a great amount to me as it represents a belief in my potential and a recognition of the hard work that I’ve put in to get to the position that I am today. Knowing that someone else believes in me and is willing to invest in my future has been extremely empowering and has given me a newfound motivation to keep pushing for better. Therefore, I am extremely grateful for Donald Edward Bragg & Diane Sims Bragg for awarding me this scholarship and most importantly, believing in me.