From the Soccer Field to Private Equity: Jonathan Hall’s Journey to Wall Street

When Jonathan Hall (TPR ’10) looks back on his time at the Tepper School of Business and Carnegie Mellon University, he sees a clear connection between his time on the soccer field and the success he’s found in private equity.

Hall, now a Managing Principal at Odyssey Investment Partners, started his career in finance after two internships with UBS. He believes the skills he cemented as a student-athlete were equally as influential as the technical skills he learned on the job.

“I didn’t go to college with the goal of working on Wall Street,” Hall explained. “However, the competitive nature of my athletics background led me to explore opportunities here, and the self-discipline and confidence instilled on the field allowed me to build a career in a competitive industry.”

Hall shared that his soccer experience taught him how to be rigorous and thoughtful about how to manage his time in balancing both athletics and academics. At the Tepper School, he continued balancing multiple priorities by majoring in both finance and entrepreneurship, which provided exposure to  highly technical, as well as more creative, experiential courses.

“At the Tepper School, I learned the technical side of finance, along with the fundamentals of entrepreneurship – the heart of which is solving customer problems. This helped me understand what makes a business valuable, and how companies differentiate themselves in the marketplace,” he explained. “Those are all lessons that I carry with me today in private equity.”

Beyond the classroom and athletics, Hall immersed himself in campus life, serving on the Student Athletic Advisory Council, co-chairing the Business Opportunities Conference, and participating in Students in Free Enterprise. While at CMU, Hall’s interests were varied, and he didn’t want to miss out on opportunities to be engaged despite the challenges of the workload. While overwhelming at times, these experiences allowed him to build a strong community of friends and form habits that contribute to success in his current role – self-discipline, hard work, and humility.

Feeling Carnegie Mellon played a meaningful role in his opportunities and success, Hall has maintained his ties to the university since graduating, serving on the Tartan Athletics Club Advisory Board since 2016 and returning to the Tepper School as a guest speaker. Whether part of a formal mentoring program or in response to an email from a student, he strives to make time to mentor those who have come after him.  There are lots of ways to give back, and for him, giving back is a crucial part of creating a culture of engagement.

“Part of giving back is the element of gratitude. I feel fortunate for the opportunities that I had as a student at the Tepper School,” he shared. “I want to try to share my perspective or insight so that other students can also have a positive experience, and then they might want to give back to the university as well.”

As he continues to shape companies as a private equity investor, he remains firmly connected to the community and the lessons he learned at the Tepper School. He encourages current students to embrace exploration, stay open to new paths, and pursue their interests with enthusiasm.

“It doesn’t have to be this one-track path where you have to check a box,” Hall said. “If you pursue things that you’re interested in and that you’re passionate about, you will be more authentic and find the path that is right for you.  Success can look very different than what you expect.”