Interview Questions

• Briefly tell us about your current job?
• Briefly tell us about your career path?
• What were some of your activities at Duke?
• How has Duke influenced your success?
• What is the best career advice you would give students today?
• What city and state do you call home?
• What do you do in your free time?
• Where have you traveled in the past 5 years?

Briefly tell us about your current job?
I am the Vice President of Claims, Recourse and Investigations for Genworth Financial's U.S. Mortgage Insurance business segment, which is headquartered in Raleigh, NC. My organization is responsible for the prompt payment of customer claims due to borrower default on their mortgage payments while ensuring that claims are not paid on loans with evidence of misrepresentation or fraud in the origination process. Genworth Financial became an independent company in May of 2004 and prior to that our company was known as GE Financial Assurance (a subsidiary of GE Capital).
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Briefly tell us about your career path?
I started my career with GE Appliances in 1995 as a member of the Financial Management Program in Louisville, KY. In 1997, after completing the 2-year rotational leadership program, I accepted a position as Operations and Sales Financial Analyst for GE Capital Mortgage Insurance in Raleigh, NC (currently known as Genworth Financial Mortgage Insurance). About 18 months later I was promoted to Senior Financial Analyst in the Financial Planning and Analysis function.

In 2000, I accepted the role of Finance Manager for e-Business, which was one of General Electric's key initiatives at the time. During the 4th quarter of 2001, I left the finance organization and became an e-Business Manager & Six Sigma Black belt, where I was responsible for leading business-wide digitization projects and for ensuring a pervasive implementation of the company's "e-Make strategy".

That led to a promotion as VP of Recourse and Appraisal Management in the Operations department. In August of 2005, I was recently promoted to a broader role within our Loss Mitigation function as VP of Mortgage Insurance Claims, Recourse, and Investigations.
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What were some of your activities at Duke?
"Mi Gente", Language Dorm events, and Theater (I acted in 4 Duke productions).
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How has Duke influenced your success?
In many ways. Duke's student body population was very diverse and allowed me to learn and embrace many perspectives. In a business setting, you will often work with associates that represent different functional or cultural perspectives and those leaders that are able to take in all the relevant view points in making decisions are often more successful than others.

While at Duke, I was often amazed by the many bright individuals (students and professors alike) who contributed to my academic development. This experience truly raised my personal standards for professional achievement and set the expectations that I now have of the people that I work with and manage. This mindset has allowed me to build and lead high performing teams.

In addition, most of my classes at Duke were small in size and provided ample opportunities for me to broaden many of the leadership skills that I apply every day in the workplace. Ever since my first job interview and throughout my career, I have been able to demonstrate solid oral and written communication skills, the ability to work effectively with teams, and strong analytical / critical thinking skills- all traits which I developed and enhanced while I was a student at Duke.
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What is the best career advice you would give students today?
I would encourage you to continuously work on polishing your leadership characteristics, including: effective oral and written communication skills, interpersonal skills, analytical ability, teamwork and problem solving aptitude. You should also be mindful of integrity considerations when making decisions. Duke offers many ways to do this ranging from: class projects, study abroad, involvement with campus organizations, work-study jobs, and/or participating in sports (varsity or intramural).

Most companies consider themselves to be a "meritocracy" and take pride in rewarding individuals that exhibit strong leadership skills by consistently executing on assigned tasks and go "above and beyond". Given this, you should always view summer jobs, work-study jobs or even class projects as opportunities to develop and improve the leadership skills that will become invaluable later on in your career path. You should also pursue a career with a company that will invest in you and will reward you for your contributions, and where you know you will continue to grow and develop as a professional.

Don't focus on the first job out of school but rather on the overall career path that you will eventually be able to achieve. Remember that your first job is only a foundation and stepping stone that should position you for further opportunities.
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What city and state do you call home?
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
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What do you do in your free time?
Travel, play tennis, read, and relax.
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Where have you traveled in the past 5 years?
Mediterranean (France, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, Spain), Mexico (Cabo and Playa Del Carmen) and the Caribbean (Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and St. Maarten).
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