OCC Offers Academy of Finance Students Internships, Career Advice

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has been a valued partner of the National Academy Foundation for many years, encouraging employee volunteers and providing paid internships to Academy of Finance students across the country.  Their support has spanned the whole organization – Eugene A. Ludwig, Comptroller of the Currency of the United States from 1993 to 1998, is an active member of NAF’s national Board of Directors. NAF has also worked with the OCC to ensure that banks’ support of local NAF Academies through contributions, employee involvement and student internships are viewed favorably in Community Reinvestment Act reviews (word document).

The following is an excerpt from SuperVisions, the newsletter of the OCC:

By Elizabeth Khalil
Community and Consumer Law

Going out on a bank exam while still in high school? Learning to use the Uniform Bank Performance Report before attending the senior prom? If you’re a summer intern from the Academy of Finance (AOF), it’s just another day on the job in OCC offices across the country.

The AOF program is part of the National Academy Foundation, which maintains career-themed academies within high schools throughout the United States. These programs encourage students to attend college and to succeed academically. In addition to finance, there are academies that focus on careers in hospitality, information technology and engineering. A key component of each academy is a paid summer internship between students’ junior and senior years, where they work full time at businesses that partner with AOF schools.

For several years, the OCC has been such a partner, with OCC employees serving on AOF advisory boards and hosting AOF interns. Among the reasons the internships work well for the OCC is that the AOF program includes classes relevant to the agency’s work, like accounting and economics courses, and OCC employees work closely with AOF administrators to ensure the internships go smoothly.

The OCC’s liaison to AOF, Senior Deputy Comptroller for Midsize and Community Bank Supervision Jennifer Kelly, finds the agency’s involvement to have benefits for both the students and the OCC.

“I would recommend that any manager planning to employ a summer intern consider offering the opportunity to an AOF student,” Kelly said. “They’re motivated to perform well since it is part of their academic program, and they arrive with a good understanding of financial matters and strong technology skills.”

A variety of OCC business units located in Headquarters, district offices, field offices and Large Bank offices have been able to craft relationships with AOF that are unique to each unit’s particular needs and features. In the Central District Office, Midsize Bank Supervision Resource Coordinator Lolita Moroney has taken advantage of the fact that many different units are housed together in the middle of Chicago’s financial district. She has placed some interns on rotational assignments, where they explore several different components of the Central District’s operations over six weeks, while other interns are placed in one division with a particular need and to which the interns seem well-suited.

To decide which divisions might be right for intern placements, Moroney said she starts working with managers early in the year to evaluate their needs. “I tell managers to think of the projects they’ve wanted to get to all year but haven’t been able to,” Moroney said. “And we’ll see if AOF interns could help out on those projects.”

Outlining ahead of time what the interns will do is very important, she added. “Remember, these are 18-year-olds who likely have not had an office job before, so they do need some direction,” she said.

Field offices typically have more difficulty hosting interns because of the amount of travel their employees do — field examiners often spend more time at banks than in their OCC offices. But some field offices have been able to make AOF intern placements work. In the Tampa office, NBE Lisa Mifflin has hosted interns during summers in which exams are planned within a 35-mile commute of the office, making it more feasible to send interns to those exams.

But before heading out to the banks, the interns spend some time in the office, gaining background knowledge about what the OCC does. They complete online training, including the self-study components of OCC schools like the Consumer Compliance School. During the exams, they perform activities such as compliance and audit reviews, and look at call reports and the Uniform Bank Performance Report system.

“I really enjoy hosting AOF interns,” Mifflin said. “I’d recommend it even for a field office. But it takes some planning.”

For field offices that have too much travel to host interns, OCC employees can consider becoming involved in AOF in other ways, which NBE Erik Rayford has done. Rayford has been involved for many years with his local AOF school in Detroit. As a member of its advisory board, Rayford works with business community leaders on coordinating mock interviews, mentoring events and college nights.

A highlight of Rayford’s involvement is his coordination of a trip to New York City once a year for 15 to 20 AOF students. During the four-day trip, students visit businesses — typically the offices of companies involved with AOF — and see the sights. Rayford said he’s found this trip makes a significant impression on students, exposing them to different career options and the workings of a major financial capital.

At OCC Headquarters, several different units host AOF interns each summer. Deputy Comptroller for Licensing Larry Beard says Licensing is among the groups that have had great success with the interns, whom he describes as “quality, well-prepared students looking to enter the workforce.” Beard has been involved with AOF for several years, since his time as an assistant deputy comptroller in St. Louis.

“We’ve done a better job as time has gone on in identifying what the needs of managers here are, and figuring out where to place interns,” Beard said. “If [Director for Supervisory Information] Don Titzman says, ‘I need someone with Microsoft Excel experience to build spreadsheets,’ we can find the right person.”

Beard, who began his OCC career as a financial intern, emphasized the rewards that an OCC internship can offer students — not only through education about the bank supervision system, but also through exposure to the daily workings of an office. “This is their first opportunity to see an office environment, in many cases,” he added.

OCC employees involved with AOF speak highly of the opportunity it gives them to help students explore their options for the future.

“You can see the potential in the students,” Rayford said, “and you think back to when you were that age, and if someone had just given you a little bit of information, and helped you with career planning, it would have made a big difference.”

Beard agreed, adding, “It’s a great feeling to know you’ve had a hand in having a positive impact on a young person and the career choices they make.”

Photo: National Bank Examiner Erik Rayford (back, third from left) poses with Academy of Finance students during a visit to New York City. Rayford, who is a member of his local AOF advisory board in Detroit, says the annual trip helps expose the students to different career options.