Trammel Robinson ’20, a business administration major from Memphis, did such a bang-up job on his internship this summer that the company’s managing director wrote officials at the University of Lynchburg to tell them about it.
“Trammel quickly proved to be a reliable part of the firm to whom important analytical, administrative, and business development tasks could be delegated with great confidence,” Michael Rice, managing director of Track One Capital Services, a boutique private equity firm in New York City, wrote.
“Since our business often involves complex financial instruments, this is no small accomplishment, and reaching a high level of understanding around these topics is not always attainable for a ‘short timer.’
“Trammel was not only able to quickly decipher and understand the task at hand but added a tremendous amount of value to the process and delivery of his work. I am sure you can appreciate what a huge and somewhat unexpected asset this can be.”
Over the summer, Robinson had an internship with ETF Global, a research and data company that’s owned by Track One Capital Services. “It’s hard to condense everything I did because I spent time with every position at ETFG,” he said near the end of his internship.
“For the most part, I worked with the sales team this summer. I did a lot of shadowing and learning of the sales side of what we do. I assisted them in finding leads and working with old and new clients.”
It was a paid internship, during which Robinson “wore many hats,” his supervisor, vice president of research James Budd, said. “He worked under the research and business development teams, and data teams as well. We have three verticals here and Trammel split [his time] with each.”
Budd added that Robinson “worked on the analytical side” and “was basically supporting all business units at the firm. He definitely helped out with us and made our lives easier.”
At Lynchburg, Robinson works as a portfolio manager with the Student-managed Investment Fund, where students use real-world financial tools like the Bloomberg Terminal and invest in exchange-traded funds.
He said having this experience, coupled with support from his ETFG coworkers, was a real benefit this summer. “It didn’t take me long to get going here,” Robinson said. “My coworkers did a fantastic job with helping me get started. They always explained to me what I was doing and how to do it. They answered every question I had with a reassuring sense of positivity.
“I would have to say, for the actual material itself of the job, being in the Student-managed Investment Fund at school helped tremendously. While being part of the SMIF, I have been able to learn a lot about a lot when it comes to the investment world.
“Having that experience coming into my internship helped eliminate a lot of basic questions that I had about the stock market and the investment world as a whole.”
Budd agreed that Robinson came from Lynchburg well equipped. “From the technology side, his ability on LinkedIn definitely helps,” he said. “We welcome new ideas and new processes, and he was a great asset for finding leads/prospecting.
“You guys must have a very big PowerPoint/Excel program [at Lynchburg] because the presentations he put on the table were fantastic. His creativity was great. The academic excellence and the ability to multitask and take initiative. I don’t know if that comes from his extracurricular [but] all that together made a great candidate for this role.”
Robinson, a lacrosse player at Lynchburg, said his athletic experience did come into play at the internship. “From a working standpoint, being on the men’s lacrosse team has taught me lessons that I can’t get from anywhere else,” he said. “I know what it takes to be successful, and that’s good ol’ fashioned hard work every day.”
Steve Koudelka, men’s lacrosse coach at Lynchburg, wasn’t at all surprised that Robinson stood out at his internship. “On the lacrosse field, Trammel has this incredible motor and he never stops moving when he’s playing,” he said. “I would not be surprised if that is the same course of action he took with his internship.
“We preach all the time to sit in the front of the room and get engaged. I am sure he jumped into it with both feet and kept on asking for more and more responsibility. He is going to have an immediate impact on our society once he graduates.”
