Serving as a Summer Treasury Intern at New Era Cap’s Finance Department in Buffalo, New York, Nicolas Van Wie ’24 applies his finance degree in a real-world setting.

New Era Cap is a premier hat and apparel company partnered with major sports organizations including the MLB, NFL, and NBA.

“A faculty member that I was doing research with during the summer was huge on networking,” Van Wie said. “She introduced me to the Senior Director of Treasury at New Era Cap, John Cooling ’05, over email. In his response, he extended an invitation for me to come check out the company’s headquarters.”

Van Wie came well prepared to make connections. His visit included a tour of the headquarters, an inside scoop into their day-to-day operations, and casual conversations with higher ups at the company.

“Before my internship, I wasn’t sure if I should go into the investment or corporate side of finance. This really helped me figure out what I wanted to do.”
Nicolas Van Wie

“I left my resume with those I met and kept in good contact with John,” Van Wie said. “And one day, he encouraged me to apply for an open internship position and it went from there.”

Van Wie helped forecast the company’s future expenses and finances using tools like Tableau and Microsoft Excel. After conducting his forecasts, he presented his findings to the company’s executive team.

“Having a sense of comfortability while talking during presentations is so important,” Van Wie said. “All the presentations I had done in my business classes helped me build the confidence to talk in front of larger groups of people and articulate my work to those that are unfamiliar with the information.”

Starting early on during Van Wie’s internship, he felt his input and opinions were valued and included within the company’s decision-making process.

“In my second week, my boss asked me to review a new contract with one of the company’s credit-card issuers to see if there’s anything we should negotiate on,” Van Wie said. “I went through the 28-page document, wrote an analysis to explain parts of the contract that I believe did not benefited the company, and then this analysis was directly used to negotiate the actual contract.”

There is always more to an internship experience besides applying your academics. Van Wie learned about cultivating company camaraderie and maintaining a positive work culture.

“There’s always something interesting going on here,” Van Wie said. “We’ll head to the Buffalo Bisons’ games, follow along on a tour from our New Era Brand Historian, or to do volunteer work together after work. Every day is different.”

Nicolas Van Wie

Along the journey, Van Wie took advantage of the company’s different learning opportunities, including Microsoft Excel workshops and Tableau training courses.

“Now, I’ll be able to confidently add a whole toolbox of analytics skills to my resume,” Van Wie said.

Van Wie was able to explore different avenues in the world of finance and find out what career path fits best into his future.

“Before my internship, I wasn’t sure if I should go into the investment or corporate side of finance,” Van Wie said. “This really helped me figure out what I wanted to do.”