“You can never go wrong having the Great Books of the Western world sort of in your hip pocket in terms of making decisions,” says Tom Franco ’74, a partner at Clayton, Dubilier, and Rice, LLC (CD&R), a private equity investment firm based in New York City. “A lot of business is making judgments and having the context to do that, so I would say that a liberal arts background is a welcome addition to the investment decision making process.”
After graduating from Notre Dame’s Program of Liberal Studies, Franco’s professional career began as a high school humanities teacher. He then moved into journalism, then into finance, eventually joining CD&R after serving as a senior advisor to the firm for 15 years. Franco recognizes how important it is not to “specialize too early” in your education.
Franco says, “We live in a dynamic world, a very dynamic economy. Keeping your options open and being broad about the way that you look at the world may in fact be the best competitive advantage that you have.”
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