Rob Weiler (’91) is associate dean of Anderson's MBA program — in addition to his prized role as husband and father.
Q: What’s your background? Where did you grow up, and what led you to business school in the first place?
I was born in Brooklyn, and grew up in New Jersey. I always wanted to be a doctor, for a love of science. I was pre-med for three years. Then, during a lot of hospital volunteer work, I came to the realization that I cared too much, was too nurturing, and couldn’t stand those harsh medical realities on a daily basis.
My first job was in a management training program at Carnation Company. I liked selling, but realized that to work with the people there in that capacity, I needed to learn finance and accounting.
Q: When you were at Anderson, what was different? What’s the same?
Ha. Well, I was in another building and the tuition was lower, around $1,500 per year. I actually made enough money on the game show Scrabble to pay for a quarter. The services, aside from the classroom experience, weren’t there. The career office then? Non-existent. It was just the classroom and the beer busts. Oh, and field studies and C4C were going then, too. But there was no email, of course. They printed flyers, put them in people’s mailboxes and that’s how they communicated. The professional staff and other stuff has just exploded.
But what hasn’t changed is the student culture. Like our current students, they were people who had interesting, eclectic backgrounds and they worked hard and played hard. Anderson was so cost-effective, that it drew a great selection of competent people.
Q: You started at Goldman Sachs in 1991 after graduation from Anderson. If you could go back and do it again, would you follow the same path?
I thought for a time, what if I had gone into consulting? But going into brokerage played into my pre-business school strength of relationship-building and my newfound strength in finance. Right now, here at Anderson — this is where I should be, doing what I’m doing, so my path validates that. I wouldn’t change it.
Q: What was Goldman like then? What precipitated your following moves in the banking world to UBS and TCW?
Goldman was a brokerage house then. Very focused on transactions on behalf of clients. That made me a little uncomfortable, having to transact on the clients’ behalf. The industry has shifted completely, as now it’s not transaction-based but fee-based. Goldman was iconic then and they are now. But I knew I had to move, it didn’t feel right. I went to UBS in private banking which was less transaction-focused; where I wasn’t incentivized to buy and sell. UBS is into lending and other things, so it was less conflicted. After a short time, I knew I didn’t want to be just a lender, but an asset manager. So I went to TCW, where I was working the retail market with a wholesale product, because they were TCW’s own funds. I sold directly to institutions, and through other avenues, and I was my most successful at TCW. But each step was a success to get there.
Q: What is the main transition or transformation you’d like to see from our students?
We talk about this experience being transformational, and for many people it is. But sometimes it’s not as transformational for some because they don’t embrace it as much as they could. Looking back, I wish I were a more serious, engaged learner. Today, people are more serious, but students often think of the classroom as tertiary behind getting a job, and sometimes, behind having fun. Later, they’ll have a deeper appreciation for their time here. Some of the stuff that students bristle at, and see as impediments to other things, like the clash between taking finance when they don’t think they’ll need it — they’ll wish they’d have embraced it. So, really, the transformation is a deeper appreciation of the academics. They’re never going to get the chance to take those courses at that level of quality again, in the same context of other courses, and have those thought leaders teach them.
Q: Tell us your vision for the school in 10 years. What do you see?
That’s a big question and a long period of time. My goal is to have us be recognized externally for how great we really are. We should be a perennial top-ten school. We are the great program that we know we are. More important is that we continue down the path we’re going down now, with consistent reinvention and responsiveness to what’s going on. I would love to have a great endowment to make business school less of a financial strain on people. I want to have a reputation in the business world that keeps the alumni coming back even more than they do now.
Q: Who are your idols, in the business world or elsewhere?
My dad is one. He passed away after battling MS like a prize fighter. The way he handled that… it was inspirational. Also, Coach Mora. He coaches and leads in a way that’s tough and caring and honest.
Q: Name the last song you sang out loud.
“Carry On Wayward Son” by Kansas. But in the car. Alone.
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