by Ambre Juryea-Amole
Lauren Callueng navigates noisy sidewalks to meet with the CEO of a multimillion dollar corporation. With the latest economic reports and unique financial solutions in hand, she aims to build relationships and equip businesses to succeed financially. As her mentor secures a meeting and discusses the value of banking with Wells Fargo, Callueng leans in to absorb the experience.
Callueng lives for these high-stakes moments in corporate finance that she experienced in her recent internship with Wells Fargo. “I love being challenged. You learn more when you leave your comfort zone,” said Callueng, a Class of 2019 finance and management major.
Excelling, not just living, outside of her comfort zone is why Callueng will depart for six months of training in North Carolina through the Financial Analyst Program with Wells Fargo following her time at Alvernia.
However, Callueng’s college journey began more comfortably. She and identical twin sister Liza, a nursing major, enrolled at Alvernia so they could room together and be teammates on the Alvernia Spirit and Track and Field Teams. The twins’ paths diverged as they progressed in their programs of study.
Leaving the comfortable twin-life in her junior year, Callueng headed to Washington, D.C., for a semester to intern with a division under the U.S. Department of Commerce. “I didn’t know anyone in D.C., and it was the first time I was on my own without my sister.”
To dive deeper into the experience, Callueng immersed herself in federal government budgeting. “I had to learn quickly how the government budgeting system works because it’s different from the GAAP methods we learned about in class.”
While she was grateful for the experience in Washington, she was hungry to explore career avenues. So, Callueng spoke to her faculty adviser, Alvernia Associate Professor Scott Ballantyne, who helped her determine the next step.
Callueng’s conversation with Ballantyne led her to seek opportunities in the banking industry. She applied for a financial analyst internship with Wells Fargo Bank, and she was quickly hired.
“Lauren is a great example of a high-performing student who needed help determining a long-term strategy. The minute she figured out her plan, she executed it — exactly the way she learned in management classes,” said Ballantyne.
Callueng seized opportunities through the Wells Fargo internship by shadowing most positions at the Reading, Pennsylvania, commercial banking office. She even attended business development and high-profile client meetings with sophisticated companies generating $1 billion in revenue.
Callueng’s real-world learning experience ignited her passion for banking, which made accepting a job offer from Wells Fargo easy.
The Wells Fargo Financial Analyst Program, a three-year training program, moves Callueng closer to her ultimate goal, which is to work in a leadership role as CEO or president. Humility will always guide how she approaches her management style.
“I want to be the leader people need. I want people to feel comfortable coming to me rather than feeling intimidated. I want to be able to explain that hard work pays off.”
Being a leader often means living outside of a comfort zone so it’s a good thing she’s been excelling outside of hers.
