Building a Future in Public Finance: Lessons from My Internship at three+one

| August 19, 2024

While some might have had difficulty adjusting to this situation, the team at three+one welcomed me and I felt comfortable from day one.  

Share This Post

Building a Future in Public Finance:

Lessons from My Internship at three+one

Christopher Coyle

 

As a nineteen-year-old walking into the office for the first time, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous on my first day of work. With new faces, new surroundings, and new lingo to learn, I was in an environment in which I had no prior experience. While some might have had difficulty adjusting to this situation, the team at three+one welcomed me and I felt comfortable from day one.  

Throughout the summer, I was given the opportunity to grow as both a student and a future professional, learning many important skills along the way. I was assigned various projects which provided my first exposure to the dynamic world of Financial Technology (FinTech) and Government Technology (GovTech). Gaining on-the-job knowledge, and understanding the needs of an overlooked area of the financial world, were both equally rewarding. Far too often, a college curriculum does an insufficient job of demonstrating the opportunities one can have with a career in public finance and local government. With this fresh perspective, I look forward to future conversations about my experience working for a business that serves the public sector and encouraging others to explore this fulfilling career field.

Along with expanding my knowledge of public finance, the projects I worked on allowed me to work with many different team members, with wide areas of expertise. I was able to sit in on the data team meetings, witnessing how they analyzed client data, and continually developed new ways to provide added value to their customers. I was also able to observe the daily operations of the relationship-management team and saw how they interacted with clients and one another, finding solutions to issues and understanding that each public entity is unique. Through conversations with our business-development officers and marketing team members I learned how they promoted the benefits of cashVest (the key three+one liquidity-management product). On top of all that, I was able to take part in an executive meeting to present one of my projects and observed how the leadership team approached the analysis and decision-making process.

Thanks to all these interactions, I’ve come up with a set of values that three+one stands represents to me. Let me share those with you. 

Innovation

Over a decade ago, Joe Rulison and Peter Forsgren realized that the nation’s public entities and higher Ed institutions could greatly benefit from data-driven answers to their liquidity and cash-management problems. With the team at three+one, they’ve developed several innovative FinTech solutions. Over this summer, I have witnessed the constant communication between client-facing team members and the data team to make the “magic” of darta analysis happen, and find new and better ways to serve three+one’s clients.

Empathy

There is a reason three+one was created by public officials for public officials. They understand a public entity’s problems. When you look at the team’s makeup you will see decades of experience within the public sector. They care about the well-being and the positive relationships they build with entities of all types and sizes. Countless times this summer I have witnessed team members excited to see a client make an improvement, or call and check on them, offering assistance in times of need. I’ve found these personal, heartfelt relationships that three+one has fostered with their existing and prospective clients to be truly commendable. 

Trust

Proven data-driven results are crucial in establishing confidence in an innovative product like cashVest. The three+one team puts their clients’ best interests first by guiding them through the data-analysis process and checking in with them frequently along the way. By producing the supportive data,  the team ensures public entities  can be confident in their liquidity and cash-management decision-making. There are over 2.5 billion reasons to work with three+one—those are the dollars that cashVest has helped them give back to the communities they serve.

I believe you would be hard pressed to find a company that truly demonstrates innovation, empathy, and trust better than three+one does. I cannot say enough about how thankful I am for having had the opportunity to intern here over the past couple of months. The people and the purpose that they serve are inspiring and I am delighted to have been a part of the team. 

 

 

More To Explore

Our Hearts Go Out to The Victims of Hurricane Helene

Our hearts go out to the people of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky as they begin the long road to recovery ...
Read More
three+one federal funds rate

How to Visualize Financial Resilience

The graph below from Vectors Asset Management is a vital tool for building financial resilience through smart cash management.
Read More