Matthew Alfieri, B.S.’08

Allegiance to UAlbany

By Carol Olechowski

Matthew Alfieri is living a dream: working in London as vice president on the Principal Strategic Investments team at Goldman Sachs. “I almost don’t believe it’s real. It’s like an extended holiday,” he observes.

As a business administration major in UAlbany’s Financial Analyst Honors Program, Alfieri worked hard to attain that dream. With friends Vincent Cisternino, B.S.’08, and Michael Reynolds, B.S.’08, he founded the University at Albany School of Business Investment Group (UASBIG) to “afford students the opportunity to apply what they learn in the classroom in a real-world portfolio-management setting.” 

A summer analyst with Citi in 2006 and with Goldman Sachs in 2007, Alfieri joined the latter as a full-time analyst after graduation. His expertise now also includes “advising corporates in such areas as initial public offerings (IPOs), other forms of equity financings and general corporate finance matters.”  
Today, “I work on Goldman’s Principal Strategic Investments team, which manages a portfolio of private-equity positions with roughly $1 billion invested across about 60 companies,” says Alfieri, 27. A board member for one of the portfolio companies, he also assumes director-level roles for other investments. “Goldman’s culture is very team oriented and driven. People know one another at all levels,” Alfieri notes. 

University connections have promoted his career aims. David Smith, Hany Shawky and Rita Biswas were among the professors “helpful in shaping my learning experience.” Alfieri is grateful to “alumni like Michael Borys [B.S.’78, M.B.A.’79] and Dan Byrne [B.S.’93, M.B.A.’96], who came through the doors of GS before me and helped make recruiting from UAlbany possible.” 

His mentors include Goldman Sachs managing directors Dean Backer, B.S.’88, and Stacy Bash-Polley, B.S.’89; Wellington Management Co. Partner Michael Carmen, B.S.’84; and GoldenTree Asset Management President Robert Matza, B.S.’77. When Alfieri was seeking new challenges at the company’s New York office in 2011, advisers rightly predicted that a new opportunity would arise when the economy emerged from its slump. He left for London shortly thereafter. 

Alfieri is now following his mentors’ example: “I’ve helped some younger alumni get interviews with Goldman Sachs, or been part of the interview process. I also try to stay connected with the school through my participation on the UASBIG Associate Advisory Board.”