Evan Reed ’26 Says “Yes” to as Much as Possible

Reed intended to be a mathematics major, but teammates on the varsity football team encourage him to consider economics. He was unfamiliar with investment banking, but he became fascinated with understanding government decisions and policy implications. “I have to do this,” he thought.

Reed applied to the Levitt Leadership Institute (LLI). The program instilled in him that “leading from behind” and leading from the front are equally important to the longevity of transformative social action. Professor Margo Okazawa-Rey invited him to return as a teaching assistant.

Reed moved to the nation’s capital for the Hamilton Program in Washington, D.C. He believed the financial sector was his end-goal, but interning at William & Jensen under mentor George Baker ’74 shifted his focus to the energy industry. “I was exposed to a different lens of financial services,” he explained. “It felt like a lot at first, but by the end, I really enjoyed it.”

Studying abroad in Seville, Spain, offered Reed a respite from fast-paced life on Capitol Hill—and College Hill. Reed made good on his goal to travel as much as possible; he visited Monaco, Malta, Egypt, Italy, and Morocco, to name just a few sites.

A summer of shadowing deals, researching energy markets and policy around the country, contributing to analysts’ due diligence efforts, and practicing Excel (a lot) as an intern on the First Citizens Bank Energy Project Finance team solidified Reed’s background in finance.

The last season of football was underway. Reed didn’t deny that the sport requires hard work, but he approached every practice with a positive attitude and strived to be a role model. Slacking off, he says, “[only] sets a bad precedent for others who want to do what I did.”

Reed enrolled in the Justice Lab to pursue “Just Energy Transitions: Local and Global.” He reconnected with mentors while meeting new peers “interested in making the world a different place with a desire to do it in many different ways.” Both classmates and advisors pushed him to apply his assignments to the outside world. Reed began submitting op-eds to news outlets.

As a TA, Reed designed programming for fellow students through the LLI—and kept saying “yes” to self-learning. He facilitated icebreakers, discussions, and team-building exercises for peers. Reed reflected, “I got to observe people go through the same things I did, and help prompt them to consider new ideas and embrace things that aren’t necessarily comfortable about yourself.”