Nick Treco, former football player for the NC State Wolfpack and now a defensive student coach for the team, is continuing his education in the Master of Management, Risk and Analytics (MRA) program to gain in-demand business skills and pursue his goal of becoming a chief risk officer.
Get to know Nick
Program: Master of Management, Risk and Analytics (MRA)
Start date: August 2023
Anticipated graduation date: December 2024
Current location: Raleigh, NC
Undergraduate education: NC State University, B.S. in business administration
Career goals
While competing as a student-athlete for the NC State football team, Treco studied business administration with a concentration in supply chain at Poole College of Management. As he earned his bachelor’s degree, he began exploring opportunities to expand his business acumen and gain in-demand skills to position himself for leadership roles – and turned to the Master of Management, Risk and Analytics program. “Data analytics and risk management are growing and relevant topics in today’s business world, and they seemed like great areas to dive into,” Treco explains.
“My long-term career goal is to become a chief risk officer for a large corporation, and I believe I will be able to use everything I have learned in the MRA program – including exposure to industry trends and skills in data analytics, accounting, forecast planning, AI management and risk mitigation – to achieve this goal,” Treco continues. In the meantime, Treco is pursuing his longtime dream of coaching college football as a defensive student coach for the NC State football team.
Why Jenkins?
After earning his bachelor’s degree from Poole, Treco says that pursuing his master’s degree at NC State was an easy choice. “I learned so much in undergrad, and it felt right to continue my education in a place that felt like home,” he says. “The specialized curriculum in the MRA program also stood out to me. I didn’t just want a broad overview like I might get in a traditional MBA program. I wanted something more specialized that I could use right away after graduation and apply to today’s business landscape.”
Daily life
When football season is in full swing, Treco begins his days early, arriving at the Wendell H. Murphy Football Center at 5:30 a.m., and wraps up the workday at 8 p.m. “As a student coach, I want to be in early so I can make sure that everything is ready for practice for the day. I make extra copies of practice scripts, call sheets and other materials the coaches might need to prepare. Then I check the pre-practice video clips for the coaches and make sure they are correct to maximize our pre-practice time,” he explains.
During practice, Treco helps the other coaches run drills and coach the players, and after practice, he tags the film from practice with the correct play calls. “The goal is for all the coaches to be able to watch the practice as soon as they get back to their offices. After they’ve watched practice, I get a grade sheet from them that explains how well their players did,” he continues. “I then go into our video software and make a practice cutup with all the practice plays that the coaches want to go over from that day’s practice with the players later on in the evening. After I finish the grade sheets, I help the coaches prepare for our next opponent and for practice the next day.”
In the evenings and on weekends, Treco makes time to complete his coursework and study material for the MRA program. “As a player, I thought I didn’t have much free time, but as a coach, I have even less time – so I have to manage my time wisely to maximize opportunities and finish my school work,” he says.
What makes it great
According to Treco, the MRA program has given him the opportunity to gain in-demand skills while belonging to a supportive community. “I have learned so much in my short time in this program and have built great relationships with some of my classmates and professors. The curriculum is challenging but rewarding, pushing me to think critically and apply what I’ve learned to real-world scenarios,” he says.
Treco also appreciated the opportunity to study abroad in Switzerland as part of the Management of Mega-Trends Impacting Organizational Resiliency (MBA 590) course. “I had an awesome experience doing the study abroad program in Switzerland. I had never been out of the country before, so it was great to meet new people and experience a culture that was unique and refreshing,” he continues.
Site visits to various organizations, such as the Zurich Insurance Group, provided real-world global insights to enrich and expand Treco’s understanding of course concepts. “We had the opportunity to listen to several different industry leaders talk about mega-trends and risk management from their own perspective and explain how they mitigate and manage risks,” he says. “Visiting the World Trade Organization was also extremely cool and eye-opening. Getting to see all the different cultures that are packed into one building, with live sessions going on with multiple cultures and countries represented, was a very cool experience. Our time at the United Nations was another very cool site visit I will always remember.”
Career impact
In addition to the MRA program curriculum and high-impact experiences at Poole College, like the study abroad program to Switzerland, Treco appreciated the opportunity to learn about emergent issues in enterprise risk management (ERM) and network with risk professionals at NC State’s ERM Roundtable Summit. “Because of a connection I made at the roundtable event I was able to get a few internship interviews and became a risk, audit and data analytics intern for the Advance Auto Parts headquarters in Raleigh,” he says. “The MRA program provided me with so many useful skills that I was able to apply during my internship and the experience taught me so much about what risk and analytics look like in the real world.”
Final thoughts
Treco recommends the MRA program to any business students and industry professionals eager to gain expertise in a growing field and learn from faculty members who serve as thought leaders. “Mark Beasley and Ericka Kranitz have a deep passion and understanding of risk management and data analytics. Their real-world experience and knowledge help provide insight. They challenge us to think critically and to ask the right questions,” Treco says. “I feel so fortunate to learn from such respected leaders.”
For prospective students, Treco encourages them to reach out to him or other current MRA students to learn more about the program. “This is the advice I was given, and it worked out well for me. I talked to a former student and he gave me the confidence to apply to this program,” he says. “This program has taught me so much and opened my eyes to how important data analytics and risk management have become to modern-day businesses, and I would be happy to share more about my experience.”
Get in touch
Connect with Nick on LinkedIn.
Learn more
To learn more about the Master of Management, Risk and Analytics (MRA) program, including tuition, curriculum, career opportunities and more, please submit the form below.
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This post was originally published in Master of Management Risk & Analytics.
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