6 minute read
The Peck School Alumni Spotlight: Kobby Adu-Diawuo '09
From great mentorship over the years, I’ve learned the value of perfecting daily tasks and how the accumulation of daily tasks done well ultimately allows you to execute the big picture.
By Taylor (Worthington) Williams '03, Alumni Relations Associate
Kwabena (Kobby) Adu-Diawuo ’09 is a leader in the financial industry who believes in the power of education and, as the recipient of multiple highly selective scholarships, “paying it forward” to empower others’ educations.
He aims to systematically increase awareness, education, and enthusiasm around media entertainment finance—and finance at large—for aspiring students in Newark and the Oranges.
Kobby joined the sixth grade at The Peck School (Morristown, NJ) in 2006, having received Peck’s selective Ross Scholarship for academic excellence and leadership potential. He is one of only 25 students to have received the scholarship—which fully funds a student’s Upper School experience with potential to fund their high school experience as well—since its inception in 2004. This scholarship paved the way for Kobby to leave his Orange-area public school for an independent education at Peck.
As you might imagine, joining a class of mostly Peck lifers can be daunting for any new student, let alone an 11-year-old. However, Kobby took this challenge in stride—facing the awkwardness of being “the new kid” with excitement and positivity. For Kobby, Peck quickly became a haven for growth, learning, and boundless opportunity.
He remembers being greeted by warm and friendly faces from the moment he stepped on campus, including that of Pat Dodge, former Director of Admissions, who was the first person he met at Peck.
He recalls the “deep personal investment [she] made in me, ensuring my mother and I had everything we needed to feel like part of the Peck community.”
This was the first of many strong relationships he would forge at Peck in three years. Additionally, he credits the incredible faculty, including Woodworking Teacher Mark Mortensen and former Spanish teacher Molly Donnelly, who he credits with “transforming [his] view on school and learning.”
He flourished at Peck, excelling in academics through the stimulating curriculum—he received the Foreign Language Prize for Spanish at graduation—and catapulting in personal growth through the school’s character education program. After graduating from Peck, Kobby opted to attend boarding school.
He was again awarded the Ross Scholarship and headed to St. Paul’s 2,000 idyllic acres in Concord, New Hampshire for the next four years. While there, he recalls falling in love with Washington, D.C. during an internship he spent working for Senator John Kerry. Kobby ultimately didn’t stray far from Capitol Hill, matriculating at Georgetown University in 2013.
Kobby’s commitment to lifelong learning was rooted at Peck, grew at St. Paul’s, and blossomed at Georgetown—but it didn’t stop there. His penchant for challenge and natural talent for numbers set the stage for a stimulating career.
“My initial introduction to and interest in finance was primarily influenced by my relationship with Mr. Burke Ross ’65 [founder of the Ross Scholarship program]—I saw how his own path in finance enabled him to care for his family and eliminate the burden of the cost of higher education for so many others,” says Kobby.
He continues, “In my early years as a finance professional, I realized the senior colleagues I admired most shared a borderline obsessive level of interest in the industry or product they covered."
"This made it easier to put in the extra mile of effort required to distinguish themselves in the field. Put differently, they made a career of the work they would do for free. Pursuing a career at the intersection of finance, media, and entertainment allows me to do exactly that.”
As an economics major, he secured internships to help bolster his resume and gain valuable experience in the finance world. He credits Ross with introducing him to a man who soon became his mentor: Mr. Frank Baker, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Siris Capital.
In Baker, Kobby found a knowledgeable, successful, and principled leader in the finance industry—and a person of color holding one of the highest roles in company administration.
“It is much harder to envision yourself in a position if you don’t see people that look like you in that space,” Kobby shares. “It was beneficial to see someone who looked like [Frank] in a senior leadership position in finance, and I told myself that if it can be done once, it can be done again.”
In the few years following his internship at Siris Capital, Kobby interned and held roles in investment banking and private equity with Citi and Ares Management. Then, he learned about OakTree Finance, a NJ-based company that curates a curriculum at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to intentionally equip and recruit students of color for finance roles. Working with OakTree ultimately opened a major new door for Kobby.
While traveling for OakTree, he met a fellow Georgetown alumnus who was CEO of the Newark-based HarbourView Equity Partners—a multi-strategy, global investment firm focused on investment opportunities in the entertainment and media space—a connection that led to where he is today.
“I’m fortunate to be part of a company where there isn’t a correlation between the number of years you’ve spent working and how many ideas you’re allowed to propose on growing the business,” says Kobby. “Working for an organization I care about so deeply, I sometimes obsess over ways we can continue to improve as quickly as possible. Fortunately, from great mentorship over the years, I’ve learned the value of perfecting daily tasks and how the accumulation of daily tasks done well ultimately allows you to execute the big picture.”
Kobby is currently a Vice President at HarbourView and feels his life has come full circle from his upbringing in Essex County. His journey to Peck in Morristown, internships and college in D.C., finance in New York, and travel throughout the country ultimately led him back home.
“Today, I’m allowed to develop the skills most important to me and further apply them to the industries that interest me most, all while working for a Newark-based company ‘down the street’ from my childhood home in Orange. I still have an extensive list of goals I hope to accomplish in my career, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge and appreciate the fullcircle nature of my life currently!” says Kobby.
“I credit the many people who have changed my life along the way, and hope to ‘pay it forward’ for other students and people in the same way.”
From Alumni Relations Associate Taylor Williams '03:
The Peck School takes great pride in the accomplishments of our alumni, and we are excited to highlight someone who began his journey at Peck in sixth grade—and who has now carved a successful career in the financial industry. Kobby Adu-Diawuo’s story is a testament to the transformative power of education, dedication, and determination. I am honored to share his story in this issue of Peck News!
