A hallway crowded with photographs of college students wearing their business best greets visitors at UMRF Ventures, Inc. housed at the University of Memphis, representing the dual nature of the organization’s vision to foster student success and drive workforce development in the Mid-South. UMRFV, as it is commonly known, recently reached a milestone with its talent pipeline, exceeding 100 students who began their career journey at UMRFV gaining real-world experience before advancing to full-time positions at companies related to their field of study.
One of those students is Milca Perez, who joined UMRF Ventures in December 2021 as an Identity Access Management analyst with UMRFV’s Raymond James venture. She graduated as a first-generation student from the University of Memphis the following year with a degree in Mathematics and eventually progressed into her role as supervisor for UMRFV’s Raymond James Technology Risk & Assurance venture.
Perez said she has enjoyed working as an IT Security Analyst with Raymond James, adding, “My transition from UMRFV to Raymond James was very seamless, as I was able to gain hands-on experience at UMRFV doing similar tasks that I’m now completing in my full-time role at Raymond James. I am very grateful for the professional development, technical knowledge, and meaningful connections I acquired throughout my journey with UMRFV.”
Pierre Landaiche, CEO of UMRF Ventures, is especially proud of the growth of UMRF Ventures’ talent pipeline, which has grown from empowering a handful of students a few short years ago to nearly 1,000 today.
“We emphasize the numerous growth opportunities UMRFV offers our student-employees through our connections with other companies, and Raymond James has been remarkable in facilitating skill development for our team,” said Landaiche. “We aim to maintain this talent pipeline for as long as possible, enabling our skilled students to secure opportunities after graduation.”
”UMRFV currently has three contracts with Raymond James: the Identity Access Management (iAM) team supports approximately 8,800 financial advisors within Raymond James through access provisioning; the Telecommunications team is responsible for troubleshooting telecommunication issues and collaborating with applications, such as Zoom and Avaya for Raymond James employees; and the Technology Risk & Assurance (TRA) team, which handles various cybersecurity services for Raymond James employees, such as assessing vendor risk, security assurance and IT policy oversight.
“UMRFV has done an excellent job in preparing its students for the real world by providing them with a first-hand look at our operations.”
-Kishen Sridharan
UMRF Ventures has had an amazing relationship with Raymond James, and I am excited to see their student-employees transition into full-time roles with us,” said Kishen Sridharan, a technology partnership executive at Raymond James. “UMRFV has done an excellent job in preparing its students for the real world by providing them with a first-hand look at our operations. I am proud of what we have built together.”
In addition to Raymond James, UMRFV has provided professional-level services from student-employees to FedEx, Sedgwick, the City of Memphis and most recently, First Horizon and Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare.
