Richard Rivera graduated from URI in 1995 with a degree in Political Science. He now works as Vice President and Branch Manager of Charles Schwab in Boston, MA.
What have been important milestones in your life and career?
I love this thought-provoking question and have narrowed it down to four milestones:
- Certainly, making the decision to get my degree from URI. When faced with this decision in light of several other respectable options, I felt the campus culture and growth opportunities URI would provide me with would lead to a world class academic experience. That certainly was the case for me.
- Marrying my beautiful bride of 20 years, whom I met at URI.
- The births of my 3 beautiful children, Sydney, Paige and Matthew.
- Being deliberate in terms of my career choice and the direction I wanted to pursue in life.
Looking back on your URI experience, what was most helpful to your success today?
It’s a less than glamorous story. Having almost lost the opportunity to remain at URI due to my academic performance, I found myself truly realizing just how important a college degree would be to pursuing my goals; how I was on the verge of losing this opportunity. So I doubled down, truly focused and took full advantage of the many academic and internship opportunities afforded to me. I will always be grateful to the Political Science professors, whose passion for their craft helped me appreciate just how important it is to truly pursue your goals. I fortunately was able to graduate in a strong position.
What I learned from that experience was that nothing worthwhile comes easy and when faced with adversity you have one of two choices to make: Be controlled or take control. I chose to take control. A few years later, early in my investment management career I found myself in a similar situation. There was a point where I was really struggling, learning early on in a highly competitive industry that there’s no short cut to success and that grit and a growth mindset are critical ingredients to possess when pursuing a goal. So, I followed the lesson I learned while at URI in terms of doubling down and believing that there is nothing you can’t accomplish so long as you appreciate the hard work that comes with pursuing a goal. It worked.
If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently?
It’s hard to believe that it has been almost 25 years since graduating from URI. My wife, Tanya and I, owe so much of who we are to this institution. There is little I would do differently. However, there are two things I wish I did a better job of and would recommend to students today: 1) Be sure to stop and smell the rose often throughout life. This is your journey after all; and 2) cherish those friendships you’ve made along the way. As time goes by you may appreciate that much more just how special those relationships truly are.