This document is a letter of recommendation from my former finance professor. It outlines my passion for finance, how well I excelled in finance and financial management in excel. The Letter also emphasizes my responsible and reliable character.

1. University of San Francisco
School of Management
2130 Fulton St., San Francisco, CA
94117-1045
tarrazom@usfca.edu
(415) 422-2583, (415) 422-6771
Ms. Patricia Small
Partner/portfolio manager
KCM Investment Advisors
February 26, 2014
I am very happy to write a recommendation letter for Spencer Parker at his request. I have
known Spencer for several years and he was a student in two of my undergraduate courses. One
of these courses was Financial Management (Spring 2011), where he missed an A-level grade by
very little. The other was Investment Analysis (Fall 2011), where he obtained the highest
possible grade in each of the grading components for a full A (4 out of 4 possible points in the
course. I teach this course in an applied manner; students must solve practical investing
assignments at the request of (imaginary but realistic) consulting clients. Spencer had the highest
scores in his class in each of the assignments –personal finance (A, 4/4), fixed income portfolio
optimization (A, 4/4); small portfolio of stocks selected both via fundamental analysis (A, 4/4)
and portfolio optimization (A, 4/4), and option pricing and analysis (A, 4/4). Because of the
scope of the assignments, they are all group homework. It was a pleasure to teach him and he
seemed to be an ideal teammate in all respects. Spencer was a leader in his team and participated
well in the class discussions. I believe the type of practical approach and the group setting both
played to Spencer’s learning and professional strengths, which extend beyond those that are
observable in the classroom. Spencer showed commendable written presentation skills and an
outstanding command of spreadsheet tools (informational and computational).
It was obvious he enjoyed and excels at investments-related analysis and decision-making, where
I have no doubt he is going to be a solid, responsible, and reliable professional. Spencer is quiet,
unassuming, appreciative, reserved, detail-oriented, and efficient. I also appreciated that he tried
to make the best of my teaching effort.
Please let me know if there is any other information you may need.
Sincerely,
Manuel Tarrazo, PhD and Professor of Finance