By Paulo Almeida ’95

Background

I’m a first-generation college graduate and first-generation American from Danbury, CT, which unsurprisingly was recently rated the most diverse (ethnic, religious and socio-economic) city in New England. My parents grew up 15 miles apart in Portugal but met in Danbury, to where many people emigrated from the mountainous parts of Portugal and the Azores. My father moved solo after military service in what was Portuguese Mozambique then a stint in Nashua, NH. My mother’s entire close family immigrated in the mid 60s after earlier generations (including my grandmother who turned 102 a few months ago) returned to Portugal from New Bedford, MA during the Great Depression. Friends who know my roundabout transatlantic family history say it is not a surprise that I wound up in London. Despite being an ocean away, I’m happy to be very close to Webb in several ways.

Paulo Almeida ’95 giving a guest lecture at Webb

Value of Hard Work and Education

With essentially all of my interactions until kindergarten being Portuguese-speaking extended family and babysitters – other than a bit of Sesame Street and cartoons – I entered kindergarten with very little English. With the US generally being a great assimilator and probably some long-forgotten hard work from me, I, along with my brother and cousins in the same boat, quickly graduated to English as our first language. My parents came to the US with little more than decent job prospects through family friends, so we all saw the value of both hard work generally and education specifically. My parents invested in Catholic schooling – and lots of Lego – for me and my brother. My parents happily paid for my brother to get his mechanical engineering degree at Rensselear, and would have done the same for me, but surely it was more comfortable all around that I had a full-tuition scholarship at Webb. With socio-economic mobility nowadays not being as strong as it was in the 70s to 90s, and although the US is still far ahead of most of the world, the full-tuition scholarship at Webb is so valuable – even if it is not quite enough to meet the needs of all.

Finding Webb

I only barely remember now but after my parents dissuaded 12-year old me from trying to become a chef or start my own construction company (Thank you again for that!), surely I wanted to be an engineer. I investigated top engineering programs in the Northeast then visited several. Webb was love at first sight. First literally, because of the amazing campus, but also the small tight-knit community. Secondly, the pitch to me from an underclassman that ships are the perfect type of machinery to design because they involve disparate, challenging, interesting topics while at the same time many ships are simple enough that one person could complete the most interesting 80% of the design, leaving the detailed but often less interesting work to others. While this description is probably not 80% true, it is very powerful and I do very regularly repeat it. Unlike many Webbies who were very interested in sailing or military ships, although I was always fond of submarines, it was global commercial shipping that appealed to me. It is the intersection of my loves of applied science, geography and economics. Through yet another circuitous route, this led to me running a portfolio of over 60 ships from London for institutional investors. The practical aspects of the Webb education were big selling points to me. This was primarily winter work, but also field trips. With hard work being so highly valued from a very early age due to my family background, and at one point having wanted to start my own business before I was 20, the practical experience was a big differentiator versus other programs. Winter work also helped build lifelong bonds. I was lucky enough to not only be with Dean Werner twice for winter work but also celebrate his wife’s birthdays then. My favorite field trip was to the Sealand Quality, arranged by fellow Trustee Manny Hontoria. The legendary late Prof. Rowen in his characteristic wit said it could have been called the Sealand High Quality if it only had an MAN B&W engine!

Paulo Almeida ’95 receiving the 2018 Marine Money Deal of the Year Award

Achieving My Goals After Graduation

My Webb education, both in the narrow and broader senses, gave me a strong intellectual foundation, commitment to hard work and confidence that I could then build upon in my career. It prepared me well for being one of the youngest Masters in Finance (“MiF”) students at London Business School in ‘99/’00 and later among the older Chicago Booth executive MBAs in London ‘16-‘18, as well as my time in investment banking and investment management. Towards the end of my MiF, due to reasons familiar at Webb, I pulled an all-nighter after only basic knowledge of a math modelling package to design and price a complex financial derivative that earned an A+. Since completing my MiF, I have worked in high-performing organizations, advising on large corporate deals or equity raisings, bidding on large infrastructure assets and most recently building and running a large portfolio of globally-trading commercial ships with capital raised from very sophisticated investors including large pension funds. My personal background and Webb education gave me the broad and deep technical foundations and confidence to succeed.

Giving Back

Coming back to an earlier point, I’m an ocean away from Webb but am privileged and extremely pleased to be very close in several ways. After all, the traits I brought to and that were reinforced by my Webb education gave me the skills and confidence to facilitate my transatlantic journey and professional evolution. I’ve been lucky enough to be in a position where I can increasingly give back meaningfully financially. Separately, for nearly at least 7 years I’ve been giving a guest lecture to freshmen on buying a ship, making analogies to buying a house while also touching on many of the interesting commercial aspects of the global shipping industry. Other than family celebrations / holidays, this is always one of my favorite days of the year. A few years ago I joined the Webb Board of Trustees, and soon became Finance Chair as a small part of a broader well-planned succession program. We have such a strong, dedicated and increasingly diverse Board. This shows just how important Webb is not only to alumni, but the maritime industry. As John Malone and of course others say about the Heritage Society, it is never too early or too late to give back. I’ve been lucky and very pleased to be able to give back in different ways, and especially hope this helps well-deserving students who also want to give back however they can in the future.