The challenges of the pandemic are hard to forget. If you were of college age and nearing graduation when it ramped up, you know how it impacted such an important time in your life; students from the Class of 2020 had to overcome the global shutdown, navigate online-only meetups, and plan for many uncertain situations.
How did it turn out for the McIntire graduates from that year?
We caught up with four Comm School alumni who have taken markedly different routes since earning their degrees. Their journeys share a throughline, though: internalizing the practical, team-driven collaborative work ethic and skills they honed at McIntire and through the strong community connections that have endured after leaving Grounds.
Ciara Blackston, now a New Yorker by way of Woodbridge, VA, concentrated in Finance at McIntire, majored in African American Studies in the College, and earned a master’s degree from the School of Education; Nathan Berry, originally from Richmond, VA, launched into investment banking, shifted to growth equity, and now studies at Harvard Business School. Faith Runnells, who grew up an hour from Charlottesville, in Harrisonburg, VA, lives and works in New York City, where she raises capital for real estate investment strategies. And Matt Sonnenblick, an Angeleno now based in California’s Bay Area, turned consecutive internships into a private equity career, advancing to Vice President.
From Banking & Private Equity to Corporate M&A and Venture
Landing at PepsiCo after earlier roles in real estate M&A investment banking and energy transition private equity, Blackston now works at the intersection of capital allocation and strategy and is currently a Manager on PepsiCo’s Mergers and Acquisitions and Venture Capital team. “It is the responsibility of our team to oversee the allocation of PepsiCo capital into opportunities that can contribute to the company’s growth, by acquiring up-and-coming CPG [consumer packaged goods] brands, investing in opportunities that can make our supply chain more nimble, or partnering with companies aligned with PepsiCo’s environmental and sustainability goals,” she says.
Her work spans portfolio oversight, opportunity prospecting, and deal execution—each demanding strong communication and collaboration across a massive global organization. “One of the hardest parts of my job is ensuring that everyone’s voice is being heard as we consider new business opportunities or manage current relationships,” says Blackston.
She can trace that relationship management ability back to McIntire, which helped her find the earliest version of her professional voice. “One of the most important things you can take away from your time in McIntire is how to communicate both with your peers and with senior executives,” she says. “Even now in my professional life, I still get nervous when presenting, but you get used to expressing yourself in professional environments.”
The Relationship Business—By Design
For fellow Big Apple resident Runnells, a pre-McIntire Bank of America Women’s Diversity Program opened her eyes to opportunities in finance. That experience led to internships and a full-time role at PJT Partners’ Park Hill Real Estate Group, focusing on real estate private equity fundraising.
Today, she works at GID, raising institutional capital for multifamily, industrial, and real estate credit strategies. “My day is centered around relationship building and strategic communication,” Runnells explains. “I travel frequently—often weekly—meeting with institutional investors along the East Coast to learn about their portfolios and challenges.”
She holds the culture of integrity that defines her firm in high regard. “It’s privately held, with an ethical and inspiring leadership team that I look up to,” she says. “Because I’m a representative for our investors, I value that a lot.”
Runnells finds that self-discipline is the hardest part of the job. “Unlike a role with a structured to-do list, capital raising requires a very high degree of self-direction,” she says. “I rely on routines, automated reminders, and AI tools to stay consistent.” Her use of AI is comprehensive: “I’ve built personal, integrated systems that help me stay on track and prioritize what is most important for client outreach and follow-up on each day. It’s all integrated so I can focus on the relationships.”
A Strategic Pause
Berry’s career began with an intentional focus on growing further developing his skills. “When I thought about my first career out of college, I was really optimizing for the ability to learn as much as possible from really smart people and meet as many people as possible doing different things,” he says. That mindset led him to J.P. Morgan’s consumer and retail investment banking group, followed by a role at General Atlantic.
He credits McIntire with preparing him for the intensity of those early years. “The most important thing that a lot of junior professionals need in fast-paced finance roles is the ability to really communicate effectively with both team members and senior leaders,” Berry says, pointing to McIntire’s case method and Integrated Core curriculum as direct preparation for “multidisciplinary teams that have to come to uncertain conclusions and debate appropriately.”
Now at HBS, Berry is taking time to reflect. “Coming to school is an opportunity to reset,” he explains. “I can be intentional and thoughtful about how I spent the previous five years, what I liked and didn’t like, and how I want to leverage that.” He remains active with McIntire as fundraising chair of the McIntire Young Alumni Council (MYAC) and returns often for alumni events. “The community in the alumni network has been so tight and so helpful,” he says. “Maintain those relationships—they’ll matter more than you think.”
Learning Velocity, Compounded
Sonnenblick’s story is defined by continuity. After two internships with Altamont Capital Partners, he joined the firm full time in Palo Alto and hasn’t looked back. “The work itself was what I wanted to be doing—analyzing different business models and industries very quickly,” he says. “It’s fast-paced, engaging, and constantly evolving.”
Just as important were the people. “It’s a group of smart, driven individuals who I felt I could learn a lot from,” he says. “We’re invested in each other’s success.”
That culture made the learning curve less intimidating: “When I was 22, I didn’t really know anything. It was an environment where I could make errors and learn from them with people who were happy to see me grow.”
As a Vice President, Sonnenblick’s work splits between new investments and portfolio company operations. The role has evolved from “answering questions” to “asking them,” he says, noting that McIntire’s “emphasis on team projects and solving tangible problems” mirrored the work he did at Altamont from the beginning. He remains connected to the School, hosting alumni events in San Francisco and returning to Grounds with his colleagues to judge a case competition hosted by McIntire student org SEED Consulting.
What They’d Tell Today’s Students
Each alum shared their perspective shaped by five years of professional growth and self-discovery since their time at UVA.
For Blackston, it’s about patience and perspective. She remembers sprinting between information sessions and obsessing over the “perfect” internship. “While you may not end up with your first choice of internship or first job,” she says, “you can be successful anywhere.” She also reminds current students that careers are not always linear: “If you had told me during my time in McIntire that I would have touched so many industries just five years into my career, I wouldn’t have believed you.”
Berry’s message is to stay adaptable. “There are thousands of different paths you can take,” he says. “Few journeys remain linear, even in structured industries like finance. Be intentional about redefining what you’re interested in.”
Sonnenblick believes that success depends as much on people as on performance. “Most businesses end up being just a collection of people all doing different activities,” he says. “The biggest determinant of success is the quality of the people you’re surrounded with.”
Runnells agrees, as connections with others remain central to her philosophy. “The power of relationships is so important,” she says. “People you’ve met in passing can have a big impact. You can gain guidance, perspective, and new ideas from them.” She encourages students to take a longer view when facing the many challenges that can cloud the horizon with uncertainty. “When you’re in the moment, trying to get an internship, or walking the Lawn graduating, and you’re not sure what’s next, it can be overwhelming to think about all the different paths that you may walk,” Runnells says. “But the truth is that your life is going to unfold in an unexpected and quite beautiful way.”
