Olivia Sliwa came to Grounds from Newton, MA, a town just outside of Boston. A place where, as she can testify, “ice hockey is a huge thing.” The sport holds significant cultural importance for those who live there and particularly for Sliwa herself. “I’ve played my whole life,” she says.
The Commerce and Economics double-major brought her passion for the game with her to UVA, where she serves as the Captain of the Women’s Club Ice Hockey team. Her leadership with the team began when she became President as a second-year, a role she took on amid challenges including inadequate organization and funding shortfalls. “I had to put a lot of work in and get my teammates to help and work together to get the funding and get more people,” Sliwa recalls.
Ice hockey, which has a reputation for being a particularly costly sport due to the necessary venue rentals and player equipment, requires strategic financial planning. Sliwa navigated venue challenges by shifting the team’s practices from Richmond to Liberty University to cut costs. “When I became President, I’d only had one year on the team, and there wasn’t a lot of organization or support. I had to figure it all out. We didn’t really have that many people involved, and ice hockey is very expensive,” she says. “We didn’t have the funding for it.”
Coming through in the clutch, Sliwa rallied her teammates to help secure funding and grow the team, fulfilling league requirements and more. Eventually they would acquire a grant from the UVA Parents Fund to help offset dues and make participation more accessible. “I’m proud of that: to have the amazing team that we have now and be able to go to the playoffs—things that I never would have done during my first year or thought would be possible that second year when I thought the team might be going under. I’m grateful for all my teammates’ hard work.”
Her leadership experiences with the team resonate with many of the concepts she learned in McIntire’s Integrated Core Experience (ICE). The Finance and IT concentrator’s coursework, particularly in strategy classes, equipped her with skills to comprehensively evaluate business models, which, far away from skates and sticks, aided her summer internship at Boston Consulting Group.
“At the beginning of ICE, it was really daunting. But now, being able to see a company in its entirety, how it works, and its value propositions was really important over the summer. It helped me to understand where a company is and what they need to do. Now when I see a company, I can break it down and see if it has a good business model,” Sliwa says. “Although it was difficult at first, it definitely helps me look at companies with a new lens.”
Sliwa also highlighted impactful educational experiences with Professor Stefano Grazioli, whose Global Commerce Immersion (GCI) in Mendoza, Argentina, and Fintech classes stand out. Her GCI group made considered suggestions to better promote tourism at a winery during their study abroad, some of which have since been implemented, showcasing the real-world impact of their education being applied to increase interest in the local business with whom they collaborated. “It’s been so cool that my team’s recommendations are all over their webpage,” she reports proudly.
Grazioli also supported Sliwa in adapting to the cultural context in Mendoza, ensuring the relevance of her team’s contributions. “There’s a different culture, and he was always there to make sure we were feeling supported and that the work we were putting in was going to be understood correctly,” she notes. His assistance extended to helping her navigate the complexities of coding in the Fintech course and stretching her skill set to build an algorithmic robotrader. “If you had told me I was going to be able to create that, I would have thought there was no way,” she admits, crediting Grazioli for his profound helpfulness and care.
While hockey is probably something that will continue to be part of her life, Sliwa is preparing to return to Boston Consulting Group as an Associate, and post-graduation anticipates spending time with her family before starting her new position in the coming months.
