Samuel Rafferty

Park City, Utah · BYU Marriott School of Business · samraff@student.byu.edu

Finance student at BYU's Marriott School of Business with a 3.88 GPA and a focus on technology investment banking and private equity. I've built deal experience across middle-market PE, venture capital, and corporate development at firms in New York, Salt Lake City, Bethesda, and New Taipei. Incoming Technology Investment Banking Summer Analyst at Bank of America in Palo Alto. Outside of finance: lifelong skier, former POC Sports-sponsored downhill mountain biker, car builder, and traveler across six continents.

Experience

Incoming Technology Investment Banking Summer Analyst

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) · Palo Alto, CA

Joining Bank of America's Technology Investment Banking group in Palo Alto for the summer.

Jun 2026 - Aug 2026

Global Client Services Data Intern

Askey Computer Corp. (Subsidiary of ASUS) · New Taipei City, Taiwan

Navigated a 100% Mandarin professional environment as the sole international intern within the New Taipei City office. Created an automated shipping-cost template, focused on Incoterms, to simplify and accelerate bulk-logistics processes.

Jul 2025 - Aug 2025

Private Equity Summer Analyst

Solamere Capital, LLC · New York, NY

Authored a 20-page IC memo and LBO model for an edge banding target as a final project, presenting the thesis directly to the partners. Executed due diligence and market mapping across the ADAS and auto glass sector to source buy-and-build opportunities. Assisted with the first-pass LBO model for an Aerospace & Defense deal.

Jun 2025 - Jul 2025

Investment Team Intern

Pelion Venture Partners · Salt Lake City, UT

Built a model to analyze IRR and MOIC across 140+ Pelion investments, assessing the influence of co-investor profiles. Participated in deal origination, gathering information on 60+ founders and startups during pitch events. Developed an automated claims process for Redo (a Pelion portfolio company) to recover lost shipping revenue.

Jan 2025 - Apr 2025

Fall M&A Analyst

Solen Software Group · Salt Lake City, UT

Valued potential buyout targets via comparable, EBITDA, DCF, and ARR analyses, contributing to the issuance of LOIs. Held front-office communication with potential acquisition targets, establishing initial contact and ongoing engagement.

Sep 2024 - Dec 2024

Global Development Intern

Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR) · Bethesda, MD

Prepared briefing materials for 3 luxury projects presented to executives on Marriott's Hotel Development Committee. Produced the Tribute Portfolio Residences brochure, focused on the competitive advantages of partnering with Marriott.

Jun 2024 - Aug 2024

Venture Capital Intern

Pax Momentum · Remote

Engaged in valuing and funding 4 startup companies, preparing due diligence reports and 90+ competitor analyses. Developed 'Pax GPT,' a generative AI tool that automates meeting summaries and reduced drafting and editing time by approximately 500%.

Jan 2024 - Apr 2024

Education

Brigham Young University

Marriott School of Business · Bachelor of Science in Finance
  • GPA: 3.88 / 4.00 (4.00 GPA over last 60 credits)
  • BYU Marriott Dean's List (Merit-Based, top 5% of students)
  • Vice President, BYU Investment Banking Association
  • Member, BYU Private Equity & Venture Capital Association
Expected Apr 2027

Skills

Finance & Technical
  • Financial modeling & valuation: LBO, DCF, comparable company, EBITDA, ARR analysis
  • IC memo and investment thesis writing
  • Due diligence, market mapping, and deal sourcing
  • Advanced Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint
  • HTML, CSS, JavaScript & Tableau (via IS 201)
Languages
  • English (native)
  • Mandarin Chinese (advanced oral proficiency, gained through a 2-year immersive learning experience)

Interests

Outside of finance I'm a lifelong skier and former POC Sports-sponsored downhill mountain biker (2017-2020). I'm passionate about cars and built a high-performance '99 Mazda MX-5 Miata, dedicating 1,500+ hours to upgrades and performance software tuning.

I'm also a passionate traveler and have explored countries on six continents - by car, boat, bicycle, and motorcycle. Most recently I rode the Mount Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb in 2024, one of the toughest hill climbs in cycling at roughly 12% average grade over 7.6 miles.

When I'm indoors, I'm usually watching movies with my roommates - we're working through every Christopher Nolan film in order. Favorites so far: Inception, The Social Network, Moneyball, and Interstellar.

Awards & Honors

  • BYU Marriott Dean's List (Merit-Based, top 5% of students)
  • Incoming Technology Investment Banking Summer Analyst, Bank of America (Palo Alto)
  • Vice President, BYU Investment Banking Association
  • POC Sports-sponsored downhill mountain biker (2017-2020)
  • Mount Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb finisher (2024)