Alumna spotlight: Hannah Rivas

By Aseret Bertram Grant, journalism junior and business minor

Originally from Oakland, New Jersey, Hannah Rivas began her journey with Ernst & Young (EY) shortly after she walked through the KU Campanile in the spring of 2017. Hannah is part of the marketing and communications team based out of New York City, where she works on various go-to-market initiatives and its Entrepreneur of the Year® (EOY) program. She works as a program coordinator for Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York, which are part of the national EOY program that takes place in November in Palm Springs, California. This program celebrates entrepreneurs who have transformed industries, created something new or changed the path of a company. Some of the companies she worked which in 2018 included Away, Plated and UNTUCKit.

Before she accepted the full-time job with EY, Rivas had a post-grad internship with them. Once she finished her duties there, she moved to a different company as a market research analyst. A few months into her new analyst job, EY came around with a new opportunity she couldn’t bring herself to walk away from.

During her time at the University of Kansas, Rivas was a busy student who excelled in everything she put her mind to. She was involved in various organizations around campus, from being an MBSP scholar to Chi Omega’s chapter president. MBSP opened up her network, both to connections in the business school and to companies. She met some EY employees at one of the MBSP program dinners.

“I remember telling the recruiter about how I wanted to work for EY, but not as an accountant like most do,” Rivas said. “It was so helpful to be introduced to EY early on in college and to understand the company and its culture. Looking back, those conversations at the EY MBSP presentation began my learning of how to be a marketer for the firm.”

Although she misses KU and its people, Rivas is meeting a number of Jayhawks in NYC and is thankful she attended the MBSP networking events.