The Language of Success

Tom Nelson '85 has forged the kind of career that he only dreamed about as an undergraduate. As vice president of Scudder, Stevens and Clark, Inc., a global investment management company, Nelson cultivates new and emerging markets from his base in Santiago, Chile.
Although Nelson has lived abroad only since July 1995, he is a seasoned international traveler. His interest in and desire for international experience began at Colby, Nelson says. "The junior year abroad I spent in Madrid changed my life completely," he said. "Without that year I never would have gotten the jobs I've had."
Nelson says that his ability to speak Spanish clinched his first job at Citibank, where he worked with Latin American business clients in New York and Miami. "My Spanish got me that job and a lot of jobs since," he said.
During his six years with Citibank and two years with American Express Bank, also in Miami, Nelson traveled extensively throughout Central America. The experience strengthened his language facility and cultural literacy, which Nelson says are critical to success in an international business career. "If you want to do business abroad you will have more success if you speak the language of the people in the country where you're working," he said.
Again pointing to his Colby study-abroad experience as an important training ground, Nelson says living in a country is fundamental to understanding it. "If you haven't lived there you can't relate to how the people live," he said. "I must always remember that I'm a visitor in Chile, and I have to work by their rules and respect their customs."
Nelson was hired by Scudder in 1993 to develop the company's Latin American distribution network for all offshore funds. His job is to establish a network of intermediaries--usually large national banks--through which these funds are sold. Much of the growing market in South America originates with pension funds, Nelson says. "The Chilean Pension Fund has assets of about twenty-five billion dollars and has run out of places to invest inside the country. Scudder is one of the companies that would like to manage those assets as investors look to diversify their portfolios in other countries," he said.
He moved to Santiago full time last year and has enjoyed living there, Nelson says. "Chile is a wonderful country. It's a great combination of beautiful cities, mountains and coastline. After some tumultuous times in the seventies, it has proceeded on a course of reform and it is now one of the most prosperous and progressive countries in South America."
Nelson says his current assignment probably will keep him in Chile for another two or three years, but he would stay longer if given the opportunity. He plans to return to the U.S. eventually, however, he says. "You give up some things when you live abroad--it's hard to keep up with friends and family. I will come back some day."
Nelson had a chance to do a bit of mentoring last summer when Colby first-year student Allison Birdsong (Greenwich, Conn.) visited Santiago with her father, Lynn Birdsong, managing director of Scudder in New York. Allison was encouraged to explore many of the possibilities that Colby offers, Nelson says. "We talked about everything from COOT trips to where to live to what kind of courses to take," he said. "It was interesting to talk to somebody who was doing the same things I did 10 years ago."