Erik Schafer

After graduating from Glenbrook South in May of 2024 I went on to Indiana University where I am currently finishing my freshman year. It has been so exciting meeting like-minded people and expanding my horizons for what is possible within my own life. However, even before coming to Kelley, I knew my path was one through investment banking and private equity. My Dad always saw that I was interested in high finance and the sheer amount of knowledge that it offered. While I have always loved research and analysis, which is why I love to read history so much, I couldn't imagine doing just that for work. I remember telling him about this and in highschool and he gave me a book called barbarians at the gate, after I put the book down I told him that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. So for about a year or two I believed I would be going into M & A, but that is where Student Maintenance enters the picture. Over the last year I have fallen in love with operating a business and building it up into something I would stake my name to. I get so excited and filled with energy when we are discussing a new system or idea to implement as I know the work itself is fun because I can see the business being built brick by brick. Which is why I’m so happy that I have the opportunity to one day go into private equity as it merges my interests perfectly with the research/analysis aspect with the business operations side. As any job within the industry would require me to identify a potential company to buy/invest into after extensive research then it would be up to me and the team to make those returns a reality. Which is one of the reasons I’m so invested in Student Maintenance as I see it as my first private equity deal that I can be a part of. I’m absolutely thrilled that my first business will be one that’s blue collar instead of white collar as I can’t see how I would have such an opportunity in the future. While I’ve always had a love of numbers I’ve always wanted to start a business that was built off the work of my hands rather than keystrokes. Looking back this is probably from my experience building fences during my freshman and sophomore years in high school. It was always work that I loved since I could point to something real and say “I built that”. Coming from my belief that one should always take pride in their work as it is always a chance to make an impact no matter how small. Even better still, it's an opportunity to learn as you can learn/practice invaluable skills when given a task to complete. With that being said the biggest reason I’m in this all the way is the people involved, as it is an opportunity to form a lasting community and brotherhood with some of the kind of people you could ask for. As all of us have at least 1-2 years of experience within this industry and being entrepreneurs. Giving us at least the basic tools to make something out of this business and better ourselves. But what is so invaluable is the mindset that we have as a result, that simply being you eat what you kill. Which is a big part of the reason that we are able to dream so big and chase down that dream as a team. With the driving goal of building the company up to become a cornerstone of our community, giving opportunities to more and more young people year after year. That is why I am so excited to be a part of this team and the future we can build for everyone involved.