When Vince Perez arrived at Wharton for his MBA, he was determined to finance his education on his own. But securing financial support wasn’t easy.
“I wanted to do it on my own, so I wrote to 24 professors,” Perez recalls. “Please, do you need a teaching assistant? Do you want a research assistant?”
Rejection after rejection followed—23 professors said no. But one professor finally responded with an offer. “‘You’re from the Philippines? I need someone to do research on the labor unions of Southeast Asia.’”
Perez didn’t know anything about labor unions, but he took the job anyway. “I worked for a research center at Wharton and spent 15 hours a week, and that paid for part of my tuition.”
Beyond academics, Perez’s leadership skills helped him gain unexpected opportunities. As president of the Wharton Asian Students Club, he became the go-to person for companies looking to recruit from Asia. “When companies go to Wharton to recruit students from Asia, they would write to me, ‘Can you organize a cocktail? Because we want to present who we are, maybe get resumes, and then maybe interview them.’”
One of those invitations led to a summer job at Citibank. Later, a job offer from Mellon Bank helped him navigate one final hurdle—graduation. “Wharton said, ‘Well, do you have a job offer?’ Yes. ‘Okay. Good. We will not give you your diploma. You pay us in installments and once you are fully paid, we’ll release the diploma.’”
With persistence and one life-changing opportunity, Perez launched a global career. “Somehow, I got to Wharton,” he says. “And somehow, I made it work.”
Vince Perez’s journey from overcoming early setbacks to becoming a leader in the energy sector highlights his resilience and ability to turn challenges into opportunities. Today, as the head of Alternergy, his work in driving the Philippines’ clean energy development underscores his ongoing commitment to shaping a sustainable future.
This article includes quotes from an interview originally published by Esquire Philippines, authored by Henry Ong.
