McCombs Alum Matthew Hansen Proves the Value of Building Global Networks
Here at The University of Texas at Austin (UT) Center for Global Business, one of our primary goals — in addition to equipping students with the necessary skills for successful careers in international business — is connecting with UT alumni based all around the globe.
Here at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) Center for Global Business, one of our primary goals — in addition to equipping students with the necessary skills for successful careers in international business — is connecting with UT alumni based all around the globe.
One of those alumni is Matthew Hansen, a finance professional whose career has taken him all over the globe, from London to Vienna and many cultural hubs in between.
We caught up with him to discuss his background, his career, and his lessons from UT that he still carries with him today.
A burgeoning interest in business
Hansen, who was born and went to high school in Houston, Texas, considered a plethora of east coast universities when deciding where to pursue his undergraduate education, but he finally chose UT. Sound in his decision to stay in his home state, he knew he wanted to study at the McCombs School of Business, but it took him a while to decide on a particular major.
It was ultimately a single course — and a memorable professor — that led him to his decision. “I took a small business finance class, and we really brought the real world into the classroom,” Hansen says. He chose to pursue a degree in finance, noting his appreciation for the course’s professor Jim Nolan as a mentor, and eventually, a friend.
While at UT, Hansen fed his fascination for travel and different cultures through an exchange and work abroad program in the United Kingdom. “Working and learning in London while supporting myself was a real eye opener,” he says. “It was great to know that it was possible to go and live in a different country and earn enough money to live and enjoy the place. After that, I became interested in international work practices and developed a desire to work internationally.”
On the back of that international experience, Hansen did a semester exchange at the University of Melbourne as part of his UT undergraduate studies, receiving the coveted Study Abroad Scholarship from the IEFS from Dr. Ivy McQiddy.
Beginning a global career
Equipped with a degree in finance and a global outlook, the newly graduated Hansen departed UT for a role as an investment banking analyst in New York City with Bear Stearns (now JPMorgan). Not long after, he was drawn to the sphere of private equity.
His career eventually took him to Madison Dearborn Partners in Chicago, where he gained a great deal of expertise in private equity. While at the company, he even had the opportunity to feed his desire for international experience by returning to the UK to help open a London-based office for the private equity firm.
Later in his financial career, Hansen enhanced his education by entering a joint global MBA program between the Columbia Business School and the London Business School, all while working full-time. The 100-hour work weeks were tough, but Hansen’s hard work earned him dual MBAs from both schools with specializations in finance.
Hansen then spent almost 15 years working at Cerberus Capital Management, first in distressed debt investing, and then in private equity upon Cerberus’ branching out from distressed debt to that asset class. While at Cerberus, he was focused on investing in a variety of industries, the largest part of which was financial services companies. In addition to being an investor and sitting on various Boards of Directors, Hansen had the very unique opportunity to go into several investee companies as a senior operator, first at GMAC, and then ResCap, one of the largest financial services firms in the world.
Later in his private equity career at Cerberus, Hansen went into BAWAG as an operator and leader of the organization over the course of four years. Severely affected by the financial crisis, BAWAG was a high-intensity, mission-critical, heavy lifting turn-around, which proved to be successful. This operating stint in such an existential period for such a large bank turned out to be quite formative in Hansen’s career. Following his secondment in Vienna at BAWAG, he became the partner at Cerberus responsible for European and UK private equity for Cerberus Capital Management.
Following the success of his operational turn at BAWAG, he decided to focus the rest of his career on European financial services investing. He was one of the founders of Atlas Merchant Capital, a private equity firm focused exclusively on the financial services sector, with an investment thesis focused on operational improvements.
Branching out as an entrepreneur
More recently, backed by two MBAs and his now-extensive resumé of both private investment and operational experience in the financial services sector gleaned from his time at BAWAG, Hansen set his sights on a new goal: His own firm.
“I always knew I wanted my own fund and my own business,” he says, and he credits his McCombs education as a major factor that helped him succeed. “I learned exactly how you can take an idea to create a business, or a private equity fund, and go about the step-by-step process to make it happen.”
Along with close friends and former colleagues, Hansen founded private equity firm Financial Services Capital Partners, LLC in July 2019. The firm serves as an investor in private companies within the European financial services sector, and Hansen notes that a “collection of international relationships built over the course of [his] career” has been a huge source of support in his endeavors.
Staying connected overseas
Despite being based in London, Hansen remains a proud supporter and advocate of the UT community in more ways than one. He has been a member of the Texas Exes alumni group since graduation and now serves as the president of the London installment, whose 600+ active members make it the largest international chapter.
The group allows members to stay connected with the UT community through networking with fellow alumni, fundraising for various causes, and gathering at watch parties for athletic events, which bodes well for Hansen, an avid football fan.
Hansen’s leadership of the largest Texas Exes International Chapter makes perfect sense considering the global mindset he has fostered since his early days at McCombs. “Business is global,” he says. “There’s no putting that back in the bottle — it’s just a fact.”
This outlook has made him a great advocate for the various programs and services we offer UT students at the Center for Global Business. “With the center, you get a lot of opportunities to develop yourself internationally through work experience and a sweep of faculty and other educators that are fully focused on the international aspects of business,” he adds.
“If you’re a student at the University of Texas, it’s a wonderful resource to help you expand your horizons beyond your own backyard.”
