Mr. Reitman is the eldest of three siblings who grew up in San Antonio, Texas. He attended Business Careers High School, a magnet school with a college-preparatory curriculum focused on business and related fields, where he distinguished himself.
He graduated third among 600 students in his class; maintained a 4.0 GPA, taking mostly AP classes; was a member of several honor societies; and was on the swim team and played water polo. He also spent his high school summers attending special business classes sponsored by MIT, Yale, and the University of Chicago.
Education is a Reitman family value; both of his parents have doctorate degrees, and seeing their son obtain a college degree is so important to them that they are willing to make sacrifices to see him through. He notes that his own “genuine curiosity” is also a strong source of motivation.
“I've always had an affinity for asking questions and for problem-solving,” he said. “The more educated that I become, the better questions I can ask, and the more intricate problems I can solve.”
Today, he is a sophomore at Red McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin (UT) where he is majoring in Business Administration and Business Honors and Management, with the help of an HSF scholarship and several others—UT’s President’s Achievement Scholarship and Business Honors Program Scholarship; Texas Exes Foundation’s Deborah Knapp Scholarship; and RL Heinrich Trust Scholarship.
Other past awards include: National Merit Scholar, National Hispanic Recognition Program, and National Hispanic Heritage Youth Award.
He participates in several extracurricular activities: Honors Business Association, Freshman Founders Program, McCombs Diversity Council, and the McCombs Ethics Board. Additionally, he volunteers for the Hispanic Heritage Foundation as a National Ambassador, promoting the cause for ethnic diversity in the professional atmosphere; he is a national representative for Leaders/Latinos On Fast Track (LOFT), and he also serves as a National Ambassador for HSF.
This past October, he was one of 100 Scholars invited to attend HSF’s first annual Finance Conference, an event that exposes interested HSF Scholars to career opportunities in finance, including commercial banking, investment banking, asset management, private equity, and other finance-related fields. The conference sessions are led by distinguished, Hispanic finance professionals. He also attended the National Leadership Conference and Career Symposium.
“HSF has constantly offered me love and support, even at my most difficult times,” he says, adding that he also values the feeling it gives him of being part of something bigger than himself. He notes that he has had the good fortune to enjoy additional support from a mentor who has helped guide his educational choices, since junior high.
After he graduates UT, his goal is to gain experience as a private equity analyst and then pursue an MBA at either UT or Yale, with the ultimate goal of becoming an entrepreneur.