Reannne Malesky, Business Transfer ’12

When not in the midst of a pandemic, Reanne Malesky ’10 travels all over the world helping clients install and learn how to use investment software.

She loves her job as an implementation consultant for Charles River Development, an investment software company, and she credits Northern Essex with helping her to get there.

After graduating from Pentucket High School in 2008, she wasn’t thrilled about staying close to home and attending Northern Essex, admitting she was “pretty bitter” watching her friends go away to college. “The allure of moving away from mom and dad is appealing to every 18-year-old,” she says.

But, now, with minimal loan payments, she says “I would do it a million times over.”

And it’s not just the financial savings that Malesky appreciates. Years later, she still remembers the personal interest her professors took in her, especially Business Professor Pat Morrow, now retired. “She took the time to single me out and tell me I was doing a good job…I credit her with a lot of the success in my life.”

Malesky says she soon realized that, because of its small size and its engaged faculty, the educational experience at Northern Essex was going to be exceptional.

She also developed her leadership skills, serving as president of the Community Outreach Group and vice president of the Gay Straight Alliance.

After graduating from Northern Essex in 2010 with a business transfer degree, she enrolled at UMass Amherst, through the Mass Transfer Program, which facilitates transfer from state community colleges to state colleges and universities. All of her credits transferred and she even received a tuition discount because she was coming from a community college.

At UMass, she got “idealistic” studying political science with dreams of becoming a US Senator. After graduating in 2012, she worked on political campaigns for a couple of years, before realizing it wasn’t for her.

That’s when she landed in the financial services industry as an investment services representative for Putnam Investments, which started her on her current career.

Once a reluctant community college student, Malesky could not be more enthusiastic about the education she received here. “If I win the Powerball tonight, my first donation is going to Northern Essex,” she says.