Alumni Advice:Bradford Briner ‘95
By SAM ALTMAN and JINMIN LEE
Disclaimer: We interviewed Mr. Briner on Oct. 23, two weeks before his election as North Carolina’s Treasurer.
For our fifth week of Alumni Advice, we have Mr. Bradford “Brad” Briner ‘95 and P’25. As a trustee, he is the chair of investment at the Academy. After graduating from Exeter and receiving his MBA from Harvard Business School, Briner has pursued a career in finance, working as the Chief Investment Officer at Willett Advisors. Recently, he won the election and became the State Treasurer of North Carolina. As a successful alumnus in both finance and politics, Briner has unique advice for Exonians about career and life.
Briner advised students about succeeding in life after graduation, highlighting the advantage Exonians have in society. “The Exeter bubble is a real thing,” he said. “It requires us all to slow down as we go out and try to succeed in life. It’s incumbent on all of us to realize that we have privilege in many ways, the most important one perhaps being constantly around people with unbelievable academic and intellectual skills. That will not be the case anywhere else you go—Exeter is a special place that is not repeated anywhere else.”
When asked about his favorite moments at Exeter, Briner reminisced, “I have a lot of memories from Exeter, most of which revolve around the dorm where, through a fortuitous series of events, I had a lot of good friends. Just last night, I spoke to a friend of mine whose sons applied here and worked with their friends from Exeter, and those relationships are over thirty years old.”
Briner encouraged students to think about their time at Exeter from a broader perspective. For students who are currently struggling at Exeter, Briner advised, “You should remember that the people who sit next to you and create pressure are the world’s best. And it’s hard to notice that until you go on to whatever’s next. Then, you realize that you have been blessed in so many ways to be around these people, but there is a little bit of a curse to it, too. Exeter is challenging because of that relative comparison—very, very challenging. You will appreciate the experience a lot more when you’re 47 instead of 17.”
Briner exhorted students to find genuine relationships. “People are so transactional,” he commented. “For one, it’s the wrong way to optimize value for everybody. And two, people perceive it and hate it. That costs you a lot more than you think. We live in an instantaneous world, so people want to know, ‘What can you give me now?’ But that makes it even more important to play the long game and do the right thing. Call it karma, call it whatever you want, but this world is not that big, and your reputation precedes you everywhere you go.”
Exonians often feel anxious about their future. Sharing his personal life, Briner explained how he found the purpose of his career in finance. Briner said, “I’ve had a lot of time to think about my career as I’ve been campaigning. As a candidate, you have to think about the ‘why?’ For me, it goes back to when I was little and my dad lost his job. Financial insecurity in our house did not make for a good time. As a kid, you don’t really understand everything, but you start to assemble the pieces as you go forward. That manifested for me in the form of finance, and so when I went to college, I worked at Goldman Sachs in the summer and then started an investment business for that university.”
Briner continued, “Finance happens to be one of the most lucrative careers out there. Naturally, a huge chunk of the population goes into it solely for that reason, and there’s no shame in that. But if you come into it for more than monetary reasons, because you’re actually interested in it, people will immediately identify it. That will benefit you because people will know it’s more to you than just the next paycheck.”
For final words of wisdom, Briner concluded, “Happiness equals reality minus expectations. In life, you don’t get much control, but you can control your expectations.”