Jacob Gottenborg ’22
Jacob Gottenborg ’22 tells us the story of how he landed a position as a relationship manager for Ascend Financial just two years after graduation.
Current Residence: Bozeman, Mont.
Major/Minor: Business administration, concentration in HR and management, minors in marketing and business software applications
Tell us how you ended up in your current career.
I was working at the North Dakota Winter Show in Valley City, N.D. in February of 2023 when I received a call from Coach Mac, notifying me that a former VCSU football alum would be calling me in the next day or so. He did not inform me what the call would be for, just not to mess it up. The individual that called was Kyler Harder from Ascend Financial and he was looking for a new paraplanner. He had called Coach Mac looking for a recent graduate, from a small town, whose family had a background in business. Coach Mac referred him to me, as my father is a small-town chiropractor and we also have a family apple orchard. Over a period of twelve days we had a phone call, zoom interview, and an in-person interview in Fargo, that ended in a job offer.
I moved to Minneapolis in April of 2023 to work for Ascend Financial as a paraplanner. Like all jobs, the more you learn, the more responsibility you receive. By May of 2024, that responsibility had grown to encompass the majority of the financial planning process. That May, Kyler had also decided to expand his business west to Bozeman, Mont. He already had some existing clients there and had recently purchased another advisor’s book of business. Due to these additional clients, he needed to hire someone to service them. Without ever seeing Bozeman or Googling its population, I volunteered to move. After some discussion it was decided that I would open our Bozeman Office on December 2nd, 2024 and serve as a relationship manager for Ascend Financial. The first two and a half months have flown by. I am enjoying meeting with our existing clients, while also trying to find new members of the community to serve.
Tell us more about your family’s apple orchard and how that business prepared you for the working world.
My father started the orchard in 2001 and it has slowly grown in size each year to reach nearly 8,000 trees. When I was 12 or 13 my dad gave me and my sister each 50 trees. The apples and income from those trees became our annual wage and gave us each a vested interest in the crop. Growing up in any family business teaches important lessons that can apply to any profession. Hard work, attention to detail, establishing and maintaining relationships feels a little different when it’s your family’s business.
Any favorite memories from VCSU?
Most of my best memories are centered around the weight room and practices for football. Also, I was lucky enough to have a great group of roommates throughout my time at VCSU that I spent the majority of my time with. I always looked forward to the Winter Show each year and enjoyed playing city league basketball and rec softball in the summer.
Any pieces of advice for students who are going to graduate soon?
Enjoy college while it lasts, no matter how heavy your coursework or job you have, post college is just different. When you are evaluating job opportunities, worry less about the compensation and more about the workplace culture. If you are able to find co-workers you like and people who enjoy their jobs, it will make your life so much easier. If you are good at what you do the compensation will come in time.
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