Mark Davis P’24 Talks Microeconomics with Students

Math teacher Patrick Thompson recently invited Mark Davis P’24 on campus to speak to the Intro to Microeconomics class about his experience in the finance world. Davis is currently the president and CEO of Jawor Brothers Blueberries LLC and managing partner at Commonwealth Agriculture LLC. 
 
After Davis graduated with his MBA from the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, he worked as a consultant in the aerospace defense and transportation industry. After September 11, 2001, he chose to pivot sectors due to the drastic drop in air travel and the bankruptcy of several major airlines. Lee Hobson ’83, Davis’ brother-in-law and a former member of Episcopal’s Board of Trustees from 2006-12, ran a money management firm at the time. Through their conversations,  Davis discovered his skills from consulting were readily transferable to managing stocks and accepted a job at a bank in Cleveland, Ohio. As Davis continued to observe struggling industries, he noticed the agriculture industry continued to thrive.

Laying the groundwork for this next career move, he set out to start an investment fund that would buy and operate farmland in the United States. Davis ended up buying Jawor Brothers Blueberries, a family-owned blueberry farm based in Ravenna, Mich., where he now serves as president and CEO.
 
After many years in the finance and agriculture industry, Davis was well suited to tell his story and answer questions from students currently taking microeconomics. His biggest piece of advice came from his own father: “Seek out the incredible network of EHS alumni. Reach out for internships or eventually a job. You can get a really good sense of a job from an internship and decide if you enjoy it; don't chase it for esoteric reasons.”

Davis also talked about his family's love for EHS while chatting with the students. “My brother-in-law, Lee, and my father-in-law, Dick Hobson ’49, went to EHS, and my father-in-law had such reverence for EHS throughout his life. He loved this place to his core,” Davis noted. “That's one of the reasons Anderson (‘24) wanted to go here. He understood what this meant for his grandfather and his uncle. Even though I’m not an EHS graduate, I want to share with the kids to not wait 20 years to appreciate their time here. Appreciate it now.”
 
Throughout the session, students were eager to ask questions about this niche sector of finance and Davis was just as eager to answer their questions. “I really enjoyed Mr. Davis coming into our micro class on Friday,” said Alexander Brady ’24. “It was very neat to see someone with such a different career path than most. My key takeaways were the importance of persistence, using failure as a learning experience, and the idea of ‘don't quit when you're tired; quit when you're done.’"
 
Thompson said of the experience: “Having the opportunity to bring in guests, especially parents, into my classes is a boon to my students' learning experience. They get the opportunity to see the theories we discuss in class come to life within the context of something they care about — their own or their classmates' families' lived experience.”

Davis’ final words of advice to the students? “Take time to stop. You are attending one of the best academic institutions in the world and you have the opportunity to interact with classmates from around the world as well as world class faculty, administrators, and mentors. Sit by yourself and enjoy this beautiful campus and appreciate where you are.”
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