Leadership skills come naturally to Mark Wilson, who is one of Baldwin Wallace's quarterbacks. Here he is speaking to members of the BW Investment Club, a student-run organization which, among other things, manages a $1.4M portion of the BW endowment. Provided photo

By Joyce DeGirolamo
Baldwin Wallace University

In kindergarten, Mark Wilson was among the youngest in his class. There was no holding him back then or now. The energetic BW senior is a role model of success — three majors, football and a million-dollar real estate career. And he just turned 21.

"It's definitely been challenging," he admitted. "I've had to precisely schedule my classes so my prerequisites for each major would be in place for subsequent classes later. I also had a lot of semesters with 17-18 credit hours and had super late nights studying."

And yet, Wilson thrives on being super busy. In addition to his majors of finance, Spanish and economics, he is a Yellow Jacket football player and resident assistant.

When he graduates in May, he'll have accomplished his three majors in four years — with AP credits representing just six of the total.

Wilson describes himself as determined, diligent and entrepreneurial — words that accurately reflect his burgeoning leadership at BW and beyond.

"I am willing to do the hard work and extra steps it takes to succeed. I always try to push myself to accomplish any given goal," stated Wilson.

"And while I have a lot of goals I'd like to pursue, I take care to be sure the work I am doing is completed to my standard," he emphasized.

"Coming from two entrepreneur parents, I have learned a lot about being a business owner. I definitely plan to pursue the development of my own company in the near future, likely in some form of real estate or finance," noted Wilson.

Wilson has already leaned into utilizing his savvy business skills. As a licensed real estate agent, he sold more than $5 million of homes in his first year and a half. This complements his own investment portfolio of properties.

He hopes to utilize his knowledge of the industry to benefit both the BW Investment Club, a student organization, and the university.

"One special project I am working on for the Investment Club is to use a portion of our portfolio's cash to invest in real estate. Our current portfolio consists of stocks. I am looking at using my real estate license and real estate investing background to help the university* utilize some of its cash into an investment in that area," he explained.

"With this project, we are trying to help educate the club's members on alternative ways of investing money," he went on to say.

"I partnered with a few BW professors, including Dr. Christian Nsiah, and additional executives from the BW Investment Club to help me present this idea to BW leadership."

As Wilson looks to graduation, he is still formulating his plans. For now, he is looking to pursue BW's one-year MBA program.

"BW has supported my career goals by having professors who are very caring about their students' careers," believes Wilson. "I have had amazing conversations with several of my professors that have enlightened me to different directions I could potentially take with my career."

*The BW student-run Investment Club manages a designated piece of BW's endowment. Its current portfolio exceeds $1.4 million.