Zac Powell is a consultant with Alvarez & Marsal’s (A&M) Corporate Performance Improvement (CPI) practice in Dallas, Texas. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Texas McCombs School of Business.

In the following Q&A, Zac provides insights into his collegiate endeavors, his professional trajectory, his adept time management techniques, his sources for continuous learning and his aspirations for the future.

What skills or experiences did you gain in college that have been valuable in your career thus far?

In addition to further developing technical skills related to data analysis and visualization, my time at UT Austin helped me learn different approaches to problem-solving. I also had the opportunity to participate in the McCombs Hong Kong Supply Chain program, which allowed me to walk through Target’s supply chain. The program began in Los Angeles, where we visited a local Target store and one of the major ports where it obtained its inventory. From there, we had the opportunity to visit ports and factories across Hong Kong and mainland China, where I learned the intricacies of the supply chain world through a more thought-provoking approach than a textbook. Coming from a small private high school with a graduating class of 150, perhaps the most valuable experience from my college years came from all the new people I could meet and collaborate with over my four years.

What led you to pursue your chosen field of study?

I double majored in the Business Honors Program (BHP) and finance and pursued additional coursework in the Radio Television Film program. I aim to take these different fields of study and turn them into a career within the business and consulting world of media and entertainment (M&E). I also connected very well with the BHP faculty and staff I met during the recruiting process. I was excited to take courses on various business subjects with some of McCombs’ best professors.

Why did you choose to intern at A&M?

My first interaction with A&M stemmed from a case study I participated in during my sophomore year at UT Austin. I had great conversations with Christen May, Lindsey Bevolo and Evan Baldwin, and I was excited to join a team on an actual consulting engagement. Each recruiting event and happy hour reinforced that A&M was where I wanted to spend the summer, even if I got destroyed at bowling events on more than one occasion.

Why did you choose to join A&M full-time?

I could not have asked for a better internship experience with A&M during the summer before my senior year. I moved to Houston for the summer (my first time living outside of Dallas) and loved connecting with my great internship class. I joined a fantastic local project team and learned a ton about how to be a consultant from Lindsay Fenton and Karla Martinez. It was a roller coaster of an engagement, with our project goals getting shifted regularly by the client. It provided me with a clear picture of what a career in consulting would look like, and I was ready to join A&M full-time as soon as the internship concluded.

How did you start your career, and what were some of the biggest challenges you faced early on?

I was a member of the class of 2020, so I had an interesting kick-off to my career, to say the least. A few challenges came with starting my first job out of college during Covid. While I had several relationships with members of the Houston office, I didn’t have as many connections in Dallas. This made it critical that I reach out to team members virtually to connect with the Dallas office's community and culture, even if we wouldn’t be together physically for many more months.

Another challenge I faced due to starting at this time was that I was not staffed on a billable engagement for over a year, even though that time was spent on many shadow engagements. The encouragement I received from my project manager (PM) and others during this time was essential, and the fact that so many of my new coworkers empathized with my situation and were always looking for ways to help or keep me engaged really spoke to the firm’s culture. One of the more important projects I was involved in early in my career was an engagement with Support Local Change, where I supported Mat Hency and Kristin Shelley in setting up a shared services organization for a local non-profit. Not only did this allow me to meet my teammates in person for the first time, but I was also given the opportunity to lead my own workstream and engage heavily with the client. Even though this was a pro bono engagement, I feel it was very helpful in my professional development and served as a bit of a reset after a challenging first few months at the firm.

How do you stay organized and manage your time effectively, especially when faced with competing priorities and deadlines?

OneNote has become my best friend in this area. I always try and have a different OneNote page for each workstream, project, or initiative I am a part of, and I mark each entry on that page with the date and conversation I am referencing. This helps make notes easy to find later and ensures nothing gets lost across the multiple areas I might cover.

Regarding competing priorities and deadlines, I always try to overcommunicate with the leaders or team members with whom I’m working so that they know my bandwidth for that week and we can align on priorities together.

How do you stay current with industry trends and developments, and what resources do you rely on for ongoing learning and growth?

I check the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) app at least twice daily for broader economic and industry trends. For the media and entertainment industry, I read Variety, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter (THR) daily, and I have also subscribed to multiple industry newsletters and podcasts to do my best to stay up to date with trends and developments. A business of Hollywood newsletter called “What I’m Hearing” from the former editor-in-chief of THR has been my favorite recently.

What do you consider to be your biggest accomplishment so far in your career?

Last summer, I had the opportunity to co-lead my first workstream. I joined a complicated client environment for an in-progress project where we had to incorporate a revenue cube to replace a software company’s existing data systems. I consider this to be my biggest accomplishment so far because it was in an area in which I didn’t have much experience, and it allowed me to lead meetings and drive progress on an effort that impacted many areas of the organization.

What advice would you give to university students looking to work in consulting?

I would prioritize getting involved in “real world” consulting projects so that you can begin gathering experience in identifying underlying problems and communicating with clients. These (often pro bono) engagements can come from involvement in certain organizations but can also come from courses. I had some of these assigned as coursework, and the experience working in these client environments was especially valuable.

In hindsight, what advice would you give to your college self or to other recent graduates about navigating the transition from school to work?

I would instill that the vast majority of people and leaders at A&M are willing and eager to support recent graduates who are just starting their professional careers. A&M has a culture where anyone can connect with senior leaders (or other team members) across the country and the globe. It can be easy to stay in your comfort zone, not participate in networking outreach or set up that extra time with a managing director, but the guidance you can receive has the potential to be invaluable.

What are your career goals and aspirations for the next few years?

My primary goals for the next few years of my career are to support the development of our new Media and Entertainment practice and continue honing my project management skills. I am super passionate about the business of entertainment, particularly the business behind Hollywood, and I’ve been excited about the prospect of this new practice area since I joined the firm. I cannot wait to continue supporting Peri, Edward and the rest of the team and to be staffed on my first M&E engagement. In the interim, my other goal is to continue gathering experience in project management roles by leading more workstreams across different industries.

What are the most important qualities for success in your field, and how do you cultivate those qualities in yourself?

Two of the most important habits a junior resource can follow are to remain flexible and to ensure no follow-ups fall through the cracks. Regarding flexibility, projects will often throw a ton of curveballs at you, whether it’s related to travel or the goals of your engagement, so it’s important not to become flustered when things do not go according to plan. One of the best ways to approach this challenge is to work under the assumption that aspects of your project will change so that you can be prepared to adapt quickly.

Another important quality in consulting is staying on top of all the action items and follow-ups that come from conversations with your internal and client teams. Garnering a reputation for being on top of everything and consistently following up on open items is a great way to build client trust quickly.

What advantages or gains have you experienced as a participant in A&M's ACE (Advancing and Cultivating Emerging Leaders) program?

I really appreciated the implementation of the learning paths, which allowed me to make more purposeful decisions about what training I wanted to prioritize based on my professional goals. Overall, ACE helped provide structure and guidance around how analysts and consultants can most efficiently use their time if they know which solution line they eventually would like to pursue. It’s also valuable for those who don’t know yet what they’d like to specialize in because of the exposure to different areas of the firm through being a part of ACE.

Can you tell us about a mentor or advisor who has influenced your career development, and what did you learn from them?

Two mentors who have had a major impact on my time at A&M so far are Ali Shams and John Kim. Ali was my first PM and was super helpful in making a very complex transition—joining the firm during Covid—as smooth as possible. Ali was one of the first people I got to know very well from the Dallas office, and it became clear very quickly that he was invested in both my professional development and personal growth. John Kim was the director who oversaw the first workstream I co-led and taught me so much about managing difficult project situations and strengthening client trust. Even though I finished that project almost a year ago now, I know I can go to John with anything, and he’ll always give me his honest perspective and offer to help wherever he can.

How do you approach networking and building professional relationships, and what tips would you offer to others who are just starting out?

One of my favorite aspects of A&M’s culture is that you can carve out time with someone at any level of the firm and they will be happy to talk with you. This was instrumental when I first joined the firm, as many people were enthusiastic about connecting with me virtually and discussing their experiences. My advice would be to not take this for granted and to try to make a habit of carving out a 30-minute block or two per week to catch up with someone or meet someone new.

What's your favorite hobby or activity outside of work, and how did you get into it?

Outside of work, my home away from home is the movie theater. My mom and I made it a habit to go to the movie theater often when I was growing up, and many of my friends in high school were film fanatics and aspiring filmmakers. Film didn’t become an obsession, however, until after I attended the Austin Film Festival during my first semester of college. Even though it was a small festival mostly focused on screenwriting, it opened my eyes to a whole new world of movies outside the typical blockbuster movies to which I had been accustomed.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

I would love to have the power of teleportation. Not only would it be an incredible time saver, but it would also unlock many takeout meal opportunities. Being able to snap my fingers and be outside my favorite pizza shop in NYC or pasta restaurant in Italy seems like the best use of a superpower to me. Plus, that’s not even considering I’d never have to sit in traffic again.

What are some fun facts about you?

When I was a kid, I starred as the Little Drummer Boy in a megachurch Christmas pageant that was seen internationally by millions of people. My goal is to attend the eight major film festivals around the globe. To date, I have been to Sundance, South by Southwest (SXSW), the Toronto Film Festival, and the New York Film Festival (NYFF)—with the Cannes Film Festival, the Telluride Film Festival, the American Film Institute (AFI) and the Venice Film Festival still to go. Not as exciting, but I was born with a webbed toe, which does not make me swim faster.