From Kent State to Capital One: How A Math Degree Opened Doors for Alexander Margetis
From Kent State to Capital One: How A Math Degree Opened Doors for Alexander Margetis
When Alexander Margetis took his first trigonometry class as a high school student in Stow, Ohio, he discovered that math came naturally to him.
“I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do with my life and my career,” Margetis said. “But when you’re unsure, you always go with what you’re good at in school, right?” “That was the first time where I was thinking of pursuing a career in mathematics.”
That early realization eventually led Margetis to Kent State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics with a minor in finance in 2018. Today, he works as a senior analyst in Capital One’s Corporate Valuations Group, handling investment portfolios worth billions of dollars.
Global Upbringing Margetis was born in California but spent much of his childhood in Greece, where his parents wanted him to connect with his family’s cultural roots. After finishing high school in Ohio, he enrolled at Kent State, where his father worked as a professor in the Physics Department.
Although he considered other universities, Margetis chose Kent State because of the connection with his father which also gave him a glimpse into the quality of professors.
Finding His Path in Mathematics While Margetis was drawn to math because it came easily to him, he was also intrigued by its applications. Pairing math with finance opened a world of possibilities in predictive modeling—using mathematics and data to forecast everything from stock performance to credit risk.
At Kent State, he found both support and inspiration.
“Something that comes to mind first when talking about Kent State is accessibility,” Margetis said. “I really enjoyed that [across all departments] everyone was trying to help you and give you advice.”
One standout experience came in a course with Fedor Nazarov, Ph.D.
“He deconstructed everything,” Margetis said. “You have this hard problem or equation...and he would break it up in these steps and you would [reach the solution] without realizing you’re all the way—just going step by step.”
Scholarships and Opportunities During his time at Kent State, Margetis earned several scholarships, including the Choose Ohio First award and support directly from the Mathematics Department. He is most proud of earning a $5,000 Ohio Space Grant Consortium scholarship sponsored by NASA because of his honors thesis.
“They asked me to come to their Cleveland office and present with students from other universities pursuing a STEM degree, and I really enjoyed that.”
Building a Career After completing his master’s degree at the University of Washington, Margetis began his career at Amazon during the pandemic. Although his role managing warehouse logistics wasn’t exactly aligned with his math background, he still saw it as an important step.
“I always thought that that position was like a stepping stone for me to join Amazon, and that I would transition to a position that was closer to my field after a year, and that’s actually what happened,” Margetis said.
Within a year, he transitioned into financial systems analysis at Amazon, later moving to Capital One, where he now works in risk management and corporate valuations. His team is responsible for assessing the market value of commercial loans and managing credit risk portfolios.
“It’s a very interesting process because it’s highly analytical,” Margetis said. “Plus, it’s real money and real stuff.”
Looking Ahead and Advice for Students As he advances in his career, Margetis hopes to eventually take on a teaching role within finance. He was a mathematics tutor during his time at Kent State.
“I always liked teaching and passing knowledge to other people,” he said.
For current and future students, his advice is simple: take advantage of the resources available.
“Don’t be afraid to ask questions,” Margetis said. “If you don’t understand something, go to office hours.”
He also encouraged students to be flexible as they move into their careers.
“If your career takes a different path in the beginning [or whenever], it’s not the end of the world,” Margetis said. “Always pursue your goals and have a vision... whatever you do, have that in mind.”
For Margetis, Kent State provided the foundation to get where he wanted to be, and his journey shows just how far a math degree can take you.
From Kent State to KeyBank: Cameren Hicks Builds Career in Fraud Modeling
From Kent State to KeyBank: Cameren Hicks Builds Career in Fraud Modeling
When Cameren Hicks graduated from Kent State University in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics and a minor in finance, he knew he wanted to build a career rooted in numbers, problem-solving and analysis.
Today, Hicks is a fraud modeling and analytics lead associate at KeyBank, where he helps protect customers and the company against fraudulent credit and debit card activity.
A First-Generation Student With a Passion for Math Hicks, a first-generation college graduate, said math always came naturally to him.
“I was always into math in high school,” he said. “In high school, I did some math competitions and clubs—I was always into the deeper side of math.”
A high school teacher who was pursuing a doctorate at Kent State’s Department of Mathematical Sciences encouraged Hicks to consider the university. Combined with a desire to stay close to his large family in Northeast Ohio, Kent State became his top choice.
“I knew I made the right decision when I saw the campus and met people from the math department,” Hicks said.
A Kent State Experience That Prepared Him for More At Kent State, Hicks said the breadth of opportunities available to students helped him prepare for a career in analytics. He benefited from the Choose Ohio First Scholarship, which offered both financial support and chances to work on real-world projects with industry partners.
“The projects helped me with my classes at Kent as well,” Hicks said. “To use what I learned in my classes in those real-world problems and situations was invaluable [for job interviews].”
He also spent three years as a math tutor, which he calls one of the best jobs on campus.
Faculty members played a key role in his education. Hicks mentioned Nathan Ritchey, Ph.D., who taught a senior-level modeling projects course.
“That was definitely a formative class for me,” Hicks said. “The skills that I used in that class—I use a good amount of them now working in fraud modeling.”
Career Opportunities Through KeyBank Hicks first encountered KeyBank at a Kent State career fair. While he originally thought of banking jobs as primarily finance-focused, he discovered that the company offered quantitative and data-driven roles.
He interned with KeyBank in 2021, then entered its rotational analyst program, where he spent a year rotating through different teams. Eventually, he joined the fraud modeling group full-time.
“Every time you swipe your card or do an online transaction, that transaction gets scored,” Hicks said. “Those scores, other information and our rules are used to determine if it’s fraud or not.”
Now working remotely, Hicks collaborates with colleagues across the country. His team runs quarterly performance assessments on fraud models, ensuring they remain effective and compliant with federal regulations.
Some projects can take months to complete, but the payoff is significant.
“Just over Q1 2025, we saved $250,000 in fraudulent transactions,” Hicks said. “It’s challenging and rewarding.”
Looking Ahead Hicks sees artificial intelligence as the next frontier in fraud prevention, though strict federal regulations make implementation complex. KeyBank has already begun experimenting with new AI tools to improve efficiency and accuracy.
Hicks plans to pursue a master’s degree in data science, supported by KeyBank’s educational benefits.
“I like the industry enough that I’m going to continue,” he said.
Advice for Current Students Hicks encourages Kent State students to take full advantage of the resources available to them.
“You’ll get out what you put in,” he said. “Kent has so many different programs and it’s so diverse... it has anything that you could want.”
Kent State Alumna Turns Math into a Meaningful Career
Kent State Alumna Turns Math into a Meaningful Career
Sarah Cook’s early interest in math turned into a major and eventually a career as a senior actuary at Pacific Life, a leading insurance company.
Today, Cook helps ensure financial stability for thousands of policyholders through complex modeling, financial forecasting and risk analysis. Her path to that role started at Kent State University.
From Overwhelmed to Opportunity Cook began her studies at Ohio State but quickly realized it wasn’t the right fit.
“It was too big for me,” she said. “So I chose to go to Kent, to get closer to home.”
She transferred to Kent State and didn’t look back.
“I felt like there were more opportunities to plug in,” she said. “It proved to be the perfect move for me.”
At Kent State, she majored in mathematics with a concentration in actuarial mathematics, taking full advantage of the university’s programs, career fairs and scholarships.
Learning to Solve Real-World Problems Actuaries use math and statistics to analyze risk and help companies make smart financial decisions.
“It’s all of the mathematics behind insurance,” Cook said. “When you think about premiums being set for your insurance... the actuaries are the ones justifying those numbers behind the scenes.”
For Cook, the actuarial field offered the perfect mix of technical work and real-world impact.
“I think I’m a very analytical person, naturally,” she said. “It felt like actuarial [mathematics] was an opportunity to relate it to the real world.”
A Supportive Environment at Kent Cook credits Kent State with helping her grow professionally and personally.
“I loved my time at Kent; I often wish I was still in college,” she said. “There were so many opportunities.”
She earned a Choose Ohio First Scholarship and used it to present research in a professional setting. A career fair led to an internship with Nationwide after her sophomore year.
In the classroom, she found mentors like Darci Kracht, Ph.D., who taught several of her actuarial courses.
“I had her mutliple times as a professor, so I really appreciated having that consistency,” Cook said. “She was very organized... and she also helped me on one of my projects for the Choose Ohio First program, so I feel like I learned a lot from her.”
Building a Career in Actuarial Mathematics After graduating in 2018, Cook started as an actuary at State Farm, then moved into consulting roles. She now works remotely for Pacific Life on its enterprise modeling team.
Her work involves using actuarial software to forecast financial outcomes and guide company decisions.
“I would say my role is pretty technical, working with models all day,” Cook said. “I think when you have a math degree, you learn how to problem solve and how to use logic to work though things.”
Cook passed 10 professional exams and earned her FSA (Fellow of the Society of Actuaries) designation in six years after college.
Advice for Future Math Majors Cook encourages students interested in math to consider actuarial science.
“If you’re really interested in math, it’s a good way to apply it in the real world” she said. “It’s a definitive career path.”
Her biggest piece of advice? "Show up and get involved," she said.
“Put your tuition dollars to use and show up to career fairs,” Cook said. “Get involved in clubs or extracurricular activities that are related to your degree.”
Looking ahead, Cook hopes to move into a leadership role and may pursue an MBA. No matter where her path takes her next, she’s proud of where it started.
“I love that I can go into a room and everyone’s like I have a degree [from a Big 10 School or Ivy League] and I’m from Kent State doing just as well as you,” she said.
