Title: Director
Firm: RBC Capital Markets
Age: 39
Akshai Patel never intended to become a public finance banker. In fact, he never intended to become a banker.
"I'm a millennial, I never imagined I would be working for a bank," said Akshai, an RBC Capital Markets director, who earned his undergraduate degree in economics and political science.
His mentor, and the person who nominated him for the award, John Snider, a managing director at RBC Capital Markets, wooed Akshai away from charter school administration and into helping charter schools gain the financing they need.
He joined RBC's charter school team in early 2019 after 15 years as a K-12 educator, the last 10 years running Phoenix Collegiate Academy, the charter school he founded, which focused on educating students in an underserved area of Phoenix.
Akshai, a key member of RBC's charter school financing team, has been a leader in developing social bonds for charter schools serving disadvantaged students, Snider wrote on the nomination.
As a charter school educator, "he was tenacious in building student demand (going door-to-door to generate enrollment), providing superior educational opportunities (PCA was recognized 2012 Arizona Charter School of the Year) and providing a pathway to college for first generation college-bound students," Snider said.
"I don't feel like a star; I feel like I'm working hard to learn, with less than four years in the industry," Akshai said. "I hope to be worthy of the recognition eventually."
The award, to him, is recognition of the fact that his mentor, the team, management and colleagues and the firm "care about me, look out for me, support me, and this type of praise from them shouldn't surprise me — it's who they have been from Day 1."
Akshai, who hired Snider to handle his own school's financing, said Snider has been a good friend and mentor, well before they worked together, "and frankly has never stopped putting my interests first in the way he operates as a colleague."
