Joseph Pabst is a founding employee of Affiniti, a company that offers customized credit cards in collaboration with industry-specific professional associations. This risky but exciting leap into entrepreneurship happened only recently, but Pabst sees how all of these opportunities connect back to his time as an undergraduate student at Purdue, where he studied aviation management in the 90s.
Pabst moved from his home in Nicaragua to Purdue’s campus in 1996. Although his father was from Terre Haute, Indiana, Pabst originally discovered Purdue in a college brochure from his guidance counselor. He was attending the American Nicaraguan School (ANS) at the time, a private, non-profit multicultural school in Nicaragua. ANS offered an education experience similar to what students received in the U.S., and Pabst said it was relatively expensive compared to the rest of Nicaragua.
“My mother saw this as her sacrifice,” he said. “Making sure I went to the best school, got the best education, and that’s my inheritance.”
She wanted Pabst to do something important in the world, and Pabst believed Purdue was his gateway to achievement. When he wasn’t accepted into his preferred major of aerospace engineering, he opted for the aviation management program. He set a new goal to work hard and transfer into aerospace engineering later, but he enjoyed aviation management so much that he decided not to change majors.
An internship that set his trajectory
Immediately after his freshman year, Pabst secured an internship at Continental Airlines after several of his student peers recommended the company, but this was no easy task at the time.
“I was very persistent. I would call the hiring manager at Continental Airlines every week. And this was before caller ID and the ability to block calls. One day they said, ‘we already filled our summer internships, but you’ve been so persistent that we’re actually going to talk internally about opening up a fall internship for the first time.’”
The fall internship became a reality, and also led to Pabst returning to Continental for a summer internship experience where he filled in for a full-time employee who went on sabbatical. He finished classes on a Friday and started the summer role in Houston the following Monday. In total, he had three separate internship experiences with the airline.
Pabst says this Continental Airlines relationship launched him successfully into the airline industry after graduation. He accepted a full-time job working on their loyalty marketing team, which focused on retaining existing customers through rewards programs, discounts and other benefits.
He also got married and had a child, which fueled his drive to succeed professionally. Earning an MBA seemed like the next best step, and he wanted an education that offered diversity in the student body and academic experiences.
“That’s something that brought me back to Purdue for my graduate degree,” Pabst said. “Everyone was very helpful.”
Rose DeLong-Bolyard was one of those people. Pabst had a significant speech disorder as an undergraduate student, and DeLong-Bolyard, his academic advisor, thought to connect him to Purdue’s speech language therapy graduate students. It was an inexpensive therapy that did not require health insurance—a perk, considering Pabst spent his savings on a laptop instead of insurance.
This speech therapy gave him the confidence to speak publicly, a daily requirement in his current career. Pabst went on to work for American Airlines and American Express where he gained experience with commercial credit risk management and international co-branded credit card portfolios.
His family moved multiple times over the years, most recently to New York City, where his American Express career took him.
“It’s a great company. I learned so much there, but I realized that there was so much more out there,” Pabst said. “I have always been interested in entrepreneurship and building something new and from scratch, and that took me to Affiniti.”
Pabst now serves as the head of risk where he leads underwriting, builds risk capabilities and controls at Affiniti. It was a big risk, he says, but the reward is investing all of the skills and expertise he’s built over the years to help this new company grow. He’s driven to see it succeed with dreams of ringing the bell at the New York Stock Exchange.
This entrepreneurial venture as a founding member of Affiniti doesn’t just tap into old knowledge but also requires Pabst to learn new things.
“It's like getting another degree. I’m learning so much about culture and data, new technology, and new capabilities that to a certain extent I wasn't exposed to at companies like American Express, which had legacy systems built 30, 40, 50 years ago.”
Returning the favor at Purdue
Pabst has been passionate about giving back to Purdue whenever he sees an opportunity. He started by returning to speak to speech pathology department students about his experience as their patient. Immediately after graduation, he also enjoyed recruiting for Purdue at local high schools near Houston where he worked and lived. Today he serves on Purdue Polytechnic’s Diversity Advisory Council (DAC).
He offered some advice and reflection as a two-time Purdue graduate.
- Spend time investing in your financial security as early as possible, even while enrolled in college: “I wish I knew financial discipline and spent time educating myself on personal finance and investments that could create an opportunity to build wealth that benefits from time.”
- Take advantage of the many cultural experiences on campus: “I was very aviation-focused and focused on working to put myself through college,” Pabst said. “Get out of your comfort zone. Get out of your bubble. And do more while you’re at Purdue. There’s so much to take advantage of.”
- Success is a corporate experience when you mentor others: “Success for me comes in many different ways. It comes from seeing people also become successful and helping them in the sense of providing mentorship and guidance.”
Pabst is grateful for the support of his wife and daughter who have moved with him and his career throughout the years. He also credits a diverse community at Purdue with creating a rigorous learning environment that prepared him to accept the opportunities he’s received over the years.
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