Statistically Speaking: How Zicklin Alumna Dana Zeller (MS Statistics, ’05) Built Her Banking Career

Dana (Weisberg) Zeller (MS, ’05), chief operating officer of BHI, studied statistics at the Zicklin School of Business and went on to build a successful career in banking. She sat down for an interview with Zicklin News.

Zicklin News: Tell us about your career.  

Dana Zeller: I am executive vice president and chief operating officer at BHI, a commercial lending bank based in New York City. Almost my whole career has been in banking—I began at Morgan Stanley, where I spent the first 16 years of my career, and where I was working while attending the Zicklin School part time for my master’s. I’ve worked for big investment banks as well as large and small regional banks, and almost always on the operations side, either in risk management or managing a day-to-day operational role.  

ZN: Why did you decide to study statistics? 

DZ: I studied math and economics as an undergraduate just because I always liked math and I thought economics would give me more clout in the business world. What I love about math, economics, and eventually statistics is that it isn’t always about crunching numbers. It’s about learning how to problem-solve—not always having all the details but still being able to arrive at an answer using data and logic. I use that skill every day.  Both my undergraduate and graduate coursework also included some components of computer programming as well, which is also something that has helped me understand how code is written and bring a somewhat technical angle to my job. I’m not a technologist by trade, but I think I do a decent job of speaking the language.  

ZN: Why did you choose the Zicklin School?  

DZ: I looked at other master’s programs and Zicklin’s was the only one I found at the time that was part of a business school. Other programs trained you to become a computation person only, and the fact that Zicklin’s program had a business angle was what I loved about it. At the time there were only a handful of people in my program, so my classes had lots of students who were studying statistics for other majors outside of banking and finance. Several of the other statistics majors were data scientists who were very technical because they basically did math for a living, so it was an interesting and very challenging environment. But looking back I appreciate that now because it pushed me to be better. 

ZN: What were some of your favorite things about the program?

DZ: I loved how flexible the Zicklin School was with my schedule, especially as I was working full time while I was attending classes. Toward the end of my coursework, I was able to take a marketing class to fulfill one of my elective requirements. I found this marketing class so interesting and so outside anything I’d ever done, but still very relevant as it helped me with putting the data I was working with into words and actions. Now, as COO, my job encompasses a little bit of everything, and I think having exposure to something outside of my area of expertise like marketing has helped make me a better colleague and partner. I am better able to see things from the perspective of others.   

ZN: You’re known around campus for your loyalty as an alumna. Can you talk about that a bit? 

DZ: I started giving back to Zicklin before I’d even graduated. While I was working at Morgan Stanley and studying here, I became part of the Baruch recruiting team. I spent many years at all the job fairs, recruiting students. I also participated in Baruch’s Executives on Campus program. More recently I was interviewed on the Graduate Career Management Center podcast and I spoke at Weissman Center’s Mitsui Lunch-Time Forum. I try to come back to campus as much as possible.

ZN: What accounts for your loyalty? 

DZ: First of all, I had a great experience here.  I went to a wonderful private college for my bachelor’s degree but my academic experience here really stood out for me in a different and very impactful way. Second, the culture. Zicklin students are organized, often managing large courseloads while also working full time; consistently have an incredibly strong work ethic, and their ethos and mentality for success are unmatched. Someone might say this is a generalization, but this has truly been my experience with just about every student I can remember meeting through the school.  Baruch is a really special place and I’m proud to be an alumna.  

ZN: What do you most want to be known for?  

DZ: I want to be known as somebody who got stuff done, but in a way that brought others along for the ride with me. I love to move fast, make change, improve processes, and make the organizations I am a part of better, brighter, and smarter, but I don’t do it alone. What gives me the greatest joy is making sure the people I work with know that it’s not a one-person job and that they’re learning and shining along with me. I’ve been really proud to lead with that mentality.  

ZN: Finally, what’s a fun fact about yourself that might surprise your colleagues?  

DZ: I love live music and spend most of my time outside of work going to shows. I will go to anything and everything, and even go anywhere, from Madison Square Garden to small clubs and sometimes to other states and even to other countries. 

Categories: Alumni, Alumni News, News