YOUNG ALUMNUS OF THE YEAR AWARD
Nathaniel H. Colson, Bus Ad ’06
Mequon, Wis.
As the father of three young children, Nathan Colson jokes that sometimes success is just getting to the other side of his kids’ bedtime. One of his real metrics for success, however — being intentional with his time and talents — can be traced to his experience on the Marquette men’s golf team. Nathan says, “The time and travel required to play college golf prepared me well for the trade-offs everyone faces in life. I realized quickly I couldn’t do everything well.”
In the Marquette tradition, Nathan’s intentionality has led him to focus his talents in ways that serve others. For several years, he has served as a director of the Evans Scholars Foundation, a group that sends deserving caddies to Marquette and other universities on full tuition and housing scholarships. As the executive vice president and chief financial officer at MGIC, Nathan thrives when he can find ways to give people on his team opportunities to show off their talents. Nathan loves that his work challenges him to do a lot of thinking, reflecting and analysis about how he can best serve others.
Nathan credits accounting professor Cindy Melis with affirming his major and eventual career. “I still have the exam from Financial Accounting (used to be ACCO 030) where she wrote, ‘Acco major? You should consider.’ I must say I was disappointed when, years later, my wife Beth told me Professor Melis wrote the same thing on her exam, but by then, my career path was set,” he recalls.
Nathan actively seeks out chances to pay forward the opportunities he has been given. “It’s amazing to me what can come from one conversation, one introduction or one opportunity — especially when the common bond is Marquette,” he says.
Name someone (past or present) with whom you’d like to have dinner.
Lin-Manuel Miranda
What is one of your favorite Marquette memories?
Being at the Bradley Center in 2003 when the men’s basketball team defeated Cincinnati to win Conference USA in what was Dwyane Wade’s last home game. At that point in the season, the lines were so long that security was letting students in 30 minutes before the rest of the stadium opened. For 30 minutes, the student section was completely full, and the rest of the stadium was empty. Amazing experience.
Leave a congratulatory message for Nathan!