Erica Nagotko

When Erica Nagotko, President of the 2018 Pamplin Leadership Development Team (PLDT), attended the Pamplin Student Leadership Conference in January of 2016, she was surprised and impressed to find out that the event was entirely student-run. The annual conference is geared towards opening up opportunities for students from all over Virginia Tech to build relationships with their peers, network with recruiters from great companies, and spend a day learning how they can up the ante on their professional and leadership skills.

In the spring of 2016, Erica interviewed for and was accepted onto the Pamplin Leadership Development Team. In the following years, she went on to lead as Vice President of Materials in 2017, and lead the team as president in 2018, the 20th anniversary of the conference.

Erica will graduate in the spring as an outstanding member of the Class of 2019. A few of her accomplishments during her VT student career: dual degrees in Accounting and Finance, a minor in Leadership & Social Change, membership in the SERVE Living Learning Community, three years as an RA, and helping fellow students as a Peer Academic Coach with the Student Success Center. After graduation, she will be joining Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) as a Banking and Capital Markets Associate.

To her, “Leadership is helping others see the light within themselves. It’s about helping other people grow.”

“As PLDT President this year,” she said, “something that was really important to me was making sure that everyone on the team was growing in some way.” She did this by starting professional development groups within the team. “[People assume that] once you’re on the leadership team you’re done growing, but it’s a constant thing no matter what role you’re in or where you’re at…. I wanted to make sure that even if you’re a senior, you have someone in your major to talk to or if you’re a sophomore you have someone to look up to and ask silly questions about professionalism and the working world.”

She believes that leadership is attainable for anyone, but a few key qualities help improve one’s leadership skills. To her, great leaders are curious–they want to know what motivates their people and how they can help them grown. They are passionate, adaptable, and persistent and they don’t let setbacks get in the way of the team’s goals.

Great leaders are also vulnerable.

They know their weaknesses but they also know the importance of figuring out how to bounce back from failure. “I have failed before and I have come back from it,” she said. “As a leader, I want to show people that rock bottom isn’t rock bottom and that they just need to find someone to help pull them up and get to the end of the tunnel.”

Best of luck to Erica as she finishes her final semester at Virginia Tech and transitions into her role as Banking and Capital Markets Associate with PwC! We know you’ll do great things!

Post written by Mary Callihan, President Pamplin Leadership Development Team