When a United States president leaves office, the White House interiors are redecorated, many executive branch officials leave their positions, and national policies can change within hours. If handled incorrectly, that turnover could result in an unorganized, underprepared administration. During the 2017 transition, that’s where Jacob Marco came in—helping the new administration hit the ground running.
As a member of the United States presidential transition team, Marco helped manage the transition of the Department of Treasury and independent financial agencies such as the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. “Our job was basically to make that transition as smooth as possible,” Marco says. “You need to ramp up the administration as fast as possible in case there’s any natural disasters or foreign policy or financial crises.”
Marco worked eighty-hour weeks between Election Day and Inauguration Day. He determined how to best implement policy and campaign promises, looked at how to set up the organizations as fast as possible, vetted nominees, and managed the teams working on the ground.
Though there were still things to do after the inauguration, the majority of the work was done during that three-month window. “It’s a huge amount of work in a short amount of time, and there is no flexibility for when you need to be ready,” he says.
Luckily, the transition team members were rewarded with a much-deserved break on Inauguration Day. Marco recalls being invited to all the festivities and even having a particularly good seat to watch the inauguration ceremonies.
But for Marco, the biggest reward came with the work itself. “I’ve enjoyed being able to witness political power being transitioned from one party to another,” he says. “The peaceful transition of power is essential to a functioning democracy, and I was grateful to witness it and be a part of planning to make that a reality.”
Thriving in the high-intensity atmosphere of the presidential transition team was easier because of the skills gained from his BYU Marriott education and other career experiences, Marco says. After graduating with a degree in finance in 2015, he joined Boston Consulting Group (BCG) as an associate—briefly combining his work there with his stint on the transition team—and then Susquehanna Growth Equity in May 2018.
Now at the University of Pennsylvania, Marco is pursuing a dual JD/MBA. He enjoys being involved on campus as associate editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review and a member of several clubs and student associations. An avid athlete, Marco has run five marathons and loves playing basketball. He also plays the piano and trombone and is learning to speak several foreign languages.
Marco’s path hasn’t followed the route that he envisioned, he says, but it has led him exactly to where he wanted. Early on, Marco decided that all of his educational and career-related decisions would point toward one goal: using his skills to help others. “I’ve been trying to spend these early years of my career developing skill sets, networks, and professional opportunities in order to have the most impact on the world,” he says. To maximize that impact, Marco looks forward to someday entering public service.
