Benjamin Cheatham is a 2018 graduate of the Gary W. Rollins College of Business at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where he earned a Bachelor of Science with a double major in accounting and finance. After graduating, Ben launched his career at Deloitte in Atlanta before moving to J.P. Morgan.
In this alumni Q&A, Ben reflects on his journey—from growing up in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, to building a career in financial services.
Where did you grow up, and what brought you to UTC?
I grew up in Mount Juliet, Tennessee—it’s right east of Nashville, maybe 30 minutes if you take I-40 east. It’s a very nice community, very tight-knit. It’s grown a lot since I’ve left. A lot of my friends from high school wanted to come to UTC, and Chattanooga is a great city. I came down to visit with my buddies, and it was a great fit.
What first inspired you about business? Were you always interested in a business career?
As a kid, I had a lawn mowing business. Nine, ten years old, walking around the neighborhood, knocking on doors. It’s kind of funny—you think about it as an adult. I guess that was my first taste of business, but I wasn’t really thinking of it that way at the time. That was just trying to get some pocket change.
I think as I grew up and thought about having a family one day—thought about wanting stability—I figured that business is a good place to start because you can kind of start with yourself and build out.
Why did you choose to double major in accounting and finance at UTC?
I saw finance and accounting as very similar, and the school was a great environment for it. At the time, the two majors were only about nine credits apart, so it made for a natural coupling. I was very lucky that it worked out.
Were you always good with numbers and math?
I was good at mental math—two plus four, times tables, dividing simple numbers together. I could do that pretty quickly in my head. But accounting and finance? That’s a lot of word problems. I kind of dreaded those as a kid and for most of my life, honestly. So I really don’t know how those became the fit. But it’s worked out really well.
What was the biggest challenge you faced during your time at UTC?
Self-management, in general. You’re managing your professional persona, your time, your money—and you’re really having a hold of all of those things for the first time at 18, 19, 20 years old. You can imagine: you’ve got your friends and the influences around you, and you’re just trying to navigate and go the straight and narrow.
Staying focused is the challenge of school and really anything in life. Anything is possible by anyone—we’re all a blank slate when we’re born. It’s just about staying focused. That was the biggest challenge.
What makes the Bloomberg Lab at Fletcher Hall special for business students?
I spent a lot of time there. The Student Managed Investment Learning Experience (SMILE) Fund students and other students in the Rollins College of Business used Bloomberg terminals—not only for the Bloomberg platform itself, but you could write your papers in there, do your homework. It became a shared office of sorts. You have the UTC library, but the Bloomberg Lab is a very focused, business-oriented laboratory.
You can see that members of the community wanted to make a really big investment into this particular area of the college. There’s the running ticker on the wall, there are always people in it—it’s a great place to huddle up with your classmates, your peers, your colleagues. You get a sense of what’s going on, whether that’s in the markets, in the College of Business, in Chattanooga, and beyond.
What makes the Rollins College of Business different from other business programs?
The people here are gritty. They acknowledge that UTC is a smaller college—you have various Power Five schools around the country. Everyone who goes here is aware of that. But they don’t wear it as something that diminishes the college. They think of it more as a badge: “Hey, this is UTC. We’re UTC proud. We’re excellent, just like any other school in the country. And we’ll show it to you”.
What does your degree from the Rollins College of Business mean to you?
My degree from the Rollins College of Business showed that I could mingle, compete, and work with people from all sorts of backgrounds. That one day I could be a future leader in my organization and that I could do well by a community.
It was an amazing time at the college. I had lots of great professors, great friends. I’m very happy with my time here.
How would you describe the professors at UTC’s Rollins College of Business?
The professors here are great. I could name some, but I’d be afraid I wouldn’t name enough and leave someone out.
All the professors would take the time to answer any questions you had. I was one of those people sitting in the front of the classroom, asking a ton of questions throughout any particular class. And even beyond that—outside of the classroom—you could go to their office hours and speak to them pretty freely about how class went, questions you had, advice about internships, or professional guidance as graduation approached.
I had that feeling from pretty much every professor I interacted with. I’m not sure every group of professors at any college is going to give you the same experience. I’d imagine not. But I know I got that here at UTC.
What did you learn about leadership at UTC through the SMILE Fund and CFA Challenge?
At UTC, I had a lot of experience with teams—group work in classes, group assignments in the SMILE Fund, working together on presentations for the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute Research Challenge. These are real group projects, and you don’t want any weak spots. You don’t want weak spots in school, and you don’t want them in professional life.
So you want to make sure that everyone rises up. One person falls, we all fall. One person rises, we all rise. Having that mindset, having a lot of great examples—I had mentors professionally outside of the building, all of the professors as academic mentors, and peer mentors who were good examples for how I should carry myself as I communicated externally outside of the college.
The takeaway? Be a good example and try to pull others up with you.
How did internships and the Rollins College of Business prepare you for a career at Deloitte and J.P. Morgan?
My transition from college to professional life was pretty smooth. I had a number of internships that helped me build up my professional persona over the years—I interned at Enterprise, at Crowe Horwath, and at TVA. While I was in college, I received my job offer from Deloitte in Atlanta around December of my senior year.
The work had been done over the course of years—refining me from a high schooler to a soon-to-be graduate of UTC to a professional in the world. I’d learned hard work through the litany of assignments given at the College of Business and across the UTC campus. I’d had a lot of professional interaction with people in the community and built strong relationships with professors and professionals.
The transition was smooth because it was an evolution over time, not one big shift. Years of preparation—academically, professionally, and personally—made all the difference.
In one sentence, what makes the Rollins College of Business special?
It is a top-tier institution in a great city, run by great people, with a lot of community involvement.
Let’s see where business takes you.
Are you ready to take your professional journey to the next level? Look to UTC’s Gary W. Rollins College of Business for the guidance, mentorship and hands-on opportunities to get you there. Reach out today to learn more about our undergraduate programs or to begin the application process.
