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It was the type of introduction that any MBA student would envy, and one at which David Snyder, 35 years later, still marvels.

Back in the late 1980s, a business school classmate introduced him to notable investor and billionaire tycoon Sam Zell, who subsequently offered Snyder a job.

Without hesitation, Snyder accepted Zell\u2019s offer and in short order began working for him in Chicago, where he joined a group of recent young graduates whom Zell had recruited to help inside the realm of corporate acquisitions.

More than any one deal or acquisition target, Snyder recalls, the greatest lessons from his days with Zell came from the sideline conversations.

\u201cJust by my proximity to Sam, I learned a lot\u2014he had sort of a Socratic approach, whereby we would have a dialogue with him in which he would begin sharing the investor\u2019s point of view and how an investor thinks about the operating prospects of a given investment,\u201d remembers Snyder, who adds that from those days onward he has always \u201ccome to the table\u201d thinking like an investor.

He reports: \u201cI\u2019ve carried this with me through all of the ensuing 30 years.\u201d

Snyder\u2019s exposure to Sam Zell and his work in corporate acquisitions honed his strategic thinking skills. He emphasized the importance of understanding the investor\u2019s point of view and translating business strategy into financial terms. \u2013Jack Sweeney